Individual Test
        The Individual tests will be subject dependent, i.e. there will be a Geometry Individual test, an Algebra II Individual test, a Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry Individual test, and a Calculus Individual test. Students who take the Individual tests MUST BE currently enrolled in the class for the test they are taking. Thus, a student presently studying Calculus in high school MAY NOT take the Geometry Individual test. The results of the Individual tests serve a two-fold purpose. First, they will determine the top students in each subject area. Second, the results will be used to determine the contenders for the math bowl to be held later on in the day, as described below.

Inter-School Test
        The Inter-School test allows all of the students from a high school to work together in order to solve problems on a single test. Thus, a high school’s Inter-School test team consists of all the students that it brings to the JHU Math Tournament. A greater number of students does not always correlate to more right answers on the test since a balance between communication among team members and mathematical accuracy must be attained. The Inter-School test will consist of mathematical questions from a broad variety of subject areas, including, but not limited to, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus/Trigonometry, and Calculus. This is a test that truly requires a sense of team spirit, not just one individual student answering all of the questions.

Math Bowl
        The math bowl will serve as an exciting conclusion to the day’s testing. The top four students in each subject area of the Individual test from each high school will be determined during the lunch break. Thus, each school will have a “team score” for each of the four subject areas. If a school brings less than four students for any subject area, then that school’s team score for the particular Individual test will just be a sum of those three (or two or one) students. The top four schools from each subject area (the schools with the top four “team scores”) will then participate in the math bowl.
        During the semi-finals, the high school with the highest subject area score will play the school with the fourth highest score. At the same time, in another room, the second highest-scoring team will play the third highest-scoring team for each subject area. Thus, during the semi-finals, 8 rooms will have matches (two for each subject area). During the finals, the winners of each semi-final game for a particular subject area will compete against each other to determine the winner. In addition, the teams defeated from the semi-finals will vie for third place. Thus, 8 rooms will have matches since 4 rooms determine 1st and 2nd place while another four rooms determine 3rd and 4th place for each subject area.
        The math bowl serves as a head-to-head competition between teams from different high schools. Students will be given questions that truly require the entire team to be active, not just one “star” player. Thus, a question MAY consist of 2-4 subparts, which need to be combined somehow at the end to get a final answer. In this way, most of the team members are actively participating on finding the solution.
        During the semi-finals and finals of the math bowl, we understand that only four high schools will be playing per subject area. In order to provide the math bowl contenders with the best environment, we will NOT allow other teams to watch the matches. In the past, team members have complained about a lack of concentration due to the presence of an audience. Thus, the students that did not advance to the math bowl are invited to participate in a “fun activity,” to be announced on the day of the tournament. This will allow students to pass their time in an enjoyable manner prior to the awards ceremony.