The 2006 contest will be held at the University of Utah,
for information follow this link.
Date: Thursday, March
17, 2005.
Optional site: (follow links for
details)
Students from the Southern part of the state may choose to take the
exam in Cedar
City , at Southern Utah University.
Time: the exam in Ogden, at Weber State University
will start between 9:30 and 10:00 and last two and a half hours
long. Lunch will be served between 11:00 and 1:30.
Rules:
Registration :
Online
registration is preferred and please do it as soon as possible. We ask for one
coordinating teacher from every school to collect the registration
information and serve as a contact person. It may be a different teacher(s)
who accompanies students to the contest. A password was mailed to every school, if you did not receive it, please contact
David Imig.
Exams: follow this
link to access
current and past exams and exam solutions that we have available.
These can help the preparation for the competition. The 2005
pretests is
available on our secure website using the password that has been mailed to every school
(Java must be enabled on your computer to view these files).
Award Banquet:
Scheduled for Thursday April 28, 2005, at 6:00 p.m. Winning
individuals, their guests and teachers will receive invitations. The
location is the Gallery in the Shepherd Union building. See
map for
details. Park in any parking lot except from A1.
Contact
Information: With any questions please contact
David Imig by e-mail or on the phone
at (801) 626-8096. Please browse through the list of most frequently
asked questions below first.
Frequently Asked
Questions:
1. Can schools bring more than 5 students per
grade?
Yes, we will have room for extra students, but in the
team competition only five students will count. Unless otherwise
specified, we will automatically assume the first 5 students that have
been registered to form the team. We ask that no school brings more than
10 students from any grade.
2. How can registration information be
changed?
If you need to change the name or date of birth of a
students who has been registered, you can either do it by phone
(801-626-6600) or by e-mail (sosenrollment@weber.edu).
3. What can a teacher do who was not given (by the end of
the year) or lost the
password?
You need to e-mail
David Imig and ask for the
password. Once your identity is verified with your school, the password
will be e-mailed to you.
4. Why are no calculators allowed?
This is a
longer topic. The organizing committee DOES find calculators useful
with teaching and doing mathematics. However, we also believe that
improper use of calculators is largely responsible for a generation
growing up with no or very little number sense. It is a pain to see a
college student reach for the calculator to divide 45 by 1 (it happened to
me). Our message with this policy is that calculators have a limited
place in mathematics, and that does not include our contest.
On a more practical level, we cannot monitor
all the calculators that would make cheating possible, for example some
calculators can now communicate with each other.
5. Can you save on the registration fee by not eating
lunch?
We know that the registration fee is a burden on every
school's budget. Unfortunately, it is the only funding we have, and
is necessary to run the competition. We are not able to give
discounts, even if you decide not to eat lunch after the contest.
6. How is the exam scored?
A correct answer is worth 4 points, an incorrect one
is -1 point. That way, the expected value is 0, and one is
not awarded for blind guessing (neither is one punished though...).
If one answer can be surely eliminated, guessing one of the other four
possibilities is a good strategy.
7. What happened to the Moab test site?
Unfortunately, for the last two years there was very little interest in
taking the exam in Moab, so we had to stop offering the exam there.
If there will be more interest in the future the Moab site may reopen
again. Until then we ask schools to arrange for travel to either
Cedar City or Ogden.
