Rules of SMO 2024 (Junior Section)

Objective

The objective of the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad 2024 (SMO 2024) (Junior Section) (hereafter called the “Competition”) organized by the Singapore Mathematical Society (hereafter called “SMS”) is to test the ingenuity and mathematical problem-solving ability of the participants, and to discover and encourage mathematical talents in secondary schools in Singapore.

Eligibility

The Competition is open to Secondary School students born on or after 2 January 2010 and who have never attended any tertiary level educational institution on a full-time basis.

Round 1

Round 1 of the Competition will be a two-and-a-half hour written paper consisting of multiple choice and short questions. All questions will carry equal weight. The language of the Competition will be English.

Round 2

Participants in the top 10% of round 1 of the competition will be invited to participate in round 2, which will be a three-hour written paper consisting of questions requiring full-length solutions.

Topics

The topics covered by the questions would normally be within the curriculum of Secondary One and Two mathematics education. There will be a significant number of questions based on school mathematics syllabus.

Registration Fee

The registration fee is $8.00 per participant (from SMS institutional member schools) per competition category; and $10.00 per participant (from non-institutional member schools) per competition category. The names of the participants, along with the fees, should be forwarded by the Head of Department of Mathematics (of the competing school) to the Chairman of the Competition Committee in the prescribed format before the announced closing date. Late applications will not be accepted. The receipt of all entries will be acknowledged.

Individual Awards

Participants will be ranked according to the total marks scored in round 1 & 2 of the Competition. Based on the round 1 results, silver/bronze/honourable mention certificates will be awarded to the students who meet the set criteria that are dependent on the level of difficulty of the competition. Only participants invited for round 2 will be considered for individual prizes and the award of Gold certificates, which will take into consideration results of round 1 & 2. Certificates of participation will be awarded to all other participants.

School Awards

The School Awards are divided into two categories based on the age cut-off. The system will be criteria-based. Schools will be awarded points for the number of participants that registered and attempted the paper, as well as the number of Gold, Silver, Bronze awards and Honourable Mentions obtained by the students. The school will then be given an SMO School Award (Gold, Silver, Bronze or Commendation) for each category based on the total number of points achieved. Please refer to SMS website for details of the School Awards system.

Prizes for Individual participants

The School Awards are divided into two categories based on the age cut-off. The system will be criteria-based. Schools will be awarded points for the number of participants that registered and attempted the paper, as well as the number of Gold, Silver, Bronze awards and Honourable Mentions obtained by the students. The school will then be given an SMO School Award (Gold, Silver, Bronze or Commendation) for each category based on the total number of points achieved. Please refer to SMS website for details of the School Awards system.

Challenge Trophy

The school with the highest aggregate of the best three total scores (round 1 & 2) of its students will be awarded the Singapore Mathematical Society Challenge Trophy (Junior Section), subject to a minimum cap of 150 participants in Junior section from the school. The Trophy will be kept by the school until the next competition. A Challenge Trophy may be kept permanently by a school which has won five consecutive competitions.

Results of the Competition

Results will be released within three months from the date of the Competition. Any query or dispute over the results may be raised through the school’s teacher-in-charge to SMS within one month after the release of the results. SMS reserves the right to maintain or change the results as deemed fit. The decision of SMS is final.