Competitions · Mathematics · GiM
GiM, Girls in Math at Yale.
The Yale mathematics club’s tournament for high-school girls, run in teams of four to six. Every answer on every round is a number, and the day closes with a Guts round scored on a live board that everyone can see.
At a glance
What the tournament is, and who can enter.
GiM exists for a stated reason: the organisers want young women to see themselves represented in mathematics and to feel entitled to a career in STEM. The competition is built around that as much as around ranking.
- Organiser
- The Yale University mathematics club, which also runs MMATHS
- Who can enter
- Girls in any high-school year, and girls in middle school working above their year group
- Team size
- Four to six students, and teams may be assembled across different schools
- Rounds
- An individual challenge, a team challenge, a tiebreaker and a team Guts round
- Answers
- Numerical throughout. Every question on the individual and team rounds carries equal weight
- Language
- English
- When
- A weekend in late March, the same weekend as MMATHS
- Where
- In person in Shanghai for the China region
- Why it exists
- To build a community in which young women feel represented in mathematics, and to encourage them toward STEM careers
The rounds
Two papers, a decider and a Guts round.
Every question across the first two rounds is worth the same, which is worth knowing: there is no reason to spend longer on a later question than an earlier one.
| Round | Who takes part | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | Everyone | 12, equally weighted | 75 minutes |
| Team | Every team together | 10, equally weighted | 45 minutes |
| Tiebreaker | The individual top eight and anyone tied with them | 3 | 15 minutes |
| Guts | Every team together | 9 sets of 3 | 60 minutes |
Equal weighting on the first two rounds means the paper can be worked in any order. A student who finds question 11 easier than question 4 loses nothing by taking it first.
The Guts round
Nine sets, and everyone can see where you are.
The Guts round is where GiM ends, and it is the round that most changes how the day feels.
Nine sets in an hour
Three questions a set, worked as a team. Just under seven minutes a set, with no opportunity to bank time by working ahead.
A set must be finished to move on
Each set is submitted before the next is issued, so the team has to decide when a set is done. Holding one back to check an answer costs the time available for the sets that follow.
A live scoreboard
Scores and rankings update in real time and are visible while the round runs. A team can see it is behind while there is still time to change how it is working, which very few contests allow.
Which rewards a settled division of labour
Three questions and four to six people means splitting the set immediately rather than reading it together. Teams that have practised this finish sets; teams that have not, discuss them.
GiM and MMATHS
Same club, same weekend, different ending.
The Yale club runs both tournaments together. They share their opening but diverge at the close, and the difference is worth knowing before choosing.
| GiM | MMATHS | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can enter | Girls only | Open to all entrants |
| Individual round | 12 questions, 75 minutes | 12 questions, 75 minutes |
| Team round | 10 questions, 45 minutes | 12 questions, 45 minutes |
| Tiebreaker | 3 questions, 15 minutes | 2 questions, 10 minutes |
| How it closes | A team Guts round of nine sets, with a live scoreboard | A head-to-head final between the eight highest individual scorers |
The closing round is the real distinction. GiM finishes with the whole field competing as teams; MMATHS finishes with eight individuals in front of the room.
Awards
The same bands for individuals and teams.
Both ladders use identical thresholds, and both run down to the top 40% of the field.
| Award | Individual | Team |
|---|---|---|
| National placing | The top eight | The top three teams |
| First band | Top 10% | Top 10% of teams |
| Second band | Top 25% | Top 25% of teams |
| Third band | Top 40% | Top 40% of teams |
Reaching the individual top eight is itself a national award, separate from the percentile bands beneath it.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares a GiM team.
Two of the four rounds are collaborative and one is scored in public. Neither is something a strong individual mathematician handles automatically.
Rehearsing the Guts split
Three questions a set across four to six people rewards splitting instantly. Teams practise the handover so that the first thirty seconds of a set are spent solving rather than deciding who solves.
Reading the scoreboard as information
A live board is only useful if a team knows what to do with it. Practice includes deciding in advance what a team changes when it sees itself falling behind.
Equal weighting means free choice of order
On the individual and team rounds nothing is worth more than anything else, so students practise scanning first and starting with what they can finish.
Building a team across schools
Because teams need not come from one school, a student without four classmates at the right level can still enter. Assembling the team is usually the first practical step.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for GiM 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 GiM 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 GiM 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 GiM, 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
GiM, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering a team.
Who can enter GiM?
Girls in any high-school year, and girls in middle school working above their year group. Teams are four to six students and may be assembled across different schools.
How is GiM different from MMATHS?
Both are run by the Yale mathematics club on the same weekend and share the same 75-minute individual paper. GiM is for girls only, has a shorter team round, and closes with a team Guts round rather than a head-to-head final.
What are the rounds?
A 75-minute individual paper of twelve questions, a 45-minute team round of ten, a fifteen-minute tiebreaker of three questions for the individual top eight, and a sixty-minute Guts round of nine sets.
What form do answers take?
Numerical throughout, and every question on the individual and team rounds carries equal weight - so the paper can be worked in whatever order suits you.
How does the Guts round work?
Nine sets of three questions in an hour. A set must be submitted before the next is issued, and a live scoreboard shows every team’s score and position while the round is running.
What are the awards?
For individuals, a national top-eight placing plus bands at the top 10%, 25% and 40%. For teams, a national top-three placing and the same three bands.
When do we receive the rules?
The organisers email the detailed rules and the running order to the address given at registration before the event.
Can we get a refund if we withdraw?
Applications made before the registration deadline are refunded less 25% retained for academic materials and service. After the deadline the fee is not refundable.
Related
The companion tournament, and other options.
What students commonly consider alongside GiM.
GiM enquiries
The day ends with everyone watching the board.
The Guts round rewards a team that has practised splitting a set instantly, not one that discusses it. Tell us who you have and their year groups, and an advisor will map the March entry and help complete the team.