General Contest Information
General Information
Who?
Students compete in two different divisions based on grade: Middle School (6-8) and High School(9-12). Our competitions are open to anyone in the greater Chicago area who identifies as female or non-binary and have an interest in mathematics and STEM!
When?
INTEGIRLS Chicago competitions generally occur biannually in the fall (mid-November) and in the spring (mid-March). Our competition usually happens from 8:30AM - 1PM on a weekend. Specific dates are generally not confirmed until 1-3 months before the competition. These competitions are standalone--you don't need to come to the fall competition to come to the spring competition, but we encourage all to come to both!
Where?
Our competitions are in-person and have traditionally been held at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines. However, our venue may change in the future and will be updated once more information is released/available.
How can I prepare?
Middle School problem difficulty generally ranges from AMC 8 - early AIME. High School problem difficulty generally ranges from AMC 10/12 - AIME. Problems usually fall into one of four categories: Algebra, Geometry, Number Theory, or Probability/Combinatorics. Despite our name (INTEGIRLS), there is NO calculus!
If you'd like to get a feel for our competition problems, check out our problem archive.
Do I need a team to compete?
Other than the individual round, most of our events are team-oriented and we strongly encourage competitors to ask friends, classmates, etc. to team up! Participants will compete in teams of 4 or less. However, if you don't have a team, no worries! We'll team you up with plenty other competitors who are also looking for teams on the day of the competition. Hey, you might make some new friends :)
Prizes?
Yes! We award Amazon gift cards to the top 5 individuals and each member of the top 3 teams in each division. We also prepare a special prize every competition for our top 2 Estimathon winners.
📝Individual: For 1st through 5th place, winners will be awarded $50, $25, $15, $10, and $10, respectively.
🧑🤝🧑Team: For 1st through 3rd place, each team member will be awarded $25, 15, and $10, respectively.
📐Estimathon: The 1st and 2nd place teams will receive fun awards that will be revealed at the competition :)
We also hold various raffles, which can depend from competition to competition!
For team prizes, your team score is calculated as follows:
Team Score: (top 2 indiv. scores)/2 + 3*(team round) + 2*(relay#1 + relay#2).
Schedule Overview (subject to change)
8:15-8:30 AM Check In
8:30 - 8:40 AM: Introduction
8:40 - 9:40 AM: Individual Round (60 min)
9:50 - 10:50 AM: Team Round (60 min)
10:50 - 11:10 AM: Break + Snacks
11:20 - 11:30 AM: Relay Round 1 (10 min)
11:35 - 11:45 AM: Relay Round 2 (10 min)
12:00 - 12:30 PM: Estimathon (30 min)
12:30 - 12:50 PM: Awards
Competition Information
For all of our events, competitors will NOT be allowed to use calculators, rulers, protractors, graph paper, or any aids, so each student will only need to bring pencils and erasers for the competition. We will be providing scratch paper.
Individual Round
Individual Rounds consist of 30 problems to be completed in 60 minutes, where all answers are single values. Your individual score is counted by the total number of questions answered correctly.
The average of the top 2 individual scorers of each team will contribute to the total team score.
Team Round
Team Rounds consist of 15 problems to be completed by working together with your team in 30 minutes, where all the answers are single values.
Each problem is worth 3 points contributing to the total team score.
Relay Round
There will be two 10 minute relay rounds.
Teams will be arranged in a line in a chosen order (1-4), with members reasonably spaced apart from one another (NO TALKING!). Every member receives 1 problem to answer based on your ordering, but here's the catch! Once the first member answers their question, you are to pass your answer and ONLY your answer to the second person. The second person will need a numerical answer from the first person to complete their question and will then pass their answer to the third person, and so on. The fourth and final person will be in charge of turning in an answer sheet for all 4 problems once time is called.
If your team has less than 4 members, you will decide which member(s) should receive more than one problem in whatever distribution you'd like (e.g. first person will take P1+P2, second person takes P3, third person takes P4).
Each problem is worth 2 points contributing to the total team score.
Estimathon (bonus event!)
Let's put your estimation skills to the test!
Each Estimathon team will be composed of 2 smaller teams (up to 8 people) that will be formed on-site. Your team will have 30 minutes to answer 13 estimation problems. For each problem, your team will submit intervals (with a lower and upper bound) to each problem.
LOWEST SCORE WINS! An interval is good if it contains the correct answer, and will cause your team score to decrease. The smaller the interval, the more your score will decrease.
Estimathon is an event with a LIVE scoreboard--you'll have 18 answer slips to submit an interval at any time during the contest, and the scoreboards will be updated accordingly in real time.
More information on rules found on the official Estimathon site.
Estimathon won't contribute to your team score; however, there will be separate prizes for the top 2 Estimathon teams.
