March 24, 2008,
Lisle, IL
Dear Math Kangaroo Leaders in
Thank you for your commitment
and thoughtfulness in preparing Math Kangaroo 2008.
2095 American students are
registered for the event on
Here are my suggestions for
the Math Kangaroo Competition on this Thursday:
Advice parents to wait for
their children outside the competition hall, because some will solve the test
quickly and you do not have resources to supervise the children when they
finish their work.
Please, plan for taking a
group picture of all your participants, except when parents objected. (We will
not identify the children on web, just the centers.)
Give the students their
questions, answer cards, t-shirts, certificates of participation, pouches with
pencils and rulers (for all) and
Mathematica CDs (for students in levels 8 through 12 only).
Congratulate your students on
their involvement in this great mathematical competition where everybody is
seen as a winner because of their interest in learning.
Advise your students to wear
the Math Kangaroo t-shirts with pride, to school and to after school
activities.
Please ask the students to
verify that their id number printed on the card is coded properly below it.
Explain, that for each question they need to select only
one answer, make a note of a letter corresponding with the answer and fill
up the oval containing that letter on the answer card with their pencil, in the
row with the same number as the number of the answered question is.
Students can use eraser to
correct their mistakes on the answer card but usually the first answer choice
is the best. J
All answers need to be coded
on side A of the card.
Only one oval can be filled
up for each question, otherwise the answer will not be valid.
For wrong answer we award
zero points.
There are questions for 3
points, 4 points, and 5 points at each level of participation.
The sum of all points is the
students’ result.
Students, who earn the
greatest results at each level 2 through 12, will be placed on the National List
of the Math Kangaroo 2008 Winners and awarded with prizes in May or June.
Students participating at
level 2 need to finish solving the test in 60 minutes. All other students have
75 minutes for their work on the test. Everybody needs to work independently
and no mathematical explanation is accepted.
If the test starts before
On each answer card please verity that it contains the
student’s name, level of participation, your place name, and the answers are
coded on side A of an answer card.
Mail the answer cards to:
Math Kangaroo in USA, NFP
First Class Postage is
sufficient. We will reimburse you if you request that.
During the weekend after the
test, please send e-mail to the families, congratulating them on the participation
and advice that the absent students can claim their questions, gifts and
t-shirts from you until April 10. Do not mail us not claimed things. Rather use
them for promoting Math Kangaroo in your area.
Please e-mail me one digital
photo from your place or a link to your web page where you put photos from Math
Kangaroo Day. I will be happy to put the photos on our web page.
If you do not have full set
of the questions after the test, please contact us and we will send them to you
for your teaching purposes. The correct answers will be displayed on our web
page in May. We cannot discus the questions until May. This is valid in each
participating country.
We will contact you and the
families of the national winners with the information about the results and the
prizes in May. The date of The Awards Gala will be set in few weeks and
communicated to you. We hope you arrange
some awards moments in the places where there are the top winners who would not
come to the
As always, please send us all
feedback you may have. Your suggestions are great help for us.
If you have any questions regarding
the Thursday event, please send them promptly. No e-mail or phone calls will be
answered after
Good luck to your students in
Math Kangaroo 2008!
Thank you All for your
creative involvement!
Sincerely,
Maria