Kids + test = math winners

Harbour View Elementary fifth-graders put two and two together this school year, and ended up tying with a school in Missouri to take top honors in the MathFax national math competition.

The program began in 1997; hundreds of schools compete for bragging rights in the annual competition, which serves several grades.

Harbour View student Gino Zarrella tested the highest in the entire country this year; his classmate Jacob Rosenberg also scored high, and Tony Petelo placed in the top 15 this year. Circle View Elementary also finished 18th in the country.

The kids also competed in the contest when they were in fourth grade; Jacob took first place statewide last year, but Gino said he would have been in the running too, had he not been sick during one of the test dates. MathFax offers no make-up tests.

Jacob said the hardest part of preparing was to not be nervous when taking the test.

“We take one practice test before every test,” Gino said.

After each test, LaMense puts the kids’ scores online; they eagerly checked their scores at home, the students said.

At a school assembly on Friday, the classmates were presented with trophies topped with genie lamps.

The kids had to wait three long weeks to find out what place they took, as the other top-placing school waited until the last minute to upload their scores, the kids said.

Jacob said the night before each test, his mother would pull out his test from the previous year to help him recall what types of questions were commonly asked.

“It’s above and beyond the regular curriculum,” LaMense said. “So much of it is just problem solving, and not making the problem harder than it really is.”

The half-hour, timed test has 25 questions.

“What surprised me was that I couldn’t believe that I did so well,” Gino said. Out of five tests, he missed only one answer.

Harbour View joined Pond Elementary in Grover, Mo., in earning 294 total points. The top three student scores from each school were combined for each of the four tests in order to determine the winning school, test organizers said.

Gino and his fellow winners were all extremely modest about their accomplishments, in part due to the citizenship lessons the kids learn in school, LaMense said.

All three boys say math is a favorite subject, but all three also compete in sports like baseball and soccer; Tony is an accomplished competition gymnast.

The boys are GATE students who have involved parents and diverse backgrounds.

“My dad started teaching me math when I was 3 years old,” Gino said. “He gave me some problems every day.”

For Jacob, he learned forms of mathematics when attending a French school for a year that aren’t part of the standard American curriculum.

And Tony’s dad comes into the classroom every week to help kids learn algebra.

“They are definitely are willing to work hard,” LaMense said. “They just have that sense of responsibility, and they want to do well.”

TESTING

Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Try these sample problems from a MathFax fifth-grade test.

1. What is the difference between twenty-four and eight thousandths, and two and four ten-thousandths?

A. 22.00076

B. 22.00084

C. 22.0074

D. 22.0076

E. 22.0084

2. What is the sum of the two smallest prime numbers greater than 48?

A. 100

B. 104

C. 108

D. 110

E. 112

3. If your birthday is in 23 more weeks, how many days ago was your birthday? Assume there are exactly 52 weeks in one year.

A. 143

B. 161

C. 196

D. 203

E. 273

E-mail jamie.rowe@latimes.com for the answers.

Reporter CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at candice.baker@latimes.com.