Competitions · Mathematics · MMATHS
MMATHS, the Math Majors of America Tournament.
Run by the Yale University mathematics club for students in grades 7 to 12. Its closing round is unusual for a mathematics contest: the eight highest individual scorers meet head to head, in front of everyone, to decide the champion.
At a glance
What the tournament is, and who can enter.
The Yale mathematics club runs MMATHS to give secondary students a taste of how mathematics is actually worked on at university - collaboratively, and on problems that do not come with a method attached.
- Organiser
- The Yale University mathematics club
- Who can enter
- Students in grades 7 to 12, and middle-school students working above their year group
- Team size
- Four to six students
- Team composition
- Teams may be assembled across different schools
- Rounds
- An individual challenge, a team challenge, a tiebreaker and a head-to-head championship final
- Syllabus
- Algebra, geometry, number theory and combinatorics
- Language
- English for the high-school group. The middle-school group runs in both Chinese and English
- When and where
- Two days in late March, held in person in Shanghai for the China region
- Companion event
- GiM, Girls in Math, is run by the same Yale club and is open to girls only. MMATHS is open to everyone
The rounds
Two papers, then a knockout.
Most of the field sits the first two rounds and stops there. The last two exist to separate the very top of the individual standing.
| Round | Who takes part | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Challenge | Everyone | 12 | 75 minutes |
| Team Challenge | Every team, working together | 12 | 45 minutes |
| Tiebreaker | Competitors tied around the individual top eight | 2 | 10 minutes |
| Championship Final | The eight highest individual scorers | Head to head | — |
The team challenge gives less than half the time per question that the individual paper does - twelve questions in forty-five minutes across four to six people, against twelve in seventy-five alone.
The final
Eight students, in front of the room.
Very few mathematics competitions finish with a live confrontation. MMATHS does, and it changes what the day feels like for everyone watching as well as competing.
The top eight go through
The eight highest scorers on the individual paper reach the championship final. Reaching it is itself a national award, separate from whatever happens in the final itself.
A tiebreaker decides who those eight are
Where scores tie around the cut, a ten-minute round of two questions settles who advances. A student can therefore make or miss the final on a single fast question.
It is a spectacle by design
A head-to-head final in front of the room is closer to a quiz format than to a paper, and it rewards composure under observation - which is not what the preceding seventy-five minutes tested at all.
But the team result is decided elsewhere
Team standings combine individual and team scores from the first two rounds. The final decides an individual champion and does not change where a team places.
Awards
The same three bands, individually and by team.
Both ladders use identical thresholds, so a student and their team are measured on the same scale.
| Award | Individual | Team |
|---|---|---|
| National placing | The top eight, who reach the final | The top three teams on combined individual and team score |
| High Distinction | Top 10% | Top 10% of teams |
| Distinction | Top 25% | Top 25% of teams |
| Credit | Top 40% | Top 40% of teams |
A team’s total is built from its members’ individual scores plus the team round, so the individual paper counts twice - once for the student and once for the team.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares an MMATHS team.
The individual paper carries the most weight of anything on the day, because it decides a student’s own award, feeds the team total, and determines who reaches the final.
The individual paper does three jobs
It sets the student’s award band, contributes to the team standing and selects the final eight. Preparation weights it accordingly rather than treating all rounds as equal.
Under four minutes a question, as a team
Twelve questions in forty-five minutes across four to six people needs a division of labour agreed in advance. Teams practise splitting and reconvening rather than all reading everything.
Four topics, no more
Algebra, geometry, number theory and combinatorics. The scope is narrow enough to cover properly, so depth in these four beats breadth beyond them.
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 often the first practical step rather than the last.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for MMATHS 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 MMATHS 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 MMATHS 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 MMATHS, 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
MMATHS, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering a team.
Who can enter MMATHS?
Students in any high-school year, and middle-school students working above their year group. Teams are four to six students and may be assembled across different schools.
Does the contest have to be sat in English?
It depends on the group. The high-school group sits an entirely English paper. The middle-school group runs in both Chinese and English.
What are the rounds?
A 75-minute individual challenge of twelve questions, a 45-minute team challenge of twelve questions, a tiebreaker for competitors around the individual top eight, and a head-to-head championship final for those eight.
How does the championship final work?
The eight highest individual scorers meet head to head to decide the champion. Reaching the final is itself a national award, and the final does not affect team standings.
How is a team ranked?
On its members’ individual scores plus the team round. The three highest combined totals take the national team placings.
What are the award bands?
High Distinction for the top 10%, Distinction for the top 25% and Credit for the top 40%, applied to individuals and teams alike.
What is examined?
Algebra, geometry, number theory and combinatorics - a deliberately narrow scope worked at depth rather than a broad syllabus.
Can we get a refund if we withdraw?
Contact the organiser. 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 event, and other team mathematics.
What students commonly enter alongside MMATHS.
MMATHS enquiries
The individual paper decides three things at once.
It sets a student’s own award, feeds the team total and selects the eight who reach the final. Tell us who you have and their year groups, and an advisor will map the March entry and help complete a team.