Hilltop 3rd grader ranks high in math

SPARTA — SJ Gekht, a Hilltop Country Day School third-grader ranked 20th nationally for his grade level in this year's international Math Kangaroo Competition. SJ, a Sparta resident, participated in the after-school Math Kangaroo Competition on March 15. This international competition included students in grades 1 -12 from 43 US states and territories. Aproprixmatley, 30 thousand American students participated along with over 6 million other participants worldwide.
The competition has the form of a multiple choice test to be solved within 75 minutes. There are 12 levels of participation, corresponding to school grade levels. The objective is to encourage children and teenagers to master mathematical skills beyond your typical rote memorization.
The Math Kangaroo history stretches back several decades. In the 1980's, Peter O’Halloran, an Australian mathematician, and teacher began a popular mathematical competition in his country. The test was open to anyone who wanted to participate and included engaging and thought-provoking questions which stemmed from mathematical areas of knowledge including algebra, geometry, and logic. In 1991, the competition began to be called "Kangaroo" because of its Australian origin.
Testings centers are located throughout the state and this year Hilltop was selected as a host site for this international competition. The Hilltop family was excited to have the opportunity to offer the program to their students and those in the surrounding area as Sussex County's only test site. As a first-year host site, Hilltop was host to 30 local math enthusiasts.
Sample problems can be found: <URL destination="http://www.mathkangaroo.us/mk/practice.html ">www.mathkangaroo.us/mk/practice.html