Difference between revisions of "Mock MathCounts"

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! scope="row" | '''Mock MATHCOUNTS 2018 State Competition'''
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Revision as of 11:58, 26 February 2018

A Mock MathCounts is a contest intended to mimic an actual MathCounts exam. A number of Mock MathCounts competitions have been hosted on the Art of Problem Solving message boards. Some are made by one community member, while others may be sourced from a group or the general community. Then they are administered to the AoPS community. Different users may have a different way of participating: some may require signups, while others do not.

Mock MathCounts' are usually very popular in the months leading up to the actual MathCounts competition. There is no guarantee that community members will make Mock MathCounts' in any given year, but it's usually a good bet that someone will.

Tips for Writing a Mock MathCounts

Here are some tips to write a good mock MathCounts:

  • Have multiple people work on the problems. Getting more people will get variety and prevents mocks from having too many problems from one subject. Having a group is also good so they can discuss which problems are good or need improvement, and fix errors. More than one person working on a mock can get the test done faster and often times better quality.
  • Get people to proofread it. Look for spelling, grammar, ambiguously-worded questions (this includes geometry questions for which more than one configuration is possible!), typos in the answers, etc. Have someone to look over the problems, make sure they are appropriate in difficulty and order, and understandable by the general audience. Additionally, make sure they are written in the style of an actual MATHCOUNTS exam, e.g. add "Express your answer as a common fraction" or "Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth" where appropriate.
  • Don't be afraid to harshly criticize your problems. Usually criticism is what helps mocks get better!
  • Make sure the problems are original. The AoPS community does not want to waste time seeing a collection of boring, cliche problems that in principle are identical to an existing problem from a past MathCounts, with a few numbers modified.
  • Add variety. Nobody wants to see a sprint round with 15 counting problems or 20 algebra problems. Generally, algebra and geometry should have a larger emphasis than number theory and counting. The target round should have problems from all four subjects.
  • Once the test has been released, it is usually a good idea to keep the answers from being released at the same time. This can help prevent cheating, and also gives the problem solvers more time to make sure the problems are solved correctly.

Basically, getting many people to work on the mock is a great way to help improve the quality, though it is not always the case if everyone gets off task and "helpers" becomes "parasites".

Mock Mathcounts Template

Past Mock Mathcounts

Listed below are several Mock Mathcounts' which have been hosted over AoPS in the past.

Difficulty is rated on a scale from 0 to 5, where 1 is school level and 5 is national level. Note that this is not necessarily the same as the intended difficulty. If you take a contest, please contribute by rating it.

Also note that "author" is the user who started the mock competition, not his or her helpers.

Unrated

If you attempt one of these contests, please help out by rating it.

Author Year Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts ragnarok23 2006 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts #H34N1 2008 Initial Discussion Sprint Target n/a n/a
My Mock Test Gauss1181 2008 Initial Discussion Target

Sprint

n/a Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Competition andersonw 2008 Initial Discussion Sprint / Target p1

Target p2

n/a n/a
Mock Mathcounts Round abacadaea 2008 Initial Discussion Sprint n/a n/a
My Mock Test runpengFAILS 2008 Initial Discussion Problems Results / Discussion
42nd Mock Mathcounts xpmath 2009 Initial Discussion Sprint/Target Team n/a Results/Discussion
Waffle's Mock Mathcounts Waffle 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Izzy's Mock Mathcounts isabella2296 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a Results / Discussion

School

Author Year Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock MC School PowerOfPi 2009 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS School KingSmasher3 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a Results / Discussion
Mathcounts School Round Maybach 2009 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts School Th3Numb3rThr33 2014 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mental MathCounts suli 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion

Chapter

Author Year Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts A #H34N1 2006 Initial Discussion Problems Answers n/a
Mock MathCounts Chapter AIME15 2008 Initial Discussion Sprint Target n/a Results / Discussion
Mock MC Chapter PowerOfPi 2009 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS Chapter KingSmasher3 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mathcounts Chapter Round Maybach 2009 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts B Mathc314 2011 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock Mathcounts iNomOnCountdown 2014 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Chapter RadioActive 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Chapter uwotm8 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS Chapter Competition reddragon644, ev3commander 2017 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS Chapter Round!'" kevinmathz 2017 Initial Discussion [null] [null] [null]

State

Author Year Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts National 2006 biffanddoc 2006 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock MATHCOUNTS State KingSmasher3 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mathcounts State Round Maybach 2009 Initial Discussion Sprint Target n/a Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts A BOGTRO 2011 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Chapter Th3Numb3rThr33 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Chapter Competition SuperMathWiz 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
July 4th Mock State Competition ishankhare 2016 Initial Discussion Problems Answers n/a
Mock MathCounts State reun 2016 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock MATHCOUNTS State Competition reddragon644, e_power_pi_times_i, muhandae17, ProGameXD 2017 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS 2018 State Competition scrabbler94 2018 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results

National

Author Year Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
My Second Mock Test! Yongyi781 2008 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Test sansuunoousama 2009 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock Mathcounts Exam luppleAOPS 2011 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock Mathcounts National forthegreatergood 2013 Initial Discussion Problems Answers n/a
Mock Mathcounts BOGTRO 2014 Initial Discussion Problems n/a n/a
Mock Mathcounts National joey8189681 2014 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts C efang 2014 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts mudkipswims42 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results / Discussion
Crowd Sourced Mock Mathcounts National DeathLlama9 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts State B Th3Numb3rThr33 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts National Th3Numb3rThr33 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts National Target nosaj 2015 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Results/Discussion
Mock Mathcounts Nationals Mudkipswims42 2016 Initial Discussion Problems Answers Discussion
Mock MATHCOUNTS National Competition muhandae17 2017 [Initial Discussion] [Problems] [Answers] [Discussion]

More Links: Link 1 Link 2

See Also