KING’S Ely Senior student Eleanor MacGillivray sat the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls in October, which is a competition aimed usually for girls in Year 11 or above.
Thankfully, younger students are allowed to enter at the discretion of their school, and Eleanor, who is in Year 10, scored 41 out of a maximum possible score of 50, qualifying her for both the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad (IMOK) and the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO1)!
The IMOK is sat by the top 500 scorers from each school year in the Intermediate Maths Challenge and Eleanor will sit the Hamilton paper.
Round 1 of the BMO is a 3.5 hour examination including 6 more difficult, long answer questions, which serve to test entrants’ puzzle-solving skills. Around 100 high scoring entrants from BMO1 are invited to sit the second round, with the same time limit, in which 4 questions are posed.
The 20 top scoring students from the second round are then invited to a training camp at Trinity College, Cambridge, for the first stage of the International Mathematical Olympiad UK team selection.
Head of Maths at King’s Ely, Audrienne Bezzina, said: “Sitting the Olympiad paper is already a big feat, but to do it a year early shows courage and resilience. We are all very proud of what Eleanor has achieved so far, and we will be routing for her as she sits more Mathematical competitions over the coming months.”
Best of luck Eleanor!