Difference between revisions of "OSSM Math and Engineering Day"
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In addition to these awards, students with the highest score per division (male and female combined and grade is eliminated) will be awarded two trophies: a smaller one for his or her school, and a larger one to keep for him or herself. The top five scores will be awarded per division. If any ties occur the tiebreaker round will be used to eliminate them. Note that 6th graders are combined with 7th and 8th graders, and the 6th grader’s score will be used to compare. 7th graders do not have an advantage over 8th graders. Therefore, a 6th grader who scored 30 points compared to others who scored less (including 7th and 8th graders) will win. There are a total of <math>4\times5=20</math> trophy winners. | In addition to these awards, students with the highest score per division (male and female combined and grade is eliminated) will be awarded two trophies: a smaller one for his or her school, and a larger one to keep for him or herself. The top five scores will be awarded per division. If any ties occur the tiebreaker round will be used to eliminate them. Note that 6th graders are combined with 7th and 8th graders, and the 6th grader’s score will be used to compare. 7th graders do not have an advantage over 8th graders. Therefore, a 6th grader who scored 30 points compared to others who scored less (including 7th and 8th graders) will win. There are a total of <math>4\times5=20</math> trophy winners. | ||
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| + | Since this competition is sponsored by OSSM, students considering to apply for OSSM later in high school will be at an advantage if they score well. | ||
==Preparation== | ==Preparation== | ||
Revision as of 17:52, 8 April 2015
The OSSM Awesome Competition (once called as OSSM Math and Engineering Day) is a middle school math contest opened to 6th-8th grade students who lives in Oklahoma.
Contents
Competition Levels
Students must live in Oklahoma and is in grades 6th through 8th grade in order to participate. Competitors must pass round 1 in order to qualify for round 2. 6th grade students are separated from 7th and 8th students, with different questions. However, they both have the same setup and qualification. Interested students whose school does not participate in the competition or homeschoolers may register to participate as an individual.
Round 1
Round 1 is the preliminary round, where students compete at the school level. Each participating school receives their problems for round 1 in late January to early February. Interested students will take the test during February. The top two 6th grade students and the top two 7th and 8th grade students combined are able to advance towards round 2. In addition, students who have won an award in round 2 in the past (not necessarily the year directly before) will automatically qualify. Therefore, the school may send 2 6th grade students and 2 through 6 7th and 8th graders (6 if all past qualifiers won an award).
Round 2
Round 2 is the state-level competition. Students from all over Oklahoma participate in this round, which is held at OSSM. It is usually held one week before or one week after MathCounts state competition during Saturday, but there are exceptions (2015 is an exception). Competitors take the one hour exam at uniform time at 1 pm, with the 6th graders separated from the other grades. Afterwards, OSSM will send some of their students to lead tours around their campus. These tours are free of charge and completely optional. Awards are announced in the afternoon around 2-3 pm. During the time in between, students may socialize and the competition directors will lead math games where all competitors may voluntarily participate. Lunch and transportation to round 2 is not provided.
Problem Setup and Scoring
Round 1
Round 1 is an individual 40 minute test with 20 to 30 problems. Problems are presented roughly in increasing difficulty. Problems vary in format. Some are multiple-choice, while others are short answer. 6th grade contest has problems that require the student to have basic understanding of Algebra 1, with a few more difficult questions involving simple quadratics. The 7th and 8th grade contest has questions requiring basic knowledge of geometry. The problems are comparable to MathCounts school sprint and easier AMC 8 problems.
The usage of a calculator is allowed but is not necessary to solve the problems. There have been no restrictions on the types of calculators that may be used, so students may use calculator wrist watches, TI-NSpire CAS, the TI-92, and even the TI-108. Additional aids are not allowed, so they may not use any communication devices or textbooks.
The total score is calculated based on the number of correctly answered problems. No partial credit or deductions are given.
Round 2 (6th grade)
The round 2 competition for 6th graders is one hour long where the student solves roughly 30 problems, though the exact number varies from year to year. Problems are more difficult than from round 1 but do not require knowledge of subjects beyond Algebra 1. Some are multiple-choice, while others are short answer. The score is calculated based on the number of questions correctly answered.
Sometimes one or two tiebreaker problems are given in addition to the 30 problems, which is clearly marked at the end of the test. The format for these problems vary, but in recent years the tiebreaker problems have been a problem where the student must show all of his or her work. Partial credit may be given. This problem will be used to resolve ties towards the overall awards per division, not by grade. Therefore, students who do not think they will receive a trophy award should not attempt the tiebreaker questions. Like round 1, calculators are permitted but not required, and there are no limitations on the types of calculators that may be used. No other aids are allowed.
Round 2 (7th and 8th grade)
The round 2 competition for 7th and 8th graders is one hour long with about 30 problems, but may vary slightly in number. Problems are either multiple-choice or short answer, and are more difficult than round 1. They require knowledge of geometry and some concepts from Algebra 2. The scoring method is identical to the 6th grade contest.
Usually one or two tiebreaker problems are presented and require students to write out solutions. Partial credit may be given. This problem will be used when ties occur in the trophy awards, not grade/gender. Any calculator may be used but no other aids are allowed. Both the 6th grade and the 7th and 8th grade round 2 contest will have the same number of questions for that particular year.
Protests
Occasionally problems will be incorrect, and it has unfairly determined past winners. There is no way to modify scores or answers once they have been decided, so the incorrect problems will remain incorrectly deciding individual rank.
Awards
Awards are given out after all round 2 submissions have been graded. Every participating student will be placed in a division. The four divisions are based on the size of the city the student lives in, not necessarily the size of the school. Division 1 is the largest, and therefore has the most competition. Smaller divisions have less competition. Students signing up as an individual will participate in division 4 regardless of the size of his or her city. Individual participants may join if and only if his or her school does not participate; using this as a way to get into round 2 because of inadequate performance in round 1 will not work.
Awards are given based on grade (7th and 8th grade are separate), gender, and division, and the top three scores (not necessarily the top three scorers). In total, that makes 
total groups. If any ties occur in the score (tiebreaker problems are not used here), all students with that score are awarded if it is in the top 3 for the group he or she is in. Therefore, if everybody scores the same score within a classification (tiebreaker excluded), all students will win first and there will be no 2nd or 3rd place winners. Students who win here will be awarded a medal and a certificate.
In addition to these awards, students with the highest score per division (male and female combined and grade is eliminated) will be awarded two trophies: a smaller one for his or her school, and a larger one to keep for him or herself. The top five scores will be awarded per division. If any ties occur the tiebreaker round will be used to eliminate them. Note that 6th graders are combined with 7th and 8th graders, and the 6th grader’s score will be used to compare. 7th graders do not have an advantage over 8th graders. Therefore, a 6th grader who scored 30 points compared to others who scored less (including 7th and 8th graders) will win. There are a total of 
trophy winners.
Since this competition is sponsored by OSSM, students considering to apply for OSSM later in high school will be at an advantage if they score well.
Preparation
OSSM has all past competition problems made available on their website. You can find them here. Solutions are also included with them. Note that they may occasionally have errors with their problems.
OSSM problems are generally easier than AMC 8 and MathCounts problems, so practicing for AMC 8 or MathCounts school will help with OSSM problems. MathCounts chapter problems are typically beyond the scope of OSSM round 2 problem difficulty.
