Ever since I was thirteen, I have loved the movie Mean Girls. Since then, I’ve never quite understood what exactly happens at a math competition. I was expecting a large room with groups of visitors, waiting for someone to scream, “the limit does not exist!”, which would proclaim one school the champion. During an interview with ACP’s own Mrs. Craft, she explained how my vision was not accurate… at all.

Some of the ACP students, both at the Erie and Oakland campuses, recently competed in a Junior High math competition called Math Counts. This competition is open to all 6-8th graders and consists of multiple rounds, which ACP happily brought 9 out of the 10 permitted students to the State round. Overall, ACP did amazing, for they placed, as a team, second in the state round. Richard Chang, an 8th grader at ACP-Oakland, qualified for the National round, which is the final round, and will be competing in may for his National title. Mrs. Craft then explained what a high stakes math competition, similar to Math Counts, is like. She started by emphasizing the fact that there is no large crowd; the only time there are people watching students compete is in the Math Olympiad contest; otherwise, students are in a large room working by themselves to solve their intense math problems. Ms. Craft highlighted the fact that these competitions aren’t easy. The first round consists of a test to qualify them to the next round, but the fun starts in the next round. After the first round, students are invited to the AIME, which stands for the American Innovational Mathematics Examination, the round Richard Chang also qualified for. This test is only 15 questions, no problem right? Well, the students are allotted 3 full hours for all 15 questions. This just proves it is not an easy test! After the AIME test, a student can qualify for the USA Junior Math Olympiad, or the USA Math Olympiad, which are both prestigious offers. These tests both last two days and are “proof based tests”, meaning they aren’t simple algebra skills. Do you remember the small proofs we learned in Geometry with Mrs. Craft? These tests are similar to that, except much harder, longer, and more complicated. After this test, is the final step. Students are invited to math camps, which teach them problem-solving skills, and if a person does on the Math Olympiad test, he or she may earn a “full ride scholarship” to these camps, which is similar to a full ride scholarship for college, meaning all expenses are paid.

Knights, our math team has made ACP history! They are determined to place first at their State competition next year and already have multiple accomplishments. If you see a member of our math club, make sure to congratulate him or her on the teams many rewards!