Awards System
Despite the name of the competition, students are allocated awards for their performance relative to other students in their region, of the same year level. For Australian students, this means their State or Territory, and for other students, their country. Although the personal data such as date of birth and gender are collected, this is not used in the percentile ranking, which is only determined by the raw score. The award scheme is as such
- Prize – Students above the 99.7 percentile
- High Distinction – Students between the 98 and 99.7 percentile
- Distinction -Students between the 85 and 98 percentile
- Credit – Students between the 50 and 85 percentile
- Participation – Students below the 50 percentile
Students who have won a prize may also receive a medal if they are determined to have performed outstandingly well with respect to their region and the competition as a whole. All students receive a certificate, and prizewinners are awarded an additional monetary sum or book voucher. Students who achieve the maximum score are awarded the Bernhard Neumann certificate. From 2008, this award has been renamed the Peter O'Halloran Certificate in honour of the foundation Executive Director of the Trust. In 1998, a record 10 students in Australia, and 23 in Singapore achieved the maximum attainable score. A re-examination was carried out in order to determine the Singaporean medallists.
All students receive an analysis sheet along with their certificate, which records their answers for each question, along with the correct answers. The questions are divided into four categories: arithmetic, algebra, geometry and problem solving, and the number of questions that the student answered correctly for each category are listed along with the regional mean.
Every school receives a more comprehensive analysis, with a complete record of answers given by all students, as well as the percentage of students choosing any given answer for a given question, and a comparison to the percentage of students choosing any given answer for a given question in the whole region. Schools also receive analysis of their students by mathematical topic, compared to the entire region.
Read more about this topic: Australian Mathematics Competition
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