Primary Maths Challenge - 28 November 2014

The Primary Maths Challenge is an annual event organised by the Mathematical Association. This year 20 children took part and gained either a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. It is basically a maths test but a lot of thought is put into the questions to make them appealing to upper KS2. There are 25 questions in total with the last five being very challenging indeed! Our results were:
Gold - 2 awards
Silver - 10 awards
Bronze - 8 awards
If anyone had scored 24 or 25 they would have been invited to the MA Headquarters in London to sit a further challenge.

Here's a sample of this years' questions;

Q8 The sum of the digits of 2014 is a prime number. How many years will it be until the sum of the digits of the year is again a prime number?
A 2     B 4     C 6      D 7      E 9

Q12 I am on top of a helter-skelter facing East. The chute will turn me anti-clockwise through 630 degrees. In which direction will I be facing at the bottom?
A south    B east     C north     D west       E north-west

Q16 A slug called Glug eats 2 tomatoes for every 3 strawberries. Yesterday it had eaten 35 tomatoes and strawberries altogether. How many tomatoes did it eat?
A 5    B 7    C 14    D 15    E 21

Q22 Last year Gareth was 13 times older than his son Herbie. This year Gareth is 10 times older than Herbie. In how many years' time will Gareth be 7 times Herbie's age?

Q24 In 1588 an Italian mathematician called Pietro Cataldi discovered that
2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 1 (in short  2¹⁹- 1) is a prime number. When this number is divided by 5, what is the remainder?

Enjoy!

Mr Bullen