MSO MCWC 2020 Sample Questions

Round 1

Contestants will be given 12 questions, and each question has a time limit of 15 seconds. For some of the questions this might be easy but some will be very difficult! There are 50 marks in total, and the participants with the highest scores will progress to the next round.

Additionally there will be two questions where participants have to calculate an answer with an infinite decimal, to the highest accuracy possible in 60 seconds.

To help with preparation, here is a PowerPoint presentation with sample questions for Round 1, just like they will be during the competition. (Note that the two infinite decimal questions are not shown in this Powerpoint).

Intermediate Round

The top 12 contestants will progress to the semi-final. This will be in the same format as round 1, but with more questions, harder questions, more points available, and with 25 seconds to answer each question (rather than 15 seconds).

Grand Final

The top 4 contestants will qualify to the Grand Final, which consists of head-to-head matches. Each match consists of 7 questions, in a combination of the following styles:

  • Standard: the first contestant to answer correctly gets all of the points. If neither contestant answers in 60 seconds then no points are awarded.
  • Best in 1 Minute: the contestant who can produce the most accurate answer (e.g. square root of 127) within 60 seconds gets the points. If both contestants answer the same then they share the points.
    • So for the square root of 127 = 11.2694277…
      • Contestant A: 11.27
      • Contestant B: 11.268428
    • Contestant A got closer to the true answer, and they collect the points

To help with preparation, here is a PowerPoint presentation with sample questions for the Final, just like they will be during the competition. Note that the categories may vary considerably!

Categories:

The categories will be from the standard MSO competition – including:

  • Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of integers, fractions and decimals
  • Exact and approximate square roots, cube roots and deeper roots
  • Prime factorizations
  • Calendar date calculations
  • Compound operations such as 13^3 + 31^3

The following categories will not be used:

  • questions requiring algebra
  • base conversions
  • hectoc
  • explicit logarithm or antilogarithm calculations
  • time elapsed questions

If there is a problem with the downloads, or you have any questions, you can get in touch with the contact form here.