Competitions · Mathematics · EMCC
EMCC, the Exeter Math Club Competition.
A single day in January at Phillips Exeter Academy, entered by teams of four from grade 8 and below. Two thirds of the five hundred available points come from the two team rounds - which makes this a contest a group of good collaborators can win against a group of stronger individuals.
At a glance
What the competition is, and who can enter.
EMCC is organised by the mathematics club at Phillips Exeter Academy, one of the most established boarding schools in the United States. The club runs to around fifty students; the competition it puts on is considerably larger.
- Organiser
- The mathematics club at Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New Hampshire
- Who can enter
- Students in grade 8 and below. Younger students are welcome
- Team size
- Four students
- Scale
- Around 179 teams in a recent year, including teams that travel from China for it
- When and where
- A Sunday in mid-January, on the Phillips Exeter campus. The whole competition runs in one day
- Four rounds
- Two individual papers, a team round and a Guts round
- Individual total
- 40 points - 20 from the Speed round and 20 from the Accuracy round
- Team total
- 500 points - the four members’ individual totals, plus the team round and the Guts round
- Equipment
- Nothing is permitted. No calculators, rulers, compasses or protractors may be brought into the room, and breaking that rule means disqualification
- What to bring
- Pencils, a sharpener, water and snacks
- Sponsor
- Hudson River Trading, one of the larger quantitative trading firms
The four rounds
Where the five hundred points sit.
The two individual papers together are worth 40 to a student and 160 to a team. The two collaborative rounds are worth 340 - which is the single most important fact about how EMCC is scored.
| Round | Questions | Time | Per question | Round total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed, individual | 20 | 25 minutes | 1 | 20 |
| Accuracy, individual | 10 | 45 minutes | 2 | 20 |
| Team | 15 | 60 minutes | 12 | 180 |
| Guts, team | 24 | 75 minutes | Rising by set | 160 |
A team’s comprehensive score is its four members’ individual totals (up to 160) plus the team round and Guts round (340). Individual ability matters, but less than half as much as working together does.
The two individual papers
Opposite demands, forty-five minutes apart.
Both are worth exactly 20 points, and they reward completely different habits - which is the point of setting them as a pair.
Speed: twenty questions, twenty-five minutes
Seventy-five seconds a question, one point each. There is no time to verify anything, so the skill being measured is recognising instantly whether a problem is one you can start.
Accuracy: ten questions, forty-five minutes
Four and a half minutes a question, two points each. Here there is time to check, and a wrong answer costs twice what one costs on the Speed paper. The two papers punish opposite mistakes.
Both feed the team
Each student’s combined 40 goes into the team total, so a team carries four individual scores into the day. No member’s paper is only their own business.
Ties break on accuracy first
Where individual totals tie, the higher Accuracy placing wins, and only then the Speed placing. The organisers are explicit about which of the two they consider the better measure.
The Guts round
Six sets, rising in value, scored in front of everyone.
The Guts round is the reason teams come back. It runs live, in one hall, with every team’s score on a screen at the front.
Later sets are worth more
Six sets of four questions, worth 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 points a question in turn. The last set is worth two and a half times the first, so a team that stalls early loses far more than the questions themselves.
One runner, one desk
A team sends one member to a scoring desk to collect each set and to hand the answers back. The desks are spread evenly through the hall so no team is disadvantaged by distance.
Submitted is final
A set must be handed in before the next is issued, and submitted answers cannot be changed. Deciding a set is finished is therefore a real decision with a cost attached.
A live scoreboard, and a bonus set
Every submission is marked at the desk immediately and the standings update on a projector. There is also an estimation bonus set of four questions at five points each, which can take a team above the round’s nominal 160.
Entering
What to know before registering.
EMCC is more accommodating about team formation than most, and considerably stricter about what comes into the room.
You do not need a team
A student without one can register as an individual through a parent or coach, and the organisers place them on a suitable team before the day. It is a genuine route in, not a formality.
Or you can keep yours closed
A team that already has four and would rather not have a stranger added should tell the organisers in advance. Say so early rather than on the day.
Nothing on the desk
Not just calculators - rulers, compasses and protractors are all barred too, and bringing one is a disqualification rather than a warning. Every question is designed to be done without them.
A full day, on campus
Registration opens at eight and the awards finish around six, with a guest lecture, lunch and an Exeter faculty roundtable between the rounds. Plan for the whole day rather than the papers alone.
The day
How competition day runs.
Everything happens on the Phillips Exeter campus, on US Eastern time.
Registration and opening
Check-in from eight, then the opening ceremony before the papers begin.
Individual and team rounds
The Speed, Accuracy and team rounds run through to lunch. A guest lecture runs alongside for those not sitting at that moment.
Guts round
Just under two hours, in one hall, with the live scoreboard running.
Roundtable and awards
An Exeter faculty roundtable, then the awards ceremony to finish.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares an EMCC team.
Because 340 of the 500 points are collaborative, preparation that treats EMCC as four students sitting papers misses most of what is being scored.
Practising as four, not as one
The team and Guts rounds are worth more than double the individual papers combined. Teams rehearse dividing questions, calling answers and settling disagreements quickly, because none of that improvises well.
Two speeds, deliberately
Seventy-five seconds a question on Speed and four and a half minutes on Accuracy are different exercises. Students practise both under the real clock rather than assuming one transfers to the other.
When to submit a Guts set
Because a submitted set is final and later sets are worth more, holding a set to check one answer can cost a whole higher-value set. Knowing when to let go is trained, not reasoned out on the day.
Working without instruments
No ruler and no compass changes how a geometry question is approached. Students who have prepared on contests that allow them need to rebuild that before arriving.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for EMCC 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 EMCC 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 EMCC 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 EMCC, 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
EMCC, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can enter EMCC?
Students in grade 8 and below, in teams of four. Younger students are welcome, and the competition is a full-day in-person event at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.
What if I do not have a team?
Register as an individual through a parent or coach and the organisers will place you on a suitable team before the event. If you already have a team and would rather it stayed as it is, tell the organisers in advance.
What are the four rounds?
Speed - 20 questions in 25 minutes at 1 point each. Accuracy - 10 questions in 45 minutes at 2 points each. Team - 15 questions in 60 minutes at 12 points each. Guts - 24 questions in 75 minutes, rising in value by set.
How is a team scored?
Out of 500: the four members’ individual totals of up to 40 each, giving 160, plus 180 from the team round and 160 from the Guts round.
What makes the Guts round different?
Six sets of four questions worth 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 points in turn. A set must be submitted before the next is issued, submitted answers cannot be changed, and a live scoreboard runs at the front of the hall. An estimation bonus set can take a team above the round’s nominal total.
Can I use a calculator?
No, and the ban goes further than most contests: rulers, compasses and protractors are also prohibited. Bringing one results in disqualification. Bring pencils, a sharpener, water and snacks.
How are ties broken?
Within a round, the entrant who answered the later question correctly ranks higher, working backwards from the last. On individual totals, the higher Accuracy placing wins before Speed. On team totals, the higher combined team and Guts score wins first.
Do individual scores matter much?
They matter, but the two collaborative rounds are worth 340 of the 500 points. A team that works well together can beat one with stronger individual mathematicians.
Related
Other contests at this age.
What middle-school teams commonly enter alongside EMCC.
EMCC enquiries
Two thirds of the points are won together.
Teams that prepare as four individuals consistently underperform here, because the team and Guts rounds outweigh the individual papers by more than two to one. Tell us who you have and an advisor will map the January entry.