N.C.I.M.L. All-Star Team

NYSML: April 21-22, 2023 at Ithaca High School, 1401 N Cayuga St, Ithaca, NY 14850

ARML: June 2-3, 2023 at Penn State University, State College PA.

All students who have been invited to join and wish to attend any All-Star team practices or contests this year should do the following, as soon as possible:

  1. Determine whether or not they will attend NYSML on April 21-22, 2023.
  2. Go to the student information form and fill it out before attending practice. Note that there is no "I don't know yet" option for the question of whether or not you are attending NYSML. You are responsible for your answer. Any change in your answer must be relayed to an All-Star coach immediately. Please understand: if you say that you are coming and then do not show up on the day of the contest, we will go to considerable lengths to contact you. Deciding not to inform us of your change in status is rude and extremely inconsiderate.
  3. Print out the permission slip, fill it out, get it signed by a parent/guardian, and bring it to practice.

Only students who have filled out the information form will be admitted to practice.

Click here to access student information form, permission slip, and other information

Practice Schedule

Practices will be held on Thursdays.
NYSML practices will be held on March 16, 23, 30, and April 20.
ARML practices will be held on May 18, 25, and June 1.
All practices will run from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM and will be held at Great Neck South High School. Dinner (pizza, mostly) will be served at each practice.

Directions to Great Neck South High School: Take the LIE West to Exit 33. Exit onto the service road and take the first left under the highway. Immediately turn left onto the eastbound service road. The school entrance will be immediately on your right.

General Information

Each spring, the Nassau County Interscholastic Mathematics League sponsors trips to the New York State Mathematics League (NYSML) and the American Regions Mathematics League (ARML). Only the top performing students in the NCIML qualify for the All-Star Team. For most students on the team, the NYSML and ARML practices, coupled with the awesome trips to NYSML and ARML, represent one of the highlights of their year. Students who qualify for the team are entitled to attend special practices and training sessions, where experienced Mathlete coaches instruct team members in topics outside the mainstream math curriculum. Then, on the weekends of ARML and NYSML, they are transported to the contests by bus (coach bus for overnight trips), housed (if necessary) the night before the contest, escorted to a day of both team and individual problem solving, and driven back that day. At the practices and contests, members of the All-Star team get to meet and make friends with students who are of similar intellectual levels and who often have similar interests and who often have a lot to share, both mathematically and otherwise. Oh, and members of the All-Star team get

Free T-Shirts!

Both the NYSML and ARML contests have the same format, with calculators NOT permitted:

  1. Team Problem Solving: The teams have 20 minutes to solve 10 problems, working cooperatively as a team.
  2. Power Question: Teams work cooperatively to solve, with proof, problems on a related topic.
  3. Individual Round: Students work on their own to solve 10 timed problems, presented in pairs.
  4. Relay Round: Students form relay teams of 3, solving two sets of problems "relay-style."

Practices

All-Star practices are held for approximately one month prior to each contest. The practices are held once a week, on Thursdays, at Great Neck South High School. All students who are invited to come to the practices are on the team unless specifically told otherwise. There is no further qualifier of any kind. If you score well enough to be on the All-Star team, you are welcome to participate.

How to Qualify for the All-Star Team

There are three ways to qualify for the All-Star Team:
  1. Score among the top fifty individuals in the NCIML. Invitations will be sent out after the fifth contest.
  2. Recommendation from your Math Team coach. All schools are entitled to send one student to the All-Star team, so if your team did not have any top-50 qualifiers, your coach may recommend a student to the team.
  3. Permission of the All-Star Coach, Thomas Weisswange. To obtain permission, a student's high school Mathlete coach must contact Mr. Weisswange directly, by telephone or e-mail (the information is listed on the league officers page.) The only reasons why a student who is not in the top fifty will be allowed onto the All-Star team are:
    1. A student missed one contest for an official reason, but would most likely have qualified for the team had he or she attended all five individual contests.
    2. An underclassman (sophomore or especially freshman) scored very well, but not quite well enough to make the top fifty.
    In any case, student selections are made at the All-Star Coach's discretion.

If you qualify for the team, you are on the team. There is no further testing.

NYSML and ARML teams consist of 15 students each. In the likely case that more than 15 qualified students join the All-Star team, we will send more than one team to each contest. Should that happen, the choice of which students will be on the first ("A") team will be based on attendance and participation at practices, performance on NCIML and other math contests, performance at All-Star practices, leadership ability, and seniority. All of these factors are important, but attendance and performance are the primary considerations.

Here is the list of the students who are already qualified for the 2020 All-Star team.