Great Plains Math League

GPML Events and Cutoff Scores

• Power question: This is a multi-part, proof-oriented question that will test the students higher-level mathematical reasoning skills. The power question is a team event in which groups of six (or three for small schools) work for one hour to produce a single multi-page answer. There will be different power questions administered to large and small schools. Scores for this event will be out of 100. Any team that scores above 50 will be invited to compete at the state meet. Please note: due to time constraints the power question will not be offered as an event at local contests. Rather, power questions will be mailed to member schools along with instructions for completing the test at the school's convenience. Completed tests will be mailed to GPML and scored centrally. Calculators are allowed on this event.
• Team test: This is a ten question, twenty minute test which a team of six works on together (or three for small schools). There will be different team tests administered to large and small schools. Each question will be worth ten points, and the top team test score from each school will contribute to that schools overallpoint total. The cutoff score for state meet qualification will be 50. Calculators are allowed on this event.
• Sprint round: In this individual test, students will have sixty minutes to complete 30 multiple choice questions. Four points will be awarded for each correct answer, with one point deducted for each incorrect answer; no penalty will be assessed for skipping. The top six scores from each school (or three for small schools) will be averaged to calculate that schools sprint round score. If fewer than six (or three) students take the test, zeros will be assessed for the leftover slots. This is to encourage schools to bring more students and not limit participation to only the one or two top math students in theschool. State meet cutoff score for individuals is 60. Calculators are allowed on this event.
• Target round: This is an individual event consisting of eight questions, each worth 10 points. Questions will be given out in pairs, and students will have ten minutes to complete each pair. Team scoring procedure is the same as those for the sprint round. Cutoff score for individuals is 40. Calculators are NOT allowed on this event.
• Relays: For this event students will arrange themselves into teams of three. A relay question consists of three parts, where the first student completes part 1 and passes it to the second person, who must use that answer to solve part 2. This answer is then passed back to the third person, who uses that answer to solve part 3. The third person is the only oneto turn in an answer. Detailed rules and procedures are available here. The third person has a chance to turn an answer at three minutes, when a correct answer nets 10 points, and at six minutes, when a correct answer receives 5 points. There will be five relay rounds, and the top two teams (or one team for small schools) from a school count toward the schools total, but the relay score of small schools is doubled before being added to the school total, so the relay round is worth 100 points in the overall rankings for both large and small schools. Any team of three which scores at least 25 will be invited to the state meet. Calculators are NOT allowed on this event.
• Sweepstakes: A schools sweepstakes total is computed by adding its scores for each event. There are a maximum of 100 points available in the team test (the score of the highest scoring team from the school), 120 in the sprint round (average of the top six (or three) highest scores), 80 in the target round (average of the top six (or three) highest scores), and 100 in the relays (sum of the two (or one, doubled) highest scoring relay teams from the school), for a total of 400. At the state meet, the power question will be a competition event,so the maximum team total will be 500. Cutoff score is 200; any school scoring at least 200 will be allowed to bring all team members who contributed to the sweepstakes score to the state meet.