Lilian Ly, Matthew Cheah, and Sothearoth Bak celebrate their success. 71911 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Charlene Gatt
THESE brainiacs know a thing or two about maths.
Sothearoth Bak, Lilian Ly and Matthew Cheah can now add maths wiz to their list of attributes after receiving outstanding scores for the Australian Maths Competition.
Matthew blitzed the competition to get in the top one per cent in the Year 7 to 8 and the Year 9 to 10 tests, and also scored in the top 10 per cent for the year 11 and 12 test.
Matthew, 10, attends accelerated classes at Footscray City College and is already familiar with year 12 maths.
Surprisingly, he was not confident in his performance this year, despite setting out to get the highest score in Australia.
Sothearoth, 13, who cites sport as his favourite subject, scored in the top two per cent in the Year 7 and 8 category, while Lilian got in the top 10 per cent. Both get tutored outside of school.
Meanwhile, three other Footscray City College students – Robert Doyle, Rory Young and Liam Hoare – all got within the top 14 per cent.
“The first questions were really easy, then it gradually got harder,” Robert said.
About 120 Footscray City College students sat the 65-minute test earlier this year.
The first 20 questions are intended to be familiar to students from their classroom experience, while the remainder of the questions are more difficult.
