Massachusetts Mathematics League 2008 - 2009
Contest Rules

TERMS

1. Each school sends a team of ten members subject to the following restrictions:
   
   1. The number of seniors is not to exceed four.
   2. The sum total of juniors and seniors is not to exceed eight.
   
   
2. MML follows the guidelines set forth by MIAA/MSSAA.



3. Start time for each meet is 3:30. If a school expects to be delayed, a courtesy call should be made to the host school. The other schools in that division may wait to begin the meet (at their discretion).

1. Each team member participates in three of the six categories. If a student participates in more than three categories, the three lowest scores are used in determining the individual score.



2. Five team members compete in each category. If more than five compete, the five lowest scores are used for the team score in that category.

1. The host school assigns the tasks of proctoring, correcting, checking and scoring to the visiting schools. The Division Coordinators will check each team’s lineup to avoid having a team participate with too many juniors and seniors.



2. The scorer should be given a score sheet by each team’s coach on which the names of the students are spelled correctly and legibly printed or typed with grades level included. A coach may have a second score sheet for his/her own use.



3. Coaches are responsible for making sure that students know the following rules:
   1. Rounds 1 through 6 are 10 minutes with a two minute and 15 second warning. All writing must stop at this time. The Team Round is 12 minutes with two minute and 30 second warnings and writing stoppage.
   2. Before the start of each category, each competitor must write his/her complete name, grade and school on the back of the contest paper. No other writing (such as formulas) may be written on a paper before the starting time for the category is announced.
   3. Answers must be legible and placed on designated lines for credit.
   4. When necessary units will be specified in the answer column. To receive credit, a student must use the specified units.
   
   
4. A scoreboard should be available at each contest site to keep students abreast of the progress of that particular contest. Answers should be posted after ALL student answer sheets are collected. NO CELL PHONES are allowed in the testing area.



5. All students’ contest papers are to be held by the Division Coordinator and returned to the school’s coach at the next meet.



6. Team summary sheets, division summary sheets and high scorer sheets are collected by the Division Coordinators who will fax them to the Chief Statistician (617-500-0979) for tabulation and also forward the originals as backup in the envelope provided within 24 hours. The Chief Statistician will then make available the results of the current meet (all divisions) and the cumulative results on the MML website ( www.mmleague.net ).

1. Though every effort is made to write clear questions and answers there are times at contests when clarifications or appeals need to be made. IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT THESE SITUATIONS ARE HANDLED CONSISTENTLY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE STUDENTS.



2. If the coaches at a meet decide a question or answer has an error, ambiguity, or has some other mistake they may agree to correct it. IF ANY CHANGES ARE MADE TO THE QUESTIONS OR ANSWERS ON ANY ROUND AN APPEAL NEEDS TO BE MADE ON THE APPEAL FORM THAT WILL BE SENT TO EVERY HOST SCHOOL.

1. The Division Coordinators will either
• phone the contest director (603-479-1604) during the meet and advise him of the appeal.


• email the appeal to the contest director (olson.re@gmail.com) and the MML president (sambatakosm@lynnfield.k12.ma.us) within 24 hours


• mail the appeal form immediately after the meet to the contest director (16 Tarah Way, `Fremont, NH 03044) AND email him that an official appeal has been posted




2. The Division Coordinators will hold onto the student contest papers as usual in the event further changes become necessary.



3. The Contest Director will email his decision within 24 hours of receiving the appeal to each Division Coordinator who makes an appeal.



4. The Division Coordinators will then make corrections to the students contest papers and will inform the Chief Statistician of any changes in students’ scores.

1. Students are not allowed to use symbolic logic platform calculators in any calculator rounds. Electronic devices, writing pads, translators with QWERTY keyboards are not allowed. Paper bound dictionaries are allowed and will be checked by proctors before hand.


2. One round per contest will be designated as a non-calculator round and coaches will be made aware when this will occur. The Categories Form identifies the round in each meet that is a calculator round.

• TI-89 and higher
• HP-35 and higher
• Casio FX2.0 and higher, as well as 9700 and higher

The above is a sample list, only. Any calculator that does symbolic logic (factoring, etc.) is NOT ALLOWED.

The following are also NOT allowed inside the testing room:

• Cell Phones
• Pagers and Beepers
• Powerbooks and handheld computers
• Pocket Organizers
• Electronic Writing Pads or any such devices
• Devices with QWERTY keyboards
• ipods

1. Each question in Categories 1 - 6 is worth 2 points. Each question in the Team Round is worth 3 points.



2. Each student’s yearly score is the best five out of six scores in league competitions.



3. The team’s score is the sum of the six competitions.



4. The Contest Director will provide a written directive for each problem that specifies whether an exact answer is required. If an exact answer or other answer format is not required then numerical answers may be expressed as decimals, correct to three places. (Example: 6.1438 is correct if written as 6.143, 6.144, 6.1438). Just look at the first three places.

The final meet of the year is a Playoff meet in which schools from all divisions are reassigned based on their team’s total score average for meets 1-5. Alignment of schools for the final meet is done by the league President with input from the Executive Board after the February meet.

If the host school has cancelled classes for the day, that Division’s contest will be held the following Thursday at the same site. If a school(s) in a Division has no school because of snow (or other emergency) and a majority of the schools in the Division are in session, the meet may still take place. The school that was unable to compete will be given the contest that was missed and it will be administered by the Coach in a secure location of that school. Scores must be reported to the Chief Statistician within 7 days of the missed meet.

March 12, 2009 is to be used only if any meet is canceled for two consecutive weeks. If this situation were to occur, March 5, 2009 would be the “make-up meet” and March 12, 2009 would be the Playoff Meet. For example, if the December meet is canceled for two consecutive weeks, the March 5th competition would use the December categories. Team alignment for the playoff would follow the usual format of groupings by cumulative scoring.

If a school cannot host on the assigned Thursday, the President and other schools in the Division must be notified with arrangements for makeup.