Thanks for all the info! I agree with the PP that noted that it's a fun approach to math - I thought the problems on the test DD brought home were really cool problem solving things for her grade level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid tried it this year and it seemed pretty neat. Wondering how many other FCPS schools let their kids participate? (While I was trying to figure out the scores I found their website publishes names and schools of top-scoring kids, and I only saw one FCPS elementary school on their for last year - I'm guessing that's because almost none of the schools do this?)

Also curious, how hard is the test if anyone knows? DD scored in like the 80-something percentile which doesn't seem like anything super special but it also said it was a top-20 "rank" both state and nationwide, which seems odd for something in that percentile.

Regardless, I thought the test seemed like some really fun puzzles and I'm glad our school offered it!

I believe the PALS parents volunteer for this. So whichever schools have PALS interested in it, they might have the Math Kangaroo in that school. So seeing some schools names on the Math Kangaroo winner lists does not mean much. I am not sure whether the PTA or the school coach the students though, if they do it's a good enrichment.

I fixed your error. Agreed, it is a PTA arranged thing. The schools with a Math Club, normally run through the PTA, are likely to participate. DS school did not so he signed up as an individual. RSM is one of the big sponsors and the RSM locations will host the competition so individuals can sign up to attend there.

The rankings that you are looking for is the top 1-3 and that can differ for each state and the national ranking. More importantly, it is a fun approach to math and can be a fun competition to participate in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid tried it this year and it seemed pretty neat. Wondering how many other FCPS schools let their kids participate? (While I was trying to figure out the scores I found their website publishes names and schools of top-scoring kids, and I only saw one FCPS elementary school on their for last year - I'm guessing that's because almost none of the schools do this?)

Also curious, how hard is the test if anyone knows? DD scored in like the 80-something percentile which doesn't seem like anything super special but it also said it was a top-20 "rank" both state and nationwide, which seems odd for something in that percentile.

Regardless, I thought the test seemed like some really fun puzzles and I'm glad our school offered it!

I believe the PALS parents volunteer for this. So whichever schools have PALS interested in it, they might have the Math Kangaroo in that school. So seeing some schools names on the Math Kangaroo winner lists does not mean much. I am not sure whether the PALS or the school coach the students though, if they do it's a good enrichment.

Not PALS, meant PTA.

Anonymous wrote:Our kid tried it this year and it seemed pretty neat. Wondering how many other FCPS schools let their kids participate? (While I was trying to figure out the scores I found their website publishes names and schools of top-scoring kids, and I only saw one FCPS elementary school on their for last year - I'm guessing that's because almost none of the schools do this?)

Also curious, how hard is the test if anyone knows? DD scored in like the 80-something percentile which doesn't seem like anything super special but it also said it was a top-20 "rank" both state and nationwide, which seems odd for something in that percentile.

Regardless, I thought the test seemed like some really fun puzzles and I'm glad our school offered it!

I believe the PALS parents volunteer for this. So whichever schools have PALS interested in it, they might have the Math Kangaroo in that school. So seeing some schools names on the Math Kangaroo winner lists does not mean much. I am not sure whether the PALS or the school coach the students though, if they do it's a good enrichment.

Anonymous wrote:https://mathkangaroo.org/mks/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_Level-1_National-Virtual-Ranking.pdf


In Math Kangaroo, thousands of students participate as you know. For example, for grade 1, in 2023 the lowest national ranking you could achieve was 92 even when you could not answer any of the questions correctly. If you answered one of the 3 point questions (i.e. easy one), you would rank 91st nationally.

So basically, if someone says I ranked top 100 nationally in Math Kangaroo, it means nothing, they could have scored 0.

https://mathkangaroo.org/mks/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023_Level-1_National-Virtual-Ranking.pdf


In Math Kangaroo, thousands of students participate as you know. For example, for grade 1, in 2023 the lowest national ranking you could achieve was 92 even when you could not answer any of the questions correctly. If you answered one of the 3 point questions (i.e. easy one), you would rank 91st nationally.

Math kangaroo is mostly individual participation and registration, not through public school, with test location hosted typically by a math enrichment business. Here is the list in virginia

https://mathkangaroo.org/mks/math-kangaroo-centers/

I don't know all the schools that participate but I think you can see the name of the place/program that the child participated with/at on the Math Kangaroo lists, when those come out. You can participate individually, I know that RSM hosts the competition, and you can sign up there.

There are a lot of math competitions out there for ES kids. I would like to see if your school has a math club, the ones with a math club tend to do things like Math Kangaroo, MOEMs, and other competitions. If your school doesn't have a math club, ours did not, you can look for outside math clubs. We used RSM's math competition program but I know that there are others in the area. All you have to do is look at the name of the programs participating in Math Kangaroo to get the names of those programs.

Check out MOEMS, CML, and Beast Academy

Our kid tried it this year and it seemed pretty neat. Wondering how many other FCPS schools let their kids participate? (While I was trying to figure out the scores I found their website publishes names and schools of top-scoring kids, and I only saw one FCPS elementary school on their for last year - I'm guessing that's because almost none of the schools do this?)

Also curious, how hard is the test if anyone knows? DD scored in like the 80-something percentile which doesn't seem like anything super special but it also said it was a top-20 "rank" both state and nationwide, which seems odd for something in that percentile.

Regardless, I thought the test seemed like some really fun puzzles and I'm glad our school offered it!