Competitions · Mathematics · MOAA
MOAA, Math Open At Andover.
Run by students at Phillips Academy Andover for entrants in grade 8 and below, and unusually open about who counts as a team: one to four students, from any school, any state, any country. Teammates are found on the organisers’ Discord rather than in your own classroom.
At a glance
What the competition is, and who can enter.
Phillips Academy Andover was founded in 1778 and is among the oldest schools in the United States. MOAA is organised and run by its students, and draws more than a hundred entrants from around the world each year.
- Organiser
- Students at Phillips Academy Andover
- Who can enter
- Students in grade 8 and below. Younger students are welcome, and it is one of the few contests of real standing pitched at this age
- Team size
- One to four students. Entering alone is permitted, though the organisers encourage finding teammates
- Where teammates come from
- Anywhere. Because the competition runs online, team members may be at different schools, in different states or in different countries
- Finding a team
- Through the organisers’ Discord, which is open to registered and unregistered students alike and carries text and voice channels for finding teammates
- Rounds
- Speed and Accuracy individually, then a Team Round and the Gunga Bowl
- Answers
- Every answer in every round is a non-negative integer between 0 and 1,000,000 inclusive
- Language
- English
- Format
- Online, with the organisers running the day on Discord and Zoom alongside an on-campus component
- What it is not for
- Results carry no weight in Chinese school admissions or evaluation. It is an extracurricular activity and an international mathematics exchange
The rounds
Two alone, two together.
The organisers describe the format as close to ARML, but with a much wider difficulty range - deliberately built so a student new to competitions and one well past AMC can both find something to do.
| Round | Type | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | Individual | 10 | 20 minutes |
| Accuracy | Individual | 10 | 45 minutes |
| Team | Team | 15 | 40 minutes |
| Gunga Bowl | Team | 9 sets of 3 | 60 minutes |
Speed gives two minutes a question and Accuracy four and a half for the same number - the pair is designed to reward opposite habits, and both feed the team result.
The Gunga Bowl
Nine sets, a live scoreboard and a running clock.
The Gunga Bowl is modelled on the Guts Round at HMMT, and it is where the day stops feeling like an examination.
Nine sets in an hour
Three questions a set, worked as a team, with a timer and a live scoreboard visible throughout. Roughly six and a half minutes a set leaves no room to deliberate at length.
You can see where you stand
Because the scoreboard updates as the round runs, a team knows whether it is ahead or behind while there is still time to change how it is working. Few contests at this age give that feedback.
Every answer is a whole number
All answers across the whole competition are non-negative integers up to 1,000,000. That removes any ambiguity about form and makes a nonsensical result immediately visible as an error.
Speed comes from division of labour
With three questions a set and up to four people, the round rewards splitting work and reconvening rather than everyone reading everything. That is a habit, not a talent.
Rules
What you may have on the desk.
MOAA is more permissive about instruments than most contests at this level and absolutely rigid about anything that computes.
Instruments are allowed
Compasses, protractors, rulers and straightedges, graph paper, blank scratch paper and writing implements are all permitted, provided they are not designed to give an unfair advantage. Geometry can be drawn properly here.
Nothing that calculates
Calculators, phones, calculator watches and computer programs are all barred unless the organisers explicitly authorise them. So are mathematical texts, notes and any online resource.
Your team, and nobody else
You may give and accept help within your own team only. Consulting anyone outside it - including a coach - is grounds for disqualification.
No clarifications during the contest
Staff will not answer questions about the problems until MOAA has finished, which means no mathematical term will be explained to you mid-round. Reading the question carefully is part of the test.
Difficulty
Hard questions, ordinary tools.
MOAA sits high among American middle-school contests, and the organisers are specific about what that does and does not mean.
Pitched above AMC 10
The organisers place MOAA well above AMC 10 and describe it as approaching HMMT in difficulty - which is a considerable claim for a contest whose entrants are in grade 8 and below.
But solvable with middle-school technique
The important qualifier: every problem is stated to be solvable using middle-school methods and without a calculator. The difficulty is in the thinking required, not in unfamiliar machinery.
A wide range within one paper
Because the format is built to accommodate both new and experienced entrants, a student is unlikely to find the whole paper out of reach - which is not true of every contest described as difficult.
Read in US school applications
MOAA is well known in the United States and carries weight in applications to American secondary schools, particularly the boarding schools. The day itself includes an admissions question session.
The day
How competition day runs.
A single day on US Eastern time, mixing the rounds with talks and an admissions session.
Registration and opening
Check-in and the opening ceremony before anything is sat.
A talk for parents
A session aimed at parents rather than entrants, run while the students prepare for the first papers.
Speed and Accuracy
The two individual papers run back to back before lunch.
Speaker session, then the Gunga Bowl
A talk, then the hour-long team round with its live scoreboard.
Tiebreakers
Only selected students compete in these, decided by the standings to that point.
Admissions Q&A, then awards
Smaller events and an admissions question session, then the closing ceremony.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares students for MOAA.
The unusual part of preparing for MOAA is not the mathematics - it is that a team may never have met in person.
Practising with a remote team
Members can be in different countries, so the team needs a way of working that survives a voice channel. Teams rehearse online rather than assuming in-person habits will transfer.
Two minutes, then four and a half
Speed and Accuracy ask for opposite behaviour with the same number of questions. Both are practised under the real clock, because a student who treats Speed like Accuracy will not finish it.
Using the instruments
Since compasses, protractors and graph paper are allowed, geometry can be constructed rather than only imagined. Students who have prepared on contests that ban instruments often forget they are available.
Integer answers as a check
Every answer is a whole number up to 1,000,000. That makes a quick sanity check possible on every question, and it is worth building the habit of doing it.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for MOAA at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for MOAA is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past papers and preparation pack
The same material our own MOAA students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast papers, every year the organiser has released
- PDFWorked solutions, where the organiser publishes them
- PDFThe syllabus on one page - every topic, and how heavily it is examined
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Dr Zhang
PhD in theoretical mathematics from the University of Rochester and a postdoctoral fellow at the Shanghai Center for Mathematical Sciences at Fudan. An AMC-accredited coach, ASDAN-accredited for DMM and ITCCC, and an accredited UKMT BMO2 and PUMaC coach. His students have gone on to read mathematics and physics at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Caltech and Cambridge.
Dr Zhuang
PhD in mathematics from the University of Denver, working in mathematical logic, after a first degree in applied mathematics at Southeast University. A repeat conference speaker on his research, with three years lecturing and assisting on undergraduate mathematics at Denver.
He
A Cambridge master's after a computer science degree with a mathematics minor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a US high school GPA of 4.13. Six years overseas and teaches entirely in English, across AMC, Math League, AP Computer Science and AP Calculus.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for MOAA, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
MOAA, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can enter MOAA?
Students in grade 8 and below, including elementary students. Teams are one to four students and there is no requirement that they attend the same school.
Can I compete on my own?
Yes - a team may be a single student. The organisers encourage finding teammates, and run a Discord where entrants and non-entrants alike can look for them.
How do I find teammates?
Through the organisers’ Discord, which has text and voice channels for discussing mathematics and finding a team. If you cannot find one, MOAA staff can be asked there directly.
How difficult is MOAA?
The organisers place it well above AMC 10 and near HMMT. The qualifier matters though: every problem is stated to be solvable with middle-school technique and without a calculator.
What can I bring?
Compasses, protractors, rulers, graph paper, blank scratch paper and writing implements are allowed. Calculators, phones, calculator watches, computer programs, mathematical texts, notes and online resources are not.
Can I ask my coach for help?
No. You may only give or accept help within your own team. Consulting anyone outside it is grounds for disqualification, and staff will not explain any problem or term until the competition has ended.
What form do answers take?
Every answer in every round is a non-negative integer between 0 and 1,000,000 inclusive, which makes an implausible result easy to spot before submitting it.
Does a MOAA result help with school applications?
It is well known in the United States and carries weight in applications to American secondary schools, particularly boarding schools. It has no bearing on school admission in China.
Related
Other contests at this age.
What middle-school entrants commonly sit alongside MOAA.
MOAA enquiries
A team of one is allowed. A team of four is better.
MOAA lets students enter alone or build a team across schools and countries, and two of its four rounds are collaborative. Tell us who you have and an advisor will help assemble the rest and map the entry.