Students at R.C. Murphy and P.J Gelinas Junior High School earned high honors this winter as they received top marks in the AMC 8 Math Contest.
Gelinas seventh graders Michael Retakh and Eric Zhong tied for first place at Gelinas and both students scored in the top 1% nationally. Anna Xing placed second for Gelinas and scored in the top 5% nationally.
Murphy eighth graders Shirley Xiong earned First Place Winner/Honor Roll of Distinction, scoring in the top 1% nationally; Oliver Wu earned Second Place/Honor Roll Certificate and scored in the top 5% nationally and Alexander Singer placed third.
The AMC 8 is a 25-question, 40-minute, multiple-choice examination in middle school mathematics designed to promote the development of problem-solving skills. The AMC 8 provides an opportunity for middle school students to develop positive attitudes towards analytical thinking and mathematics that can assist in future careers. Students apply classroom skills to unique problem-solving challenges in a low-stress and friendly environment.
The material covered on the AMC 8 includes topics from a traditional middle school mathematics curriculum. Possible topics include but are not limited to counting and probability, estimation, proportional reasoning, elementary geometry including the Pythagorean Theorem, spatial visualization, everyday applications, and reading and interpreting graphs and tables. In addition, some of the latter questions may involve linear or quadratic functions and equations, coordinate geometry and other topics traditionally covered in a beginning algebra course.