Christine Kay
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 07/02) - William McDonald School has discovered some math geniuses roaming the hallways.

And imagine the pressure these students felt when they sat down to a four- page test, with 40 questions and only 30 minutes to complete it.

Carter Stirling, 11, Mike McCormick, 13, and Skyler Erasmus, 14, weren't worried at all, and they had no need to be.

Each of these kids is distinguished after taking part in a national math competition held by the University of Windsor.

"The first couple of pages were fairly simple. They were grade level kind of questions but the last page was probably up a grade level or higher," said Carter.

They prepared for the contest by staying after school and practising with old tests.

Skyler, however, still isn't sure how he did it. He scored the top score in Grade 8 and only found he was even writing the test the day before.

"My mom went to university in Saskatchewan just a couple years ago and she was always teaching me what she was learning," explains Skyler.

Skyler did not prepare for the test beforehand because he was sick.

The boys won't give themselves too much credit. They say anyone can write these tests.

"It's just about learning it. If anyone in this grade were taught just some basic rules a couple of grades above them, then they could do really well on this test," says Mike.

A score of 20 out of 40 on this test is a very good mark. The organizers actually ask that teachers keep any papers with a score higher than 30 just in case they are within the top all across Canada.

"Usually a student that's competent at grade level scores about a 15," said Christina Allerston, the teacher who organized the competition at William McDonald School. For each grade level, the top fives scores are added up and that becomes the total points. Grades 6 and 8 from William McDonald School were both regional winners with the seventh grade coming in second. The regional winner for Grade 7 was Ecole St. Joseph.

Although the schools wrote the tests back in February and March, they have just received special plaques marking their accomplishments.