Intermediate Mathematical Challenge

This resource from the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is the 2011 challenge.

The Intermediate challenge is aimed at the top third of pupils in Year 11 or below in England and Wales, Year 12 or below in Northern Ireland and S4 or below in Scotland.

The challenge involves answering 25 multiple choice questions in one hour and is sat in school under normal examination conditions.

The Intermediate Mathematical Challenge (IMC) is a multiple choice contest in which students are presented with five alternative answers, of which just one is correct. It follows that often the correct answers can found by working backwards from the given alternatives, or by showing that four of them are not correct. This can be a sensible thing to do in the context of the IMC.

However, this does not provide a full mathematical explanation that would be acceptable if the question were just given the question without any alternative answers. Usually a complete solution is included which does not use the fact that one of the given alternatives is correct a few questions do not lend themselves to such a treatment). Thus full solutions with all steps explained are given.

In some cases there are alternative solutions given, and some extension problems for further investigations are included.

These solutions can be used as a model for the type of written solution that is expected in the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad and similar competitions.

Questions from the Intermediate Challenge can be used as enrichment material in the classroom across the ability range.