MATHEMATICS LEAGUE
HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST ORGANIZATION

MEMBERSHIP Any secondary school that agrees to abide by these rules may participate in the League upon application to the League and upon agreement to pay the scheduled fee for the school year.

QUESTIONS (TIME LIMITS AND TOPICS) Each contest has a time limit of 30 minutes. There are 6 problems on each contest. The problems may involve any topic from high school mathematics (through precalculus). Each contest includes at least two problems requiring no mathematics beyond elementary algebra and geometry, including coordinate geometry. There is no tie­breaking contest. If, for any reason, a problem must be dropped (as decided by an appeals judge), no replacement will be made.

ELIGIBILITY OF STUDENTS Only students officially registered in the same accredited school of record may participate on that school's team. Each school receives 30 copies of each contest. On the contest day, schools needing additional copies may make additional copies. We encourage schools to seek participation of students on all grade levels. On each contest, the school's "team score" is the sum of the 5 (or fewer) highest scores on that contest. The students on a school's team may vary from contest to contest. A student absent on the contest day may take the contest but must not have his/her score listed on the school official score report.

CONTEST MATERIALS PACKAGE The contest materials for all six contests should be received by each school no later than one week prior to the date of the first contest. The League should be phoned immediately at 1-201-568-6328 if the materials have not been received by this time. The contest materials package will contain six separate sealed envelopes, one for each contest. Each separate sealed envelope will include a score report form, a return envelope, 30 copies of the contest, and complete solutions to the problems. For each contest a separate mailing will include a report of results of the previous contest and a newsletter containing announcements and items of interest. A school needing more than 30 copies of any contest is permitted, on the day of the contest, to make as many additional copies as are required. For no other reason may the contest envelope be opened prior to the actual time of use in the contest, except that special arrangements may be made for handicapped students, and dictionaries may be made accessible to non-English-speaking students.

CONTEST AWARDS At the completion of each school year's contests, plaques will be given to the two schools with the highest total scores in the League and also to the two students (whose scores are regularly and accurately reported in the Cumulative Column of the score report) with the highest total scores in the League. Additional plaques will be given to the highest scoring school in each county/province (or similar geographical region) in which six or more schools are League participants. Counties in which fewer than six schools participate will be grouped together into regions for the purpose of awards. No school may win more than one plaque in any school year. A certificate will be awarded to the highest scoring student on each grade level in each school. The League reserves the right to authenticate scores and the right to break ties based upon performance on selected questions or, at its option, to issue duplicate awards.

AUTHENTICATION OF SCORES It is the policy of the League to authenticate scores and eligibility of student participants from schools winning major awards. It is the policy of the League to authenticate scores and eligibility of student participants from schools winning major awards. The League reserves the right to authenticate scores and/or to reexamine students or validate student solutions before granting official status to any score. The League has the option to disqualify any school that violates any League rule.

HIGH SCHOOL CONTEST PROCEDURES

CONTEST DATE Except in unusual circumstances, all contests must be held on the scheduled dates. In the event of school closings, special administrative functions, testing days, severely inclement weather, or similar disruptions of the normal school schedule, permission is granted to conduct the contest on a proximate school day.

STARTING TIME AND LOCATION Contests may be held, on the scheduled dates, at any one time and place convenient to the school, supervised by school personnel, except that all students officially participating in the contest (within the same school) must take the contest at the same time. Students who are absent or who take the contest at any later time or period must not be included on the score report sent to the League.

PROCTORING Each contest must be actively proctored at all times by a teacher who must sign the contest reports to be forwarded to the League. Neither the proctor nor anyone else may interpret any problem to any student during the contest.

MATERIALS ALLOWED Only plain paper, pencil or pen, and any calculator without a QWERTY keyboard, may be used by the participants. No graph paper, compasses, straight edges, rulers, printed mathematical tables, or other devices shall be allowed, except where special arrangements have been made for handicapped students or when dictionaries are made accessible to non-English-speaking students.

START OF THE CONTEST Each participant should be given a copy of the contest. Answers for each problem must appear in the appropriate space in the answer column. Answers written elsewhere receive no credit. If a specific answer form is required for a problem, the answer(s) for that problem must be written in the required form. After the signal to begin is given by the proctor, the timing of the contest will begin.

TIME WARNINGS Warnings that "15 minutes remain," that "5 minutes remain," and that "1 minute remains" should be made to participants at the appropriate times. No other warnings or announcements about the contest should be made during the contest to any participant.

MARKING THE ANSWERS Question papers should be collected and graded by a teacher, who should award 1 point for each problem correctly answered. No credit may be awarded for partial answers. The correct answers are those listed or those mathematically exactly equivalent (or, to accommodate calculator usage, equivalent to 4 significant digits) to those listed, on the sheet containing complete solutions to the problems.

SUBMITTING CONTEST RESULTS ONLINE The advisor should submit the scores of the school's participants to the League's Internet Score Report Center.. These reports will be used to determine the award winners. The advisor is responsible for the accuracy of the report. Answers mathematically exactly equivalent to the official answer(s) should be given credit, provided that, when a specific answer form has been asked for, that answer form has been adhered to. Answers incomplete in any way should receive no credit. No partial credit is allowed. An appealed problem should be scored as an "A" on the score report. On each contest, the school score is the sum of the 5 (or fewer) highest scores on that contest. The score report should be submitted to our Internet Score Report Center no later than Friday of the contest week. The League reserves the right to report only those scores submitted by Friday of the contest week. Question papers may be returned to students.

APPEALS PROCEDURE Appeals will be awarded only on the basis of a disallowed exactly equivalent answer, an incorrect official answer, or a correct answer to a correct alternate interpretation of a problem. Detailed explanations of alternative interpretations should be made in the comments section when filing the score reports. Appeals will be forwarded to an appeals judge for review. Notification of the decision of the appeals judge are made in the newsletter accompanying the contest results. The decision of the appeals judge will be final.

Directors:
Dan Flegler / Phone: 1-201-568-6328, Fax: 1-201-816-0125
Steve Conrad / Phone: 1-516-365-5656, Fax: 1-516-365-5657

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© 1998-2007 by Mathematics Leagues Inc.
Last updated January 2007 by Steve Conrad and Daniel Flegler.