The Pomona-Winsconsin Math Talent Search: Round 2
November 1 - November 30

USAMTS: Round 2

Winter Registration at Avid Academy is now open! The Winter Session offers 10 weeks of Math Olympiad and Problem Solving training from December 1, 2008 to February 21, 2009.  Our weekday classes have a limit of 12 students per class.  Existing students are guaranteed a spot, but new students are encouraged to register early.
 
For more information: please visit Avid Academy - Winter 2009 Registration Begins.
 

The national results from Round One of the Rocket City Math League competition have been released, and Avid Academy consistently ranks high in most divisions.

Our students' high scores gave Avid Academy a national ranking of 8th in Pre-Algebra, 6th in Algebra I, 7th in Geometry, and 9th highest in Algebra II. Further congratulations to Benjamin Chen and Sayaka Nakano, who nationally ranked at 11th and 12th place in their respective divisions.

To see all the rankings from Avid Academy students' competitions, visit Avid Academy Results.

 

In a slightly controversial decision, the College Board - the organization that created the SAT, PSAT, and AP programs - has come up with a new test aimed at younger students, called the ReadiStep. Lee Jones, a College Board vice president, says that this new test is just a "diagnostic tool to provide information about students' strengths and weaknesses." Jones and other College Board officials have been prompted to defend this latest creation, since many school officials criticize them for deluging students with standardized exams.
 
There is now much debate over how much benefit (or harm) the ReadiStep will provide. Its proponents insist that the exam, at less than $10 a test, is entirely voluntary, and will be paid for by the school districts. The aim of the ReadiStep is not to give middle school students anxiety about college, but rather, to provide a standardized diagnostic test that will assess each student's talents. The exam is divided into three multiple-choice sections of critical reading, writing skills and mathematics, in a similar format as the PSAT.
 
We can only tell whether this test will actually end up stressing out pre-teens instead of helping them once it's actually implemented.
 
To learn more about the debate over the ReadiStep test, read College Board Will Offer a New Test Next Fall.

On October 25, Wei-Hwa Huang solved the final puzzle in 7 minutes, 39 seconds and defeated former world and U.S. champion Dr. Thomas Snyder, a 28-year-old bioengineering researcher at Stanford University, by 26 seconds to win the Sudoku National Championship.  Mr. Huang, a 33-year-old software engineer from Mountain View, Calif., won $10,000 and a spot on the U.S. World Sudoku Team that will compete in Slovakia next year.  A Putnam Fellow graduated from Caltech, Huang is a four-time World Puzzle Champions.  While worked at Google, one of his most famous projects was the Da Vinci Code Quest. 
 
The competition had a huge turn-out, as Sudoku is quickly becoming a more popular puzzle than the crossword. There were 728 people from 28 states participated in the event, ranging from 8 to 80 years old. Both Will Shortz, the nation's leading puzzle expert, and Maki Jaki, the inventor of Sudoku, were there to oversee the competition.
 
To read more about the record-breaking contest, visit Champ Upset in Sudoku Battle.

Gifted Students Bill of Rights
You have a right...

...to know about your giftedness.
...to learn something new everyday.
...to be passionate about your talent area without apologies.
...to have an identity beyond your talent area.
...to feel good about your accomplishments.
...to make mistakes.
...to seek guidance in the development of your talent.
...to have multiple peer groups and a variety of friends.
...to choose which of your talent areas you wish to pursue.
...not to be gifted at everything.

-Del Siegle, 2007-2009 NAGC President