Three sixth-formers have won places in the second round of the élite British Mathematical Olympiad.
They were among a total of 11 QE boys from Years 12 and 13 who had qualified to sit the first round of the Olympiad, which is one of the follow-on rounds of the UK Mathematics Trust’s Senior Maths Challenge. This compares with eight boys reaching round 1 of the Olympiad last year and three in 2015.
The round 2 qualifiers – Aneesh Chopada, of Year 13; Niam Vaishnav, of Year 12, and Kiran Aberdeen, of Year 12 – were all awarded certificates of distinction and bronze medals, having scored 49 marks out of a possible 60, 48/60 and 47/60 respectively.
Kiran said: “I really enjoyed the question about triangle numbers as it made me think ‘outside the box’,” while Niam added: “I enjoy the challenge of these problem-solving questions because they’re different from what we learn in class.”
Yuri Evdokimov, of Year 13, and Nico Puthu Parackat Biosca, of Year 12, also received certificates of distinction, scoring 37/60 each. The remaining six pupils all received a certificate of qualification.
A further 25 sixth-formers took part in the Senior Maths Challenge’s other follow-on round, the Senior Kangaroo (up from ten in 2016). The high scorers were: Karnan Sembian, of Year 13, (50 marks out of a possible 100); Aschwin Jegatheeswaran, of Year 13, (45); Ibrahim Al-Hariri, of Year 12, (40); Akshat Sharma, of Year 12, (40), and Oliver Robinson, of Year 13 (40). They were each awarded a merit certificate for achieving scores of 40 or more, placing them in the top 25% nationally. The remaining 20 boys received certificates of qualification.
Assistant Head of Mathematics Wendy Fung said: “Warmest congratulations to all our students and best wishes to Aneesh, Kiran and Niam for the next round.”
Round 1 of the Olympiad consisted of six long, extended questions to be completed in three-and-a-half hours. Round 2, due to take place on Thursday 25th January, will involve four long, extended questions to be completed within the same timeframe. Success in this round will result in an invitation to participate in training for the International Mathematical Olympiad.
The Senior Kangaroo is a one-hour paper. All the questions require three-digit answers (using leading zeros where necessary) entered on to a machine-readable sheet similar to those used for the Senior Challenge. It is the first competition of its kind to be organised by the UKMT – that is, a challenge that is marked by machine but is not multiple-choice.