The Competition

Goals

Format

Students are allowed to work in teams of up to four. No calculators are allowed.

NEMO fuses middle school-style competitions like MATHCOUNTS and high school-style ones like the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). It is partly designed to transition students from middle-school to high-school level contests.

Individual Round. This round asks students to answer 30 questions in 50 minutes. Questions tend to involve typical competition "tricks": The brute force method works for most problems but often proves to be too slow. The best way to practice is by doing reviewing past NEMO questions and MATHCOUNTS Sprint Rounds. (The Chapter and State levels of MATHCOUNTS would suffice for NEMO; only 2-3 problems each year are at the Nationals level.)

Team Round. Students have 10 questions to solve in 50 minutes again. Questions are slightly more difficult and tend to require multiple steps or more calculations. Although specialization may be a good strategy, it is usually necessary to discuss these problems with teammates. It is also recommended that students check their teammates' work. Again, Chapter and State level MATHCOUNTS Sprint Rounds will be good practice for this round.

Application Round. This round, similar to the ARML Power Round, makes NEMO unique. Students work in teams and explore each "application" or problem in depth. Each contains a series of 6-8 questions of varying point value and requires students to justify their results, highlighting the importance of effective communication in math and science and teamwork skills. An explanation instead of a rigorous proof will suffice as if students are explaining the problem to a friend.

Each paper will contain at least one question dealing with theoretical math and at least one regarding sciences, possibly a social science. The first few math questions have definite answers, numerical or algebraic. Though easier, justification is more important here: Getting the right answer is only a small portion of the problem, and the explanation accounts for the bulk of the points. The final few questions are more abstract where students will find and justify a pattern or a generalization. The science questions ask students to explore applied mathematics. All concepts will be easy to grasp and explained. There is no need for students to read a science textbook in order to prepare for NEMO! The questions ask students to interpret the results of a mathematical equation and explain why they make physical sense. Rigor in justification plays a more minor role.

The application round is the most challenging event but is within the scope of middle school students. The best way to prepare is by practicing past questions in teams. Students must realize that the purpose of this round is to develop teamwork skills. Different members will have different strengths. It is not optimal to rely on only one member to pull the team through.

Eagle Round. This round is new to this year's competition. The top eight scorers from the Individual Round will be pitted in a single elimination tournament to test the participants' speed and capability to perform under pressure. Buzzers will be used and other competitors will be allowed to spectate. Please note that this round has no bearing on the overall placement of teams and individuals. Individual and team placement will only be determined by the aforementioned three rounds.

Scoring. Individual placement will be simply determined by the total number of Individual Round questions answered. Team placements will be determined by a composite of all three rounds. Every Team Round question will be worth 4 points, for a total of 60 possible points from the Team Round. The total points possible from the Application Round will also be 60 points. Finally, the twice the average of the team's individual scores will be added to the composite, resulting in 180 possible points.