Eric Hopkins Achieves Perfect Score on AMC 8 Exam
Eric Hopkins, an 8th grader at Bolivar Middle School in Bolivar, Missouri, was among four students recognized by Missouri Governor Matt Blunt on April 11 for achieving a perfect score on the AMC 8 Exam given in November 2006 . "The AMC 8 is a 25 question, 40 minute multiple choice examination in junior high school (middle school) mathematics designed to promote the development and enhancement of problem solving skills." (taken from the AMC 8 website at http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e4-amc08/amc8.shtml). The contest is sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.
According to the website, 2973 students from 50 schools took the exam in Missouri. The average score achieved was 9.91 and the average high score at a school was 17.96. These four students achieved a perfect score of 25 (only 15 students in Missouri achieved a score of 22-24). In the United States, this exam was given to 132,909 students at 1965 schools. Only 128 students in the United States (0.1%) achieved a perfect score.
From the AMC teacher information packet, “The contest, which covers Middle School mathematics, is given at participating schools. Its purpose is to spur interest in mathematics and develop talent through the excitement of friendly competition at problem solving in a timed format. The AMC 8, first offered in 1985, is an annual project sponsored by The Mathematical Association of America, and is located at the University of Nebraska - lincoln. The Contest is given across the U.S.A., Canada, and in many schools abroad. The AMC 8 contest can lead to other more selective math contests, even all the way to the United States of America team sent to the International Mathematical Olympiad, the premier international high school level mathematical problem solving contest. The real rewards come from challenging each student with mathematics that is new, different, and “outside of the box.” The problems on the contest are difficult, but designed to be within the reach of students. Even so, if a student managed to solve only one or two problems, you can consider that satisfactory, because these problems are meant to be more challenging than students routinely encounter in their mathematics courses.”
In the photo below are the four students that were recognized. Governor Matt Blunt is on the left and Eric Hopkins is on the right.
