Nassau County Interscholastic Math League

N.C.I.M.L. All-Star Team

NYSML: April 9 and 10, 2010 in Albany, NY.

ARML: June 4 and 5, 2010 at Penn State University, State College PA.

Practice Schedule

NYSML practices will be held on Thursdays: March 4, 11, 18, 25 and April 8.  
ARML practices will be held on April 29, May 13, 20, and 27, and June 3.
All practices will run from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM and will be held at Wheatley High School.  Dinner (pizza) will be served at each practice.

Directions to Wheatley High School: Take the LIE to the Glen Cove Road exit.  Exit the highway heading south, and you will shortly come upon Hillside Ave (Rte 25B.)  Turn left on Hillside, and look for the first left turn you find.  Make a left and then an immediate right into the Wheatley High School parking lot.

If you want to be on the team and cannot arrange transportation, contact Thomas Weisswange immediately and we will see what we can do.

General Information

Each spring, the Nassau County Interscholastic Mathematics League sponsors trips to the New York State Mathematics League (NYSML) and the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). Only the top performing students in the NCIML qualify for the All-Star Team. For most students on the team, the NYSML and ARML practices, coupled with the awesome trips to NYSML and ARML, represent one of the highlights of their year. Students who qualify for the team are entitled to attend special practices and training sessions, where experienced Mathlete coaches instruct team members in topics outside the mainstream math curriculum. Then, on the weekends of ARML and NYSML, they are transported to the contests by coach bus, housed (if necessary) the night before the contest, escorted to a day of both team and individual problem solving, and driven home that day. At the practices and contests, members of the All-Star team get to meet and make friends with students who are of similar intellectual levels and who often have similar interests and who often have a lot to share, both mathematically and otherwise. Oh, and members of the All-Star team get

Free T-Shirts!

Both the NYSML and ARML contests have the same format:

  1. Team Problem Solving: The teams have 20 minutes to solve 10 problems, working cooperatively as a team.
  2. Power Question: Teams work cooperatively to solve, with proof, problems on a related topic.
  3. Individual Round: Students work on their own to solve 8 timed problems, presented in pairs.
  4. Relay Round: Students form relay teams of 3, solving two sets of problems "relay-style."

Practices

All-Star practices are held for approximately one month prior to each contest. The practices are generally held once a week, usually on Thursdays, at Wheatley High School. All students who are invited to come to the practices are on the team unless specifically told otherwise. We are extremely committed to the idea that all students who qualify for the All-Star team should be able to attend the practices, therefore,

If you make it to the All-Star team and cannot find transportation to the practices, PLEASE contact Thomas Weisswange by e-mail and he will do everything possible to find a way for you to get there.

How to Qualify for the All-Star Team

There are two ways to qualify for the All-Star Team:
  1. Score among the top fifty individuals in the NCIML. Invitations and congratulatory letters will be sent out after the fifth contest.
  2. Permission of the All-Star Coach, Thomas Weisswange. To obtain permission, a student's high school Mathlete coach must contact Mr. Weisswange directly, preferably by telephone (the number is listed on the league officers page.) The only reasons why a student who is not in the top fifty will be allowed onto the All-Star team are:
    1. A previous All-Star team member or top fifty scorer missed one contest for an official reason, but would most likely have qualified for the team had he or she attended all five individual contests.
    2. An underclassman (sophomore or especially freshman) scored very well, but not quite well enough to make the top fifty.
    3. A student scored very well and attends a school that has not had any students in the top fifty in the past few years.
    In any case, student selections are made at the All-Star Coach's discretion.

If you qualify for the team, you are on the team. There is no further testing.

NYSML and ARML teams consist of 15 students each. In the likely case that more than 15 students qualify for the All-Star team, we will send more than one team to each contest. Should that happen, the choice of which students will be on the first ("A") team will be based on attendance and participation at practices, performance on NCIML and other math contests, performance at All-Star practices, leadership ability, and seniority. All of these factors are important, but attendance and performance are the primary considerations.
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