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Taiwanese shine at 2008 American Math Competition

Taiwanese students once again gave an outstanding performance as 28 scored full marks at the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) this year, the sponsor said yesterday in Taipei.

Twenty-six of the 6,328 Taiwanese students who entered the competition for grade 10 got perfect scores, representing 55.32 percent of the perfect scores worldwide, up from 12.8 percent last year. Two of 6,075 Taiwanese in the AMC 12 got full marks, representing 18.18 percent of the total number of full marks received, up from 10.5 percent last year.

The AMC, which was established in 1950, includes three levels — the AMC 8, AMC 10 and AMC 12 — for students in grades 8, 10 and 12. The annual event is held by the American Mathematics Competitions organization.

Major universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are beginning to take AMC scores as an important reference in student applications, since the AMC tests a deeper level of math than the SAT and can help identify students who are ready for a rigorous undergraduate curriculum.

Mark Chen (陳信翰), from the National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park, was the first Taiwanese to get perfect scores both in the AMC 12 and the American Invitational Mathematics Examination.

Chen, who was born in the US and came back to Taiwan to continue his senior high school study three years ago, has already been admitted by MIT and will enroll this August. The 17-year-old said he is interested in math.

“Math helps me think in a more creative way and to analyze things more deeply,” Chen said.
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