Math Kangaroo results are out

[SeaConquest]

Our charter school rep just emailed the link. The website seems to be having some issues; it is going up and down.

 

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/results.html

 

Sacha didn't medal, but he is still happy with how he did. So, that's good. Now that he understands the scoring, he really wants to medal next year. I like that he is setting goals for himself.

 

He proposed the following deal: if he places in the top 20 nationally, he gets an ice cream every month; if he places in the top 10, he gets an ice cream every week; and if he places 1st, he gets an ice cream everyday. Ah, the mind (and waistline) of a seven year old. :laugh:  

[Arcadia]

My boys already get ice-cream every week because of the hot weather :lol: Luckily it is not gelato which cost so much more. My oldest would go for cupcakes everyday which won't be good for his waistline.

 

My kids didn't want to do math kangaroo the year, so I am waiting for my oldest's RSM contest results. My youngest didn't make it to round 2.

[kathkath]

All 3 of mine placed--2 in the state and 1 nationally. Unfortunately they are in bed so I can't tell them! Looks like they take a whole lot more than 20 national winners per grade--but I won't tell ds that lol. Ironic that he placed nationally but not in the state?

[OlgaLA]

All I get is an error page :(

[kathkath]

Keep trying

[Black-eyed Suzan]

One of mine placed nationally. Ice cream for everyone!   :party:  :cheers2:  :party:

 

Thanks for a safe place to share! And if it wasn't for this board, I wouldn't have known about the test at all.  :001_smile:

 

 

 

[SeaConquest]

All 3 of mine placed--2 in the state and 1 nationally. Unfortunately they are in bed so I can't tell them! Looks like they take a whole lot more than 20 national winners per grade--but I won't tell ds that lol. Ironic that he placed nationally but not in the state?

Awesome! Mazal tov!

[SeaConquest]

One of mine placed nationally. Ice cream for everyone! :party: :cheers2: :party:

 

Thanks for a safe place to share! And if it wasn't for this board, I wouldn't have known about the test at all. :001_smile:

Woo hoo! Great news!!

[epi]

I've been trying for hours. No luck. When I go to

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/results.html

and then click on "2016" under "Archived Results"

it links to a page

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/MathKangaroo/Results.xhtml

and on that I just get an error message every time. (There are a few different variants of error message.)

When I click on "User Login" it links to a page

https://www.mathkangaroo.org/MathKangaroo/MKRegHome.jsp

and again I get an error message every time.

 

I tried mimicking the addresses of past year results using address

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/2016/2016_results_main.html

but the page is just a stub with the message

"Math Kangaroo 2016 Results - Coming up Soon"

 

Where/how are you all seeing results?

[MASHomeschooler]

Thanks! It took me a lot of tries to get through, but I finally did. I had looked over their answers already, so we knew their scores, but glad to see them verified and get their placements. Older 2 both placed well (my son's first time placing). Ice cream sounds like a good idea!

[epi]

Did you get to a results page, or was it through the user login?

 

[MASHomeschooler]

Once I got through, I was able to get to both the user data and the results page (and even sort through the results options - state/national, by level, etc.)

[mathnerd]

Thanks.

I can't get in. I am going to wait for a couple more hours to try again. Maybe more people will get off the website by then.

[Lilaclady]

I think their website is getting a lot queries. Two of mine placed and one had a huge gain from last year so it was great. I think even taking the exam is a good endeavor in itself. Congratulations to all the kids. Well done

[Black-eyed Suzan]

I got in through the user login. I hope everyone has success today.

[gstharr]

No problem logging in at 6:30 a.m pst.  My son is a national winner. A curious result though -- 13 percentile points higher than last year, but a fall of 2 places in ranking. 

[Dmmetler]

Congratulations to all! DD decided not to do MK this year (sniff! They grow up so fast....)

[epi]

I wonder what percentage of contestants are "national winners" this year.

[mathnerd]

Finally got into the website. My DS placed both nationally and at state level. He might get a medal and a ribbon. He is pleased with himself as he was in the midst of training for a big sports event during MK - he even remembered that his coach was not happy about him missing practice - he plans to tell his coach this evening that it was worth missing practice for one evening :)

[debi21]

Yay! Thanks for letting us know. Mine came 2nd in our state (not a competitive state at all and I don't think many 1st graders took the exam). What is considered placing nationally? Top 20? Top 10? Top 3?

 

 

 

 

[epi]

"National winners" are the top twenty different point scores (not top twenty scorers), including all the people tied for those twenty different point scores, in each grade. Because of ties, there were over 1600 "national winners" just in grade 4, which I'm guessing is almost half of the grade 4 contestants.

[calbear]

Nevermind. I figured it out. I am sleep deprived, and it didn't register that it is interactive.

Edited May 5, 2016 by calbear

[Dmmetler]

"National winners" are the top twenty different point scores (not top twenty scorers), including all the people tied for those twenty different point scores, in each grade. Because of ties, there were over 1600 "national winners" just in grade 4, which I'm guessing is almost half of the grade 4 contestants.

 

CML (and the other league exams) is the same way-there have been hundreds of national winners at some grade levels in past years because it comes down to "every kid who had a perfect paper is a national winner".

[MASHomeschooler]

"National winners" are the top twenty different point scores (not top twenty scorers), including all the people tied for those twenty different point scores, in each grade. Because of ties, there were over 1600 "national winners" just in grade 4, which I'm guessing is almost half of the grade 4 contestants.

 

It's more like 20% or less from looking at my kids' placements and percentiles over the years. It varies by year and level, and I don't have a fourth grader this year, and never had a kid get exactly 20th place, but I have had them place 15, 16, 24, and 25, with percentiles of 87, 82, 89, and 84, respectively. So still a lot of kids placing, but not anywhere near 50%.

[LTBernard]

Gray got first for state, but did not place nationally. 

[gstharr]

for fifth grade,  less than 10% are national winners. It was a tough year. my son place 19th with 92% percentile. 

[Korrale]

Well done to all the children.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Korrale

[Korrale]

My son didn't do well. First time doing any kind of seated testing. Says he placed 4th in state. Which doesn't appear bad. And 56th nationally. This is level 1. Maybe there were not that many of contestants.

Still he had fun and we will do it again next year.

Edited May 9, 2016 by Korrale

[epi]

From what I could gather, the Level 3-4 test was unusually easy this year, and also (based on percentiles I heard)  there were about 3500-3600 grade 4 contestants, whereas according to the website there are 1637 "National Winners" who are given "National Rank" 1st-20th. So about 45% of the grade 4 contestants are "National Winners". Since there were 121 perfect scores (in level 4) the usual convention would be that what MK calls "National Rank 2nd" is really equal 122nd, and what MK calls "National Rank 21st" is really equal 1638th (out of 3500-3600 grade 4 contestants).

It's true that 45% of grade 4 contestants being "National Winners" is an anomaly for this grade and this year, and that maybe more typical percentages are 10% or so being "National Winners", and due to selection effects, they would maybe be in the top few percent of their grade. But someone who was really in the top 20 for their entire grade in the USA would be about top 0.0005%. It's really a huge difference.

I know people could say there's no problem, we knew what "National Winner/Rank" meant, or could say who cares, it's just fun for the kids and nice to get the recognition. And that's fine. But it just bothers me that someone could really misinterpret what a result like "National Rank 20th" actually means.

 

[MASHomeschooler]

Yes, it is a bit strange, and I do clarify if discussing with people who are not familiar, but it doesn't really bother me because it is clear what it is. And I did not realize that about the fourth graders this year; that is unusual and makes it more unclear than usual. But I don't think anyone is using their results to say they are one of the top 20 students in their grade in math in the US. No one is going to expect a test taken by <0.1% of students to be able to compare those who took the test with those who didn't. The difference is really between 0.5% (20/3600) and the percent of "top 20 scores", which in this case you're saying is close to 50%, but seems to usually be around 15%. Still a huge difference, but not as huge as you say. And due to self-selection, as you mentioned, the top 15% of test takers is probably going to the top few percent of all students in that grade, so now we're talking less than a factor of 10 between what some may perceive and reality. And at that point I do say, "who cares, it's just fun for the kids and nice to get the recognition". :)

 

FWIW, I keep a file with my kids' accomplishments (for future applications to programs and schools), and for MK I include national percentile in addition to place, partly because I don't want them to assume incorrectly that they rank traditionally if they are not already familiar with how MK does the rankings. But I don't feel that need to clarify that the rankings and percentiles are as compared to others who took the test, and not all students in their grade.

[mathnerd]

But it just bothers me that someone could really misinterpret what a result like "National Rank 20th" actually means.

 

 

I think that this is a fun contest which is designed to encourage mathematical thinking and that it is a really low stakes test (kids get wooden puzzles, stuffed animals, frisbees etc). The results from MK are not going to make or break an application to a competitive school or get them into selective programs. What it does is to encourage kids (the presumption being that a majority of them are under challenged during math classes at school) to solve problems using logical reasoning and creativity. It does not matter to me that all the perfect scores are ranked as gold medallists and the next lower scorers (hundreds of kids) are ranked as silver medallists etc.

When I look at the big picture, then, the kid who got 1 point less than the perfect score should get acknowledged for it and get a medal and should be ranked as 2nd (I am not very competitive and think that this is fine). What my DS gained in addition to the freebie toys and t-shirts and fun was the experience of sitting in a strange room with strangers proctoring an exam and filling out scantron cards correctly (I assume this because he got a good score, so he must have the hang of shading the correct bubbles).

[Arcadia]

The results from MK are not going to make or break an application to a competitive school or get them into selective programs.

:iagree: :lol:

Leave the "freaking out" for AMC scores.

[MASHomeschooler]

We went to our ceremony last night, and it seems they've switched to giving prizes/certificates to the top 10 scores nationally (vs top 20 previously, and still for listing on the web site). My son was somewhat disappointed since he was expecting to get 2 recognitions, but only got the state one. Just a heads up in case anyone else had kids get a 11-20th score nationally.

[gstharr]

MASH, thanks for heads up about awards, 

[mathnerd]

We did not get any email notification or award ceremony information yet. Anybody else in the same boat as us?

[daijobu]

Our area does not host an award ceremony.  They did a few years ago, and while it was well-attended, it was held on a weekday during rush hour.  Some people would have had to drive 2+ hours to pick up their certificate.  I remember thinking while they didn't ask for RSVPs they acted annoyed that people weren't showing up.  

[Black-eyed Suzan]

We just received an email about prizes, but you may want to email the local administrator to ask. My son participated at a different location in the past and he was never contacted about the prize he was awarded. 

[mathnerd]

Thanks. I called the test center and they told me that I can go there to pick up the awards when they receive it from MK. I have no email so far about the results. There is some wording on the MK website that says that they will email the results after the awards ceremony. Maybe that is why I did not hear from them.

[Black-eyed Suzan]

Did you login at the MK website? You can get the results there. I don't remember whether or not we received an email.

[mathnerd]

Did you login at the MK website? You can get the results there. I don't remember whether or not we received an email.

Thank you. I did get the results earlier from the website. But, last year, they sent me an email to inform me of the scores. This year, that email as well as the invitation email has not shown up yet. It looks like they don't want to run an awards ceremony in my area and they told me to pick up the award at the test center and that it would be mailed to them shortly.

[Black-eyed Suzan]

Thank you. I did get the results earlier from the website. But, last year, they sent me an email to inform me of the scores. This year, that email as well as the invitation email has not shown up yet. It looks like they don't want to run an awards ceremony in my area and they told me to pick up the award at the test center and that it would be mailed to them shortly.

 

I'm glad you got an answer!

[daijobu]

I host a MK site, and I just today received an email regarding awards, with a tracking number for FedEx.  It seems they were just mailed.  I have one kid from my site who won a gift card (15th place) and another who got a water bottle (4th place).  Checking my emais, it seems like they were a little late with the awards this year, by 1-2 weeks.  

[mathnerd]

Update: Finally got an email to pick up the awards. DS got a water bottle, origami book, puzzle and his medal and ribbon. They probably got the soft copy of the certificate, because the center manager was printing them out when I showed up. DS loved all the gifts, but, I think that the important thing is that they put enough thought to pick out interesting things for math loving kids. 

Edited June 16, 2016 by mathnerd

[daijobu]

Update: Finally got an email to pick up the awards. DS got a water bottle, origami book, puzzle and his medal and ribbon. They probably got the soft copy of the certificate, because the center manager was printing them out when I showed up. DS loved all the gifts, but, I think that the important thing is that they put enough thought to pick out interesting things for math loving kids. 

 

That's interesting.  We received our prizes in the mail some weeks ago.  But we never received certificates showing their ranks.  (They did receive their standard certificates right after the exam.  I suppose it all depends on who is in charge at your state.  

[epi]

No news here.

 

[mathnerd]

No news here.

Apparently, our test center got a Fedex box with the prizes in early june from MK. Contact the center that your child took the test in. They are usually able to give you all the information. I emailed MK too and they responded within a few hours too telling me that they had shipped the box containing the prizes to our local test center.

[epi]

The statistics page for 2016 has appeared.

http://www.mathkangaroo.org/mk/statistics.html