Math is for anyone who tries hard

Recently, the math skills of Chabot College students ranked 29th out of 174 two-year colleges for the 2007-2008 school year. The ranking comes from the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) that tests students from two-year colleges and is only open to two-year college students who do not have a four-year degree.

Instructors encourage students to take the 20 multiple-choice questions test during College Hour (students are only given one hour to take the test). The test is open to anyone who wants to take it but the instructors usually try to advertise it to students who have or are taking pre-calculus.

Chabot College math instructor Joe Berland, who has been teaching at Chabot for 19 years, said, "There are two rounds, one in the fall and the other for the spring. The top five students with the best score are sent to the AMATYC as part of the 'Chabot Team.'"

Berland went on to say that about 50-100 Chabot students come and take the test and that traditionally Chabot ranks in the mid 20s. Zhao-Ping Yan, Baoying Yan, Antony Chang, and Jie-Tong Lin represented Chabot College as the top finishers for the 2007-2008 school year.

"I didn't expect that I would get a relatively high score in this contest," said B. Yan. "This contest was hard for me and I felt very surprised, lucky, and of course happy."

"It feels great when the Chabot students get ranked very high," said Berland. "It's thrilling to even be in the room while they are taking the test. You have all these high achieving and conscious students."

"It's impressive in the way it makes you think, how do they know so much math so quickly and where do they get that depth? It also takes a particular skill to do well in this contest. An A+ student may do very badly in this contest."

Berland went on to say that students have to be quick, read the problem, see the trick of the problem, and then be able to act on it.

A big misconception is that Asian people are usually the ones who are good at math. Berland does not agree with the stereotype but goes on to say that, "Asians value math and education very highly."

"I think Asians who went to elementary or high school in their own countries are more likely to do better in their studies in college in the U.S.," said B. Yan.

"In Asian countries, children have to study very hard since they go to primary school, and our homework is much heavier than the students in the U.S., but I believe no matter who, no matter in what country, people can do well in their study as long as they would to spend certain time and energy on it."

"You have to be brave [laughs] and you're all better at math than you think you are. You need to put it effort, come to class, and do your homework. It takes maturity and hard work," said Berland about what students who are not good at math can do to get better.

B. Yan also said, "Read the textbook, especially the examples in the book before you start to do the assignment. Ask instructors as long as you have questions.

"I think many students are too shy to ask questions in class, but then you can stop by the instructor's office. Don't be shy to ask questions that you think are stupid."

With the spring semester almost coming to an end, maybe next school year Chabot will be able to escape their traditional ranking and score in the top 15.

If you think you are capable to compete in next year's fall round, here is a sample question for you to try and answer: Sixteen students in a dance contest have numbers 1 to 16.

When they are paired up, they discover that each couple's numbers add to a perfect square. What is the largest difference between the two numbers for any couple?