[2019 ARML] - ARML Local on Sunday + Ice Cream Social!

Hi everyone,

Our next practice will be this Sunday, April 28, 2pm-6pm, at the College of San Mateo. You can find information about this and subsequent practices at the practice website: https://math.berkeley.edu/~moorxu/2019ARML/. Note that this is in a neighboring building to the one we met in two weeks ago, not the same building.

We will be participating in ARML Local at this practice. This is an official ARML-style competition written by ARML. Since this is an official contest, please ensure that you arrive on time (and budget some time to park). Additionally, note that this practice is longer than usual in order to ensure that we have sufficient time to complete the contest.

Note: You do not need to be registered for ARML to compete in ARML Local. Even if you can't come to ARML this year, you're still welcome to come to ARML Local. Also feel free to invite any friends who might not be on this email list. :)

Simon will be in charge of assembling teams for the ARML Local competition. For anyone wanting to be placed onto an elite team for ARML Local, you need to check in with Simon at the entrance of Room 18-308 by 2:00pm sharp. People who arrive after team selection is complete will be assigned to teams in the order of when they arrive. Note: these teams are just for ARML Local and have no relation to future team selection for the ARML contest.

This may also be a good time to review the ARML math conventions: http://www.arml2.com/arml_2018/public_documents_all_sites/ARML_Conventions_2014.pdf, including sections about formatting your answers.

We will also have an ice cream social at the end of practice, approximately 5:30pm-6:00pm, and we hope that everyone uses this opportunity to get to know others on the team.

For any parents who are thinking about coming with us to ARML, this practice can be a good opportunity to come help out with some proctoring and see what the experience of volunteering at ARML is like.

As a reminder, if you can't make it to practice on a particular day, fill out the Practice Absence Form on the website before that practice, with a good reason. In particular, there is no need to email me about missing a practice, and I do not accept practice excuses over email. Unexcused absences may negatively affect placement on elite teams.

I am posting all materials (problems and solutions) used at practices on the practice website. In order to view this material, use username=sfba and password=arml.

If you ever miss any announcements, you can view our email archive.

Let me know if you have any questions. See you on Sunday! :)

Best, 

Moor

-------------------------------------------

Some tips from Freya (selected from her post in our Facebook group):

ARML Local is an official contest; it can be likened to a mini-ARML of sorts. Like the real ARML, ARML Local contains team, individual, and relay rounds (sorry, no power round). However, there are some key differences between ARML Local and ARML, which I will highlight below:

- ARML Local teams contain 6 people, not 15. Thus, the teams tend to be more close-knit and able to interact with one another more closely over individual problems than at the actual ARML. Use this opportunity as a bonding experience; your teammates at ARML Local often end up being on your actual ARML team :) (and if not, this is your chance to meet new friends outside the team as well!).

- Because of the smaller size of the ARML Local teams, the team round contains 15 problems to be solved in 45 minutes rather than 10 problems to be solved in 20 minutes.

- The individual rounds for ARML Local and ARML have the same format; just as in the real ARML, we will read the ARML Local questions aloud before you can start writing (and before the timer starts). We just don't read the questions aloud during other practices in order to save time.

- There are 3 sets of relays in ARML Local: (1) the team splits into 3 groups of 2 to solve 2-question relay sets (submit at 3 and 6 minutes); (2) the team splits into 2 groups of 3 to solve 3-question relay sets (submit at 4 and 8 minutes); and (3) the team as a whole goes through one 6-question relay set (submit at 5 and 10 minutes). Like at the real ARML, the team earns more points for faster submissions.

Now, some tips:

- Teams will not have access to whiteboards at ARML Local. However, one person (the "boardmaster") should use a piece of scratch paper (NOT the official answer sheet!) to keep track of everyone's work and answers for the team round, but everyone can (and should) write on the paper to indicate what they are working on and what answers they get. Just like during ARML, if there is any conflict of answers, it must be brought to everyone's attention immediately.

- When selecting problems at the beginning of the team round, make sure that each person is working on a different problem since there are more problems than students this time around. However, by the end of the team round, every problem attempted should have been solved by at least 2 people.

- If a problem on the team round seems impossible for everyone on the team (even with collaboration), just skip it. Time is of the essence; make sure you correctly solve the problems you can solve.

- Remember that team round answers must be recorded *on the provided answer sheet* to be graded. Thus, at the 1-minute warning, the boardmaster should copy down all answers on that sheet for grading. (If the boardmaster forgets, it is the responsibility of the rest of the team to remind them or copy down the answers themselves.) In addition, have at least one other team member VERIFY that the answers on the answer sheet have been copied down correctly. It'd be a shame to miss problems due to mistranscription!

- Make sure to sanity-check your answers. For example, if a problem asks for an integer mod 45, 100000 or 1/2 will definitely not be correct (it fails the sanity check; the answer should be an integer between 0 and 44).

- Just like at ARML, do NOT submit the same relay answer at the half- and full-time marks. You are only graded based on your latest submission. So, if you submit the same (correct) answer that you submitted earlier, you will cost your team points. Don't do that.