Math Club

MATHCOUNTS Competition Series

The MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is a national program that provides students the opportunity to compete in live, in-person contests against and alongside their peers. Created in 1983, it is the longest-running MATHCOUNTS program and is open to all sixth, seventh and eighth-grade students.

The Competition Series has 4 levels of competition—school, chapter, state and national. Each level of competition is comprised of 4 rounds—Sprint, Target, Team and Countdown Round. Altogether the rounds are designed to take about 3 hours to complete.

  • Sprint Round: focuses on speed and accuracy. Students have 40 minutes to complete 30 math problems without a calculator.
  • Target Round: focuses on problem-solving and mathematical reasoning. Students receive 4 pairs of problems and have 6 minutes to complete each pair, assuming the use of a calculator.
  • Team Round: focuses on problem-solving and collaboration. Students have 20 minutes to complete 10 math problems, assuming the use of a calculator. Only the 4 students on a school’s team can take this round officially.
  • Countdown Round: focuses on speed and accuracy. Students have a maximum of 45 seconds per problem without a calculator. This round is optional at the school, chapter and state level.

The National MATH CLUB

The National Math Club is a national program that gives students the opportunity to engage in mathematics that is non-competitive, fun and different from “textbook math.” Created in 2007, it is a completely free MATHCOUNTS program. Students can participate through their school or through a non-school group, such as a Girl Scout Troop, Boys and Girls Club Chapter or local math circle.

The National Math Club is designed to be very flexible so that different types of groups of all sizes can participate. The only restrictions placed on a group that wants to participate are:

  • the group must consist of at least 4 U.S. students.
  • the students in the group must be in sixth-, seventh- or eighth-grade.
  • the group must have regular, in-person meetings.