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UKMT Intermediate Maths Challenge 2017

FIND THE 2018 VERSION OF THIS THREAD HERE!

Hi guys,
Just joined The Student Room and thought this would be a useful chat for next year's challenge. This will be my first year sitting the paper (I'm in Year 9) so if anyone could give me any tips I would be really grateful 😊

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Reply 1

BobBobson

There's really no tips for it. Some people are just good at it, some aren't. Check out the past papers.

Reply 2

TheConfusedMedic

^
Basically. You can be great at maths in lessons but not even get a certificate in the challenge, or the opposite where you don't get maths in class but get a silver or gold certificate :dontknow:

Reply 3

TheConfusedMedic

A lot of it is weird geometry and imagining 3d shapes/concepts, which I personally hate :redface:

Reply 4

lingyan

I did it last year and...I don't really think there's any particularly good advice I can give. Just remember that for the questions that you don't get marks taken off if you get it wrong, make sure you guess if u don't know the answer. For the ones near the end, personally I would say that if you have a few really good guesses but you don't know the definite answer, put one of the guesses down. But don't do this if you have absolutely no clue which one it is tho :wink:

hope this helped

Reply 5

TopazShyPhoenix

Thanks guys for all of your advice. I hope to get a certificate of some sort in the challenge. I'm not being boastful but for the last two years in JMC I've got both gold certificates and last year I got a merit in the kangaroo, so I want to aim for at least a bronze. I usually get stuck on the weird angle type questions (any advice??) but I like the logical ones eg where there are statements and you have to work out how many are telling the truth. My flaw in year 7 was going too safe (I was ONE mark off the kangaroo because I didn't answer enough questions) so is it worth guessing any questions and if so which ones?? Also if you guys have any questions about the challenge don't be shy, I might not be able to answer them myself but most likely someone on the chat will. Also how have you guys done in previous challenges?? 👍👎

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

BobBobson

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

Gold in last 2 JMC. Gold in Last IMC + Merit (42/60) in Intermediate Maths Olympiad, I was one silly mistake away from getting a Distinction and a Medal. I said that 2 wasn't a prime number and lost 7 marks for it. Even more reason for you guys to remember to check your answers super carefully. I even checked my answers and didn't notice my stupid mistake.

Reply 7

TopazShyPhoenix

Oops that's unfortunate!! 😁 Are you doing IMC again this year? Are you aiming for the distinction that you should've got?

Reply 8

BobBobson

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

Oops that's unfortunate!! 😁 Are you doing IMC again this year? Are you aiming for the distinction that you should've got?

yep

Reply 9

ben167

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

Hi guys,
Just joined The Student Room and thought this would be a useful chat for next year's challenge. This will be my first year sitting the paper (I'm in Year 9) so if anyone could give me any tips I would be really grateful 😊

Hello! I will (briefly) tell you my story and how I got to where I am now. I wasn't particularly interested in UKMT competitions until the end of last year. I had consistently got golds in the maths challenges, but I went from 70s to 100s in the space of a few months. I did it by looking at SMC papers and reading about useful theorems (e.g.Angle Bisector) which trivialised IMC problems! I was in the same position as you last year and I got really stuck on one problem and it went badly. However, like I said, try SMC papers q1-15 and you'll do well. Best of luck!

Reply 10

TopazShyPhoenix

Thanks for the great advice!! Are you still doing IMC or have you moved on to SMC?

Reply 11

ben167

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

Thanks for the great advice!! Are you still doing IMC or have you moved on to SMC?

No problem, happy to help :smile:

I'm currently in year 11 so I still have the intermediate competitions left but I'm doing the SMC with the hope of doing the olympiad. You still have ages so don't panic, alot has happened in the space of a year for me and no doubt the same will happen for you. If you need any help, please feel free to DM and I will try to help you as much as I can

Reply 12

TopazShyPhoenix

Thanks for that, and good luck for SMC (it's a lot sooner than IMC, right?), I'm sure you'll do great if you did questions to practice for IMC!! I'm feeling kind of daunted about IMC now, coz everyone on the chat is older and has done it already before. Your advice was really good about reading up about the different theorems, but I have no idea what they even are and I'm pretty sure if I searched it I wouldn't understand a word 😔. I feel at a huge disadvantage to everyone else 😩, but you're right, a lot can happen in the time I have left so I have to stop complaining and start working!! Thanks so much, your advice has really helped me (and probably anyone else who has read through the discussion thread) ☺️

Reply 13

TopazShyPhoenix

OMG I'm such an idiot!! I JUST realised that I spelt challenge wrong in the thread title! 😱😩 Why does autocorrect never work when you need it most ?! 😡😡

Reply 14

TopazShyPhoenix

I'm guessing this is one of those things where you can't change the title, right? Please tell me I'm wrong (praying that I'm wrong 🙏)

Reply 15

ben167

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

Thanks! Yeah, the SMC is this Tuesday... If you can do GCSE maths and can think outside the box, you're pretty much sorted for the IMC. Also, try out section a problems for the JMO (I never tried this but when I did the JMO these qus seemed to be similar to the IMC ones). I guess if you worked really hard you could improve by a lot each year. If you keep working, you'll probably do very well but don't stress it, that's the mistake I made last year...

Reply 16

TopazShyPhoenix

That's a great idea, I'll check out the first few JMO questions. I need to work on that last one though!! How was that a mistake for you last year?

Reply 17

ben167

Original post by TopazShyPhoenix

That's a great idea, I'll check out the first few JMO questions. I need to work on that last one though!! How was that a mistake for you last year?

Basically, I overworked in the few weeks prior to the IMC so I put too much pressure on myself, which I crumbled under. Hence, the best thing to do is to practice a lot, but also convince yourself that it's not too big a deal and then you will likely succeed

Reply 18

ben167

If you don't mind me asking how have you been doing in past papers?

Reply 19

TopazShyPhoenix

Alright, not too bad not too great. About low to mid 70s but I'm not sure I really want Olympiad, I don't think I'd be good enough. But I don't want to get my hopes up either, preferably I want to try and get kangaroo.