UK Mathematics Trust
Coordinators’ Instructions
SMC 2020
Contents
Contents 1
SMC quick step guide 2
Set your Challenge date 3
Run-up to the SMC 3
Practice Challenges 3
Arrangements for students eligible for extra time 3
Downloading and distributing your student logins 4
On your SMC day 6
Running the Challenge 6
Trouble-Shooting 7
After your SMC day 8
Answers and extended solutions 8
Getting results and downloading certificates 8
Contact us 9
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UK Mathematics Trust
SMC Quick Step Guide
On this page you will find quick and simple steps to hosting the Senior Mathematical Challenge 2020
for your students.
If you are already confident with using the online Challenge system then please feel free to use these
as a quick reference before running the Challenge. If you need more in-depth instructions you can
click the magnifying glass next to each step.
Step 1 Choose a date for your Challenge between 0:01 GMT, 2nd November and 17:00 GMT, 5th
🔍
November - **remember, you don’t need to tell us what you choose**
Step 2 You have the option to use preparation materials with your students. There is an online
practice paper here which gives immediate feedback. Students do not need to log in to access this,
they only need to log in to start the actual Challenge. To access other past papers for SMC you can
🔍
click here and browse the selections we have.
Step 3 Download the student usernames and passwords from the ‘Students’ menu option on your
Challenges Profile. To filter your SMC codes you can type ‘smc’ into the Username box. You do not
need to enter the student names here if you don’t want to, this can be done by the students
themselves before they start the Challenge. The usernames and passwords can be used from the
🔍
2nd November to submit answers.
Step 4 Host SMC at your chosen time(s). Students will need to log in at [Link] by
entering their unique username and password. After logging in they will need to enter their name and
click save. They will then need to select their year group and click START to begin. Each student will
have 92 minutes to complete the Challenge (we allow 2 extra minutes, to allow time to enter 3 yes/no
questions at the start of the Challenge). Their answers are saved as they go along so if their time runs
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out, they will not lose their work up to that point!
Step 6 Wait for us to contact you about your results, which we plan to upload to your Challenges
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Profile by Tuesday 17th November.
Step 7 If you have any questions that this handbook does not answer please do not hesitate to contact
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us.
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UK Mathematics Trust
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Set your Challenge date
You can choose the dates and times, within the allotted window, that best suit you and your students.
You do not need to let us know or enter this information to the online system or confirm with
us the date you choose.
The Challenge will open at 0:01 GMT, 2nd November and must have started the Challenge by
17:00 GMT, 5th November.
All students entered into the Challenge will ideally sit the Challenge at the same time or as close as
possible to the same time. This will reduce the likelihood of students passing information to each
other. Please ask your students not to share information about the Challenge until after the 5th
November at 6:30pm as schools will sit it on different days.
Run-up to SMC
Practice Challenges
After choosing your SMC date you might want to give students the chance to practice some past
papers. This is the best way to make sure that students can prepare for the actual Challenge.
To access past papers for SMC you can click here and browse the selections we have.
There is also an online practice paper which gives immediate feedback. This is the same site the
students will go to for the actual Challenge but they don’t need to log in just to practice.
Arrangements for students who are eligible for extra time
At the UKMT, we honour all access arrangements put in place by your school so, for example, if a
student is entitled to 25% extra time in exams then this will be honoured for our Challenges and
Olympiads also. You can allocate extra time for your students and this will need to be done before
they start the Challenge. You can do this by following these steps:
● Once logged in, click on the Students menu option
● Start typing the pupil’s Name (or Username) and the list will automatically filter as you type
● Click on the pupil’s name under the Name heading, click Edit, scroll down to Extra time and
add the required amount of time (in minutes)
● Click Save then Back to list and you will see the number of minutes has appeared under the
Extra time heading
Blind and partially sighted students have the option to sit the online Challenge with a helper to assist.
We can also email you a large print paper if it would be of use to those students (or Braille if ordered
at least a couple of weeks before the event).
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UK Mathematics Trust
Downloading and distributing your student logins
Step 1 To download your student logins, once logged in click on the Students menu option. If your
school took part in the Online JMC or MOG you will notice all your students' logins are still here, these
will start with “ukmt” “spare” or “extra”, if this is the case you need to filter out your SMC logins. To do
this, type “smc” into the Username box and all your SMC student logins will automatically appear.
You can download this as a spreadsheet using the Export CSV or Export XLS buttons or use Export
HTML to download a version that can be cut out and distributed.
The spreadsheet will contain usernames and passwords. Please make sure you expand the whole
username column to see the whole username.
Please ignore the columns labelled ‘Class’ and ‘Grade’ (this is for internal use only).
Step 2
Send and hand out the usernames and passwords to your students. There is a ‘Teacher to students
email template - student logins’ saved in the documents folder on your profile should you wish to use
this as a basis for emailing your students. Here are 2 possible options for sending these out to your
students if you are not in school:
1. Send each student an individual email containing their username and password or use mail
merge software to generate this for you
2. Send the entire spreadsheet to all students and instruct them to search for their name and
use their allocated login and password. This may be the fastest option as you will not need to
separate anything out. However please note that it is possible for multiple students to use the
same username and password and the student with the last login will have their answers
saved. So it is crucial for your results that the student uses their own username and password.
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UK Mathematics Trust
On your SMC day
Running the Challenge
It’s now time to start the students off with the Challenge. If feasible, please make students aware of
the Challenge instructions, which are under the ‘Welcome’ tab on the student login page. The SMC
should be sat under exam conditions if possible.
If pupils are at home due to Covid all online entries can be used at home using the same format as
would have been used in school. We ask that, if feasible, students at home are still invigilated via
online supervision from a teacher, but we appreciate this isn't possible in all circumstances.
If you’d like to you can use your coordinator username and password to take the Challenge
yourself. Your score will automatically be removed from the results.
Step 1
Make sure students are at a computer, tablet, phone etc and know their username and password. Let
students know that they can attempt the questions in any order, and can always go back to change an
answer. Their answers will be saved immediately. When they are done they can let the timer run to
zero, close their browser, logout or select the 'I am done' option beneath question 25.
Step 2
Ask the students to go to: [Link] and begin by entering their username and
password. Their password will start with a capital P. They will then need to enter their name, gender
(optional) and click save. They then need to select their year group to start the Challenge. The time
starts when the students have entered their details and pressed START.
Once they start the Challenge, they will be limited to 92 minutes (unless requiring extra time). We have
allocated an extra 2 minutes to as they will be asked the following 3 Yes/No questions after they click
start, these are:
- Are you taking this test in school (supervised)?
- Are you eligible for a UK passport?
- Will you have completed 3 years of continuous full-time secondary education in the
UK by the time you leave school?
Students can attempt the questions in any order and their answers will be saved immediately but they
can go back right up to the end to change an answer. When they are done they can close their
browser, logout or select the 'I am done' option beneath question 25. No matter which of these they
do (and even if the system logs them out automatically) all answers they have given to that point will
be saved.
You will be able to see which students have logged in to take part in the Challenge by clicking on your
‘Students’ option in the menu as shown below. This will automatically update with the students name
and show whether they have participated or not. If any students have spelt their name incorrectly you
can click on the student and edit this on their behalf.
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UK Mathematics Trust
Trouble-Shooting
Unfortunately there are always going to be occasions when things do not go as smoothly as they
should. Here are a few ways to navigate some potential issues that may arise but please do contact us
for any support you need.
Please make sure
1. The student has javascript enabled.
2. The student is not blocked by any firewalls/filters from using the competition site.
Problems with a device or the internet
Once a student presses start the timer will start and will not stop even if they are cut off. However
there are possible solutions.
If the student has just started:
1. The student could switch to another device using their existing login.
2. If you have fewer participants than logins (perhaps someone is absent, or you had to round to
10 anyway) you can allow the process to start again by issuing an unused SMC-prefixed
username and password, and if desired switch to a new device.
If the student has used more than 5 minutes and needs to pick up where they left off:
3. Please contact us to let us know which username(s) were cut off and how much time was
remaining. We will then allocate these usernames more time.
Problems with login credentials
If a student’s username and password does not work please contact us with the usernames that are
experiencing problems and we can investigate this for you.
Anything else
Contact us (details at end of this booklet).
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UK Mathematics Trust
After your SMC day
Answers and extended solutions
Answers and extended solutions will be uploaded to the ‘Documents’ section on your Challenges
Profile by Monday 7th December.
You have the option to ask students to retain login details so that, from 7th December, they will be
able to log back in to compare their answers with the solutions. The students will be able to see the
question, the answer options with their answer highlighted, whether they answered correctly and a
solution explanation underneath. We will send a reminder email you when this feature is available to
view.
Getting Results & Downloadable Certificates
These should be available on the ‘Export files’ menu option on your Challenges Profile by Thursday
17th November. We will send an email and message on your profile to notify you when the results
are live and certificates are available to download. Certificates are only available online - we won’t be
sending paper copies. You will see a screen like this when you come to download your results and
certificates.
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UK Mathematics Trust
Contact Us
To get support, send an email to enquiry@[Link]. The email address is monitored from 8.30am
to 5pm during week-days. We will endeavour to respond to your email within 1 working day.
For any emergencies that need resolving within a 1 hour timescale you can contact us on 0113 365
1121 between 9am-5pm on Monday-Friday. This is to use if you require any urgent help, if you have a
problem or question that needs a response within 1 working day please email us on
enquiry@[Link]. This is so we can keep the phone lines open for teachers who do require
urgent help. If the phone rings out and you cannot get through to us this is because we are already on
other calls, there is an option to leave us a voicemail however you may be able to get through to us
faster if you try again in 5 minutes.
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