Two weeks ago, 35 students from the sixth grade at Becker Middle School traveled to the Math Master’s competition at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School. Besides Becker, there were 34 teams and 163 students at the regional competition.
Competition
Becker’s 35 students first completed in a fact drill round - a five-minute drill on 75 order of operation problems. (9 x 6 - 4 x 6 ÷ 3).
The students then competed in three individual rounds and a tie breaker round consisting of 10-minute rounds with eight questions.
Following a 15-minute break, the students gathered with their teams to complete three, 15-minute team rounds featuring 10 questions for each round. Final team scores were comprised of individual scores from the team members and the team scores.
At the regional competition, Becker took home the following awards:
Fact drill awards
(1-10 awarded)
1). Alex Weiss; 2). Ashley Crane; 3). Brekken Klug; 4-tie). Nathan Gunderson and Kyle Vogl; 5). Arleigh Pudlick; 7-tie). Alexis Mostad and Macy Spear; 8). Ayla Brown and 9). Danielle Nuest.
Individuals
(1-20 awarded)
4). Elisa Amberg; 13). Micah Boyer; 15). Arleigh Pudlick and 20). Brekken Klug.
Team
(1-8 awarded)
Second place: Elysa Amberg, Micah Boyer, Paige Johnson, Harrison Kent and Arleigh Pudlick.
Third place: Nathan Gunderson, Tim Middleton, Alexia Mostad, Maxwell Olson- Burkman and Jalyn Selly.
Sixth place: Ayla Brown, Wyatt Hamacher, Brekken Klug, Cassie Larson and Hudson Romfo.
Thirteenth place: Ryan Bengtson, Ava Ewald, Gregory Headley, Emily Meyer and Kevin Vogl.
Fourteenth place: Olivia Bond, Grace Hilden, Shayla Plaster, Macy Spear and Elijah Tweten.
Fifteenth place: Ashley Crane, Lauren Sand, Patience Severson, Alex Weiss and Megan Remus.
Twenty-fourth place: Andrew Fredrick , Danielle Nuest, Luke O'Connor, Meghan Swanson and Kyle Vogl.
Test materials are carefully prepared by math department faculty members at St. Cloud State University. Eight rounds of problems cover the following mathematical areas: number facts/order of operations, numeracy/properties of numbers, geometry/time/money, statistics/ probability/counting, decimals/fractions/percents, charts/graphs and sequences/series and for 6th grade only pre-algebra.
The event includes an individual fact drill, four individual problem-solving rounds, and three group problem-solving rounds with team members cooperating over the solutions. The competition lasts approximately three to four hours, including short breaks.
Only non-programmable calculators are permitted. However, no calculators may be used with the fact drill round. (No cell phones or handheld computers are allowed)
Awards given at the competition include participation certificates for all members, individual place awards and team plaques.
