Junior Maths Challenge 2018

Year 8 pupils achieved 13 Gold, 29 Silver and 22 Bronze certificates in this year’s UKMT Junior Maths Challenge.

Hundreds of thousands of pupils in Year 8 or below from across the UK sat the Challenge, with roughly the top 7% receiving a Gold certificate, 13% Silver and 20% Bronze.

The percentages for BRGS were 15% Gold, 33% Silver and 25% Bronze.

Top scorer Dan has been invited to sit a further round - the Junior Mathematical Olympiad - while five other pupils, Lucy, George, Ansh, Samir and Ben, qualified for the Junior Kangaroo, which is a multiple-choice Europe-wide challenge.

Maths teacher Mr Wilbraham, who organises the Challenge, said: “Year 8 pupils have once again excelled in the Maths Challenge.

“Nationally, certificates are awarded to the top 40% of the cohort, but 73% of the BRGS pupils were awarded a certificate. The idea behind the Challenge is to test mathematical thinking and application in more abstract questions. The Maths learned in lessons is still used, but the approach to answering a question, nor the topic involved, is immediately obvious.  Questions in the Junior Challenge are also graded to test the most able candidates and would be suitable as extension work for later years as well, particularly in preparation for their GCSE courses.  I would particularly like to pass on my congratulations to the six pupils who have qualified for the follow-on rounds, as they have demonstrated a very high level of mathematical aptitude and understanding.

“They now have to sit even more challenging papers, but we are confident they will do well once again.”

Two sample questions from this year’s Junior Maths Challenge are:

How many integers are greater than 20 + 18 and also less than 20 x 18?

A: 320             B: 321             C: 322             D: 323             E: 324

The approximate cost of restoring the Flying Scotsman was £4 million. This was about 500 times the cost of building the steam engine in 1923. Roughly, what did the engine cost to build?

A: £800           B: £2,000        C: £8,000        D: £20,000      E: £80,000