By Caden Boling
Seventh grader Maddox Sparkman is headed to the Math Counts state competition March 9th. He has been working really hard over the school year and his hard work paid off. To prepare for state, he has been studying without a break and he even has been getting tutored by SHS retired math teacher Verne Ratliff.
So what is Math Counts? Rebecca Consley, who teaches 8th grade math, responded to this question with, “Math Counts is like Math Bowl, but at a more advanced level.” This is Consley’s first year leading the Math Counts team and she shares the responsibility with 7th grade math teacher Elizabeth Heightchew.
Sparkman said he’s a little nervous about going to state, but he is also excited. He hopes that the state competition is similar to the regional competition. A few facts about Sparkman is that he was on the Math Bowl team in 2021 and 2022. His favorite subject surprisingly isn’t math, he actually prefers geography.
Consley said the Math Counts team is picked based on who wants to compete. The team of four was chosen based on a qualifying exam. The highest scores make up the team. The requirements to be on the team are to be able to attend two practices a week. Students can be in sixth, seventh or eighth grade.
The competitions consist of a sprint round where students answer about 30 questions in 40 minutes individually. All participants compete in the sprint round. The students also compete in a team round. In this round, the top four go against other teams of four. The students answer 10 very challenging questions in 20 minutes. Another round the students compete in is a target round. In the target round, students answer two questions at a time in five or six minutes individually.
The students practice for these competitions every Monday and Wednesday. The practices last for about an hour and a half. The students do practice tests, play math games, and video lessons during these practices.
Consley said, “The goal for Math Counts is for students to have fun, while learning high level math skills. Any student in any grade is eligible to be on the team.”
Starting next year, Consley said the team is going to be able to start utilizing the resources that are available on the Math Counts website. By utilizing the resources, the students will have an easier time learning high level math. Another plan for the team next year is to start meeting once a week the first nine weeks. During the second and third nine weeks, the team is going to start meeting twice a week. The team is going to have more of an overall plan as to what they are doing each week so the lessons/activities build on each other.