Team Registration

• Each team will consist of exactly 4 students in grade 6 – 8
• Teams must be comprised of active NSBE Jr. members
• Attendance at the 49th Annual Convention in Kansas City, MO is required

MATHCOUNTS^® Competition Components

MATHCOUNTS Written team Competition is designed to be completed at Annual Convention:

The TEAM ROUND consists of 10 problems that team members work to solve together. Team member interaction is permitted and encouraged.

The SPRINT ROUND (40 minutes) consists of 30 problems. This round challenges students’ accuracy in completing all of the problems in a limited period of time. Calculators are not permitted.

The TARGET ROUND (approximately 30 minutes) consists of eight problems presented to competitors in four pairs (6 minutes per pair). This round features multi-step problems that engage students in mathematical reasoning and problem-solving processes. Problems assume the use of calculators.

The TEAM ROUND (20 minutes) consists of 10 problems that team members work to solve together. Team member interaction is permitted and encouraged. Problems assume the use of calculators.

The MATHCOUNTS Final Countdown Round is designed for top scoring teams on the written competition to compete in a single-elimination bracket style tournament. A problem is presented to two teams at a time. The question will be read aloud, as well as presented on a screen. Students can use a pencil and scratch paper and discuss with their teammates. Teams have 45 seconds to determine the answer and hit a buzzer when they are ready to answer. The other team can continue to work while their opponent is answering. The teams that answer the most questions out of three correct moves on to the next round. Calculators are not permitted.

Competition Rules

Pencils and paper will be provided for students; however, students may bring their own pencils, pens and erasers if they wish. They may not use their own scratch paper or graph paper.

Calculators are permitted in the Team Rounds. When calculators are permitted, students may use any calculator (including programmable and graphing calculators) that does not contain a QWERTY (typewriter-like) keypad. Calculators that have the ability to enter letters of the alphabet but do not have a keypad in a standard typewriter arrangement are acceptable. Smart phones, laptops, iPads®, iPods®, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and any other “smart” devices are not considered to be calculators and may not be used during competitions. Students may not use calculators to exchange information with another person or device during the competition.

Coaches are responsible for ensuring that their students use acceptable calculators, and students are responsible for providing their own calculators (and batteries).

Should there be a rule violation or suspicion of irregularities, the MATHCOUNTS® competition official has the obligation and authority to exercise his or her judgment regarding the situation and take appropriate action, which might include disqualification of the suspected student(s) from the competition.

Use of notes or other reference materials (including dictionaries and translation dictionaries) is not permitted.

Communication with coaches is prohibited during rounds but is permitted during breaks.

All communication between guests and students is prohibited during competition rounds. Communication between teammates is permitted only during the Team Round.

Scoring

Competition scores do not conform to traditional grading scales. Coaches and students should view an individual written competition score of 23 (out of a possible 46) as highly commendable.

The individual score is the sum of the number of Sprint Round questions answered correctly and twice the number of Target Round questions answered correctly. There are 30 questions in the Sprint Round and 8 questions in the Target Round, so the maximum possible individual score is 30 + 2(8) = 46.

The team score is calculated by dividing the sum of the team members’ individual scores by four (even if the team has fewer than four members) and adding twice the number of Team Round questions answered correctly. The highest possible individual score is 46. Four students may compete on a team, and there are 10 questions in the Team Round. Therefore, the maximum possible team score is ((46 + 46 + 46 + 46) ÷ 4) + 2(10) = 66.

Ties will be broken as necessary to determine team prizes. The team with the higher Team Round score, receives the higher rank. If a tie remains after comparisons, specific questions from the Team Round will be compared. 

Note: These are very general guidelines. Competition officials receive more detailed procedures.

In general, questions in the Team Rounds increase in difficulty so that the most difficult questions occur near the end of the round. In a comparison of questions to break ties, generally those who correctly answer the more difficult questions receive the higher rank.

Protests concerning the correctness of an answer on the written portion of the competition must be registered with the room supervisor in writing by a coach within 30 minutes of the end of each round. Rulings on protests are final and may not be appealed.

Application Procedure

MATHCOUNTS^® registration is completed via an online application through Jotform. The application can be found here. Each team interested in participating for the 2022 - 2023 program year must submit an application for the program and meet all of the team requirements. Completing all of the information in the application is vital.

Critical 2022 - 2023 Dates

For quick reference, the following target dates are listed to ensure your participation in MATHCOUNTS^®. For further information on the upcoming NSBE conferences,  please visit nsbe.org.