Sorry, this is going to be a bit soon for many/most of you, since we have not had any face-to-face sessions recently. And finally, sorry, this is a really long email, but hopefully the headings with table of contents, helps. Also, I'll email you the Protocols again, when I send you the paper ... so just skim it for now.
Below, I have subheadings for:
Quite unusually, we have no booked venue to hold the TT exams, and with the COVID-19 restrictions in place, we have no choice, students will need to find a quiet place at home for 4 hours this weekend, preferably Saturday, but Sunday will be fine, for the O Level paper, and similar, but for 5 hours for the following weekend for the A Level paper.
The AMT will still issue certificates (eventually), but they won't have the same regard as a properly supervised exam, and they won't be sent to Moscow.
Of course, without supervision there are all manner of ways you can cheat, but if you do so, you only cheat yourself. The value of TT is in preparing you for the Senior Contest (in August - hopefully in 2020, it will run in the usual manner) and the Australian Maths Olympiad (in February - by 2021, things should be back to normal).
If you have seen the paper or have discussed questions from the paper with another person, before I send the paper to you for sitting, you are effectively disqualified, and should say so. (You can still sit it, if you wish, but you won't receive a certificate.)
You cannot discuss any questions of the O Level paper until after Monday 4 May. (The plan is that we will discuss O Level Junior questions at the next Perth Mod AMO/TT session, and hopefully I will record it.)
So, here's the plan for sitting the papers, which again are:
O Level Paper: Saturday 2 May or Sunday 3 May (4 hours)
A Level Paper: Saturday 9 May or Sunday 10 May (5 hours)
Email me a plan for sitting the O Level paper, preferably by Friday 1 May, (but several hours before sitting on the day will be ok), i.e. send me your intended Start time. Also, confirm your Year at school, so I send the right paper.
I will then send you the paper at your nominated Start time, by email.
A little after 4 hours have elapsed from your nominated start time, I will expect JPEGs or PDFs of your solution pages to the TT. When doing this please ensure your subject line has:
TT 2020 JO or TT 2020 SO... if you reply to my email, it should have the right subject line. Also, include question numbers, if you do it in several emails.
Now given the logistics of sitting this at home, I will offer that you can break up the time, if you wish. In this case, your plan will need to provide:
A schedule of bracketed times and what questions you will sit, e.g.
Sat 2-3pm: Q1
Sat 5-6pm: Q2
Sun 2-4pm: Q3-5
Then
I would send just Q1, shortly before 2pm Sat,.
I would expect the solution of Q1, from you, shortly after 3pm,
I would send just Q2, shortly before 5pm Sat, etc.
The problem, of course, with this approach, is that, you don't really know in advance, how long you will need for the questions, without actually seeing the questions. So, I would only choose to do this, if you really can't find a 4-hour block to do the questions.
Penultimately, ... I usually write up on the board some protocols for writing solutions in the exam booklets, which you won't have.
Candidate details (just to be sure I have them)
Paper, e.g. Junior O
(if your year level is up to Year 10, you are Junior,
if your year level is Year 11 or 12, you are Senior)
If you happen to be doing Year 11 maths,
but you are actually a Year 10 student,
you are still Year 10.
Paper size should be A4 (slightly smaller is ok ... you will need to take care that all of your page is scanned when you create a JPEG or PDF)
Use blue or black pen (avoid red) or pencil: 2B is preferred, HB is ok (avoid H).
Please write on just one side of a page to prevent bleedthrough.
Start each new question on a new page.
At the top of each page write: S m P n
for integers m and n,
meaning: Solution of question m, Page n
... so typically, at the tops of pages might be:
S1 P1... occasionally, you might think there is something in your rough working, that you might want to include too.
S1 P2
S2 P1
S3 P1
...
Now students who were new this year have had no practice at doing a TT. You can look down the bottom of the Olympiad page. There are two problems there, and solutions by i-lecture, once you have had a go. There are more, but without i-lectures, at the old AMOsessions page, but you will see, I haven't updated those since 2012.
Don't exhaust yourself with preparation. Realistically, the most you can do is two or three problems at this late stage. If the two problems on the Olympiad page mentioned above, are too hard, then you can look at problems on the out-of-date AMOsessions page, but only try say a couple of 3-point questions from a randomly chosen Junior O, and then plan to do the actual paper after you have had sufficient rest. If your choice, is to stay up and do one more problem or get a good night's sleep, choose: get a good night's sleep.
For the new students the TT will be a bit of a shock. Just remember: persistence, patience, self-belief are key ... just keep trying new ideas until you find an ‘in’ and then keep working at it, until you have a solution. Try to get at least one question completely out. You tend to get more for a complete question than for partially worked solutions to questions. It's best to start with the first question, and only abandon the question if you've spent an hour on it, and gotten nowhere.
We'll discuss the O paper in the following week ... and hopefully that will help you feel better about it, before you have a go at the A paper.
The first TT is likely to be brutal. Just try to look at it philosophically, as a learning experience, and that you will do better next time. We use the TT to prepare for AIMO, Senior Contest and AMO ... so it doesn't really matter how you do on TT.