FIRST CIRCULAR

The 2003 QAMT Problem Solving Competition is open to all Queensland high school students and entry is only $1 per student. The competition is administered by schools themselves and several competition stations. The recommended date for the competition is the morning of Saturday 31 May, 2003; however a time between Wednesday 28 May - Monday 2 June is fine (and even greater variation may be possible).

The competition web page is http://www.maths.uq.edu.au/qamt.

Information about the competition, past question papers, lists of winning students, contact details and updated news items are at the website. Schools can register online or download a registration form.

There will be separate divisions for year 8, year 9, year 10, year 11 and year 12 students. There will be three papers: Year 8 will have their own paper, Years 9 and 10 will share a paper and Years 11 and 12 will share a paper.

All papers are two hours long and consist of a mixture of multi-choice and written answers. The papers consist of problems that do not usually require any greater knowledge than that possessed by good students but will need a certain amount of ingenuity and thought for their solution. Candidates should bring their own paper (about 10 sheets should be sufficient). Calculators may be used freely.

The Year 11 results are taken heavily into consideration in the choice of students to be offered places in the National Mathematics Summer School held in Canberra in January.

Substantial prizes for this year will be advertised when sponsorships are finalised. There will be good prizes and cash for the winning few places in each grade. Highly Commended and Honourable Mention certificates will be awarded by the judges. About the top twenty percent of contestants in each year level will receive a certificate.

Correspondence should be addressed to the QAMT Office:

C/- School of MSTE, QUT Kelvin Grove Campus, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove 4059 ,

email: qamt@qut.edu.au;

phone: 3864 3920

fax: 3864 3920

The timeline for the competition is:

April second competition circular distributed

By 17 May: teachers register students for the competition

Around 23 May: competition papers will be distributed to the school for teachers to copy

Around 31 May: schools host the competition

Around 2 June: schools post the completed scripts to the QAMT office, with $1 entry per student

July, August: scripts are marked at the University of Queensland

September: certificates, prizemoney and prizes are posted to students. Winners are listed at the competition website.

October: year 11 students nominated for the National Science Summer School, based party on QAMT competition results.