ICTM Math Contest

The Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics offers two areas of math contests: Grade School (Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 + Algebra 1) and High School (Regional and State Finals).

Grade School

The ICTM Contest Committee offers in-school contests at six different grade levels (grades 3-8). The season consists of three contests to be given at your school. Each school sets its own testing date/time within these guidelines. Schools may participate in as many grade levels as they wish. Overall awards are sent to schools at each grade level after the third contest results are tabulated. The top 10 schools at each grade level will receive certificates and be recognized in the ICTM Bulletin.

Each grade level contest consists of two parts: team competition and individual competition. The team competition consists of five members who work together on 20 questions for 25 minutes. A school may field as many five member teams as it wishes. The individual competition consists of independent student work on 8 questions for 20 minutes. Scores of the top two teams and top ten individuals count toward the school total.

Algebra Contest

The ICTM Contest Committee offers an Algebra contest for junior high schools. This individual competition consists of 20 questions, to be completed in two 30 minute time periods. The top 10 individual scores from each school will count for the school total.

The contest is given in-school May 1-15. Each school sets its own testing date and time within these guidelines.

The top 10 individuals statewide and the top 10 schools statewide will receive certificates and be recognized in the ICTM Bulletin.

High School

Dates

• 2016 Regional - Saturday 2/27/16
• 2016 State Finals - Saturday 5/7/16
• 2024 State FInals - Saturday 4/6/24

Qualifying for State

A school team will qualify by taking first place in a region with four or more schools competing.

An event team will qualify by meeting any of the following criteria:

• taking first place in their event at a regional with four or more schools competing
• placing among the top ten teams statewide in their area of competition (regardless of region)
• scoring at or above the minimum qualifying score in their event.
• Oral Teams which place second at a regional with 8 or more schools competing

An individual will qualify in a written competition (Alg 1, Geo, Alg 2, Precalc) by meeting any of the following criteria:

• with one school competing, taking first place.
• with 2-3 schools competing, taking first or second place.
• with 4-7 schools competing, taking first, second or third place.
• with 8 or more schools competing, taking first, second, third, fourth, or fifth place.
• placing among the top 25 individual scorers in the state in their topic, as determined by raw score (regardless of region)
• scoring at or above the minimum qualifying score in the competition.

See here for minimum qualifying scores.

Events

Writtens (Individual)

• Competitions:
  • Algebra 1: open to Freshmen OR students enrolled in Algebra I during the current school year
  • Geometry: open to Freshmen, Sophomores OR students enrolled in Geometry during the current school year
  • Algebra 2: open to Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors OR students enrolled in Algebra 2 during the current school year
  • Pre-Calculus: open to all students
• calculator permitted
• individual 50 minute competitions consisting of 20 questions worth 2 points each
• team consists of a maximum of six individuals for each competition
• team score for each competition is the sum of the top four individual scores in the competition

Eight person team

• Two different levels: Freshman-Sophomore and Junior-Senior
• No calculator
• 20 minute test with 20 questions, worth 5 points each
• Maximum 4 sophomores for Freshman-Sophomore
• Maximum 4 seniors for Junior-Senior

Calculator team

• Calculator permitted (obviously)
• The team consists of at most five students
• No more than 2 people in 12th grade, no more than 3 people in 11th grade or above, and no more than 4 people in 10th grade or above
• team contest consisting of a 20-minute test of 20 questions, worth 5 points each.
• Answers must be rounded to 4 significant digits unless otherwise indicated in the question.
• Answers must be in standard notation, not scientific notation, unless specified in the question.

Two person team

• Two different levels: Freshman-Sophomore and Junior-Senior
• ten problems are projected one at a time on a screen. The time limit per problem is 3 minutes.
• Problems 1-5 will be no calculator. Problems 6-10 will be calculator permitted.
• For each question, any team who gets the correct answer during the first minute receives 6 points, second minute 4 points, or third minute 3 points. The first team to get the correct answer receives a bonus of 2 points.
• Students from the same team may work together in this competition. When a team has an answer, the answer must be written in acceptable form on the Official Answer Sheet. The answer sheet is to be folded once and held high in the air by one team member.
• No team may submit more than one answer for any problem.

Relays

The Relay Competition is held only at the State Finals. Only those schools that have qualified as entire teams for the State Finals may enter the relay competition. Team members each do a problem, passing back an answer sheet with their answer and any previous answers, which will be used by the following team member to complete their problem. Students may pass back multiple answer sheets until the last student in the row has submitted the team answer. Each student may do only one problem. Only the last team member may stand and submit an answer. The last team member may stand and submit an answer sheet at either of the first two commands (3 minutes and 5 minutes) and must stand and submit an answer sheet at the final command (7 minutes) if an answer sheet has not already been submitted. Correct answers are worth 2 points each. Bonus points are given if all four answers are correct and the answer sheet is submitted at the 3 minute mark (First Command – 5 bonus points), or at the 5 minute mark (Second Command – 3 bonus points).

• Two different levels: Freshman-Sophomore and Junior-Senior
• Maximum 4 students, maximum 2 sophomores for Freshman-Sophomore, and maximum 2 seniors for Junior-Senior
• 3 rounds; 1 question per team member per round
• 7 minutes per round
• Calculator permitted

Orals

• Maximum 2 students
• Preparation: 10 minutes
• Presentation: 7 minutes for the initial presentations; 3 minutes for the extemporaneous questions
• Calculator Permitted
• Each judge will award up to 25 points per team; Scores from the two judges will be added for a maximum of 50 points per team
  • Knowledge is worth 0-13 points
  • Presentation is worth 0-8 points
  • Extemporaneous questions are worth 0-4 points.

2016 Topics:

• Division A: Series and Sequences
  • Regionals: Sequences (Arithmetic, Geometric, Other), explicit and recursive definitions
  • State: Series (Arithmetic, Geometric)
• Division AA: Transformations of the Plane: Isometries and Similarities
  • Regionals: Isometries
  • State: Similarities

As a trial program for 2016, both students in the oral competition may, but are not required to, participate in all parts of the presentation. While both students may speak during the presentation, teams who decide to have a single student do the presentation will not be penalized, and questions will not be written so as to require both students to participate. This trial program will be reviewed at the end of the year to determine if it will continue in future years.

See Also

• ICTM Website
• Illinois mathematics competitions