QE has emerged strongly from the two follow-on rounds of the annual Intermediate Maths Challenge, with increased numbers of boys participating and many very strong performances.
Nineteen boys from Years 9 to 11 competed against some 1,700 students in the UK Mathematics Trust’s 2017 Intermediate Olympiad. All were invited to take part after performing very well in the first round of the challenge.
Year 9 boys James Tan and Tanishq Mehta, together with Kiran Aberdeen, of Year 11, were among the Olympiad front-runners, with scores of 56, 51 and 47 out of 60 respectively. They won distinction certificates, a medal and a book prize (awarded to the top 50). Year 11 pupils Bashmy Basheer and Nico Puthu also won distinction certificates and a medal (which is given to the top 100), while Edward Hu, of Year 10, was awarded a distinction certificate (awarded to the top 25%). Eleven more were awarded merit certificates.
A further 132 boys from Years 9–11 took part in the European Kangaroo – open to the next highest-performing entrants from round 1 across more than 30 countries. The QE contingent represented an increase of nearly 50% on last year (89) which was already double the number of qualifiers in 2015 (46).
Forty-two boys were among the top 25% internationally and thus received merit certificates – more than double last year’s QE total (20). The top scorers in each year group were: Niam Vaishnav, of Year 11, with 118; Jamie Watkin-Rees of Year 10, with 107, and Joshua Wong, of Year 9, with 124, all out of a potential maximum score of 135.
The competition is run by Kangourou sans Frontières (KSF), an independent association: its name reflects the fact that it was originated by the Australian Mathematics Trust.
Assistant Head of Mathematics, Wendy Fung, congratulated the boys on their performance in 2017 – the 15th year that the UKMT has run the Mathematical Olympiad and Kangaroo contests. “To solve just one of the problems set is an achievement, so those who did more than that deserve corresponding praise.”
Afterwards, the boys reflected on their experiences. Tanishq found the questions “really interesting”, Kiran said that he simply had fun and Jamie added: “I really liked the questions – they use what we learn in class in a different way.”