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The Franklin Math Bowl is a competition held on a Saturday in early November for middle school students. The competition consists of an individual 25-question, multiple choice test and a team problem solving test. The Bowl has four contests: sixth grade, seventh grade, regular eighth grade, and eighth grade algebra I. Both individual and school awards are given in each contest, usually split between large and small school divisions if sufficient numbers of students are registered. The Franklin Math Bowl is co-sponsored by the ETSU Department of Mathematics and the Upper East Tennessee Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Within each contest, students are divided by their coaches into teams of four. Each school may have one or two teams per contest (6th, 7th, 8th, and algebra). A school may register a total of ten students in each contest, with the last two students considered alternates. The alternates may take the written tests, but their scores will not be considered in determining contest winners, and they do not take part in the team problem solving competition.

For each contest, the problem solving portion consists of three questions, worth 10 points each, for which the team must write up their answer and a complete explanation of how they arrived at it. The written (individual) tests is 25 multiple-choice questions. Correct answers are worth five points. Students may choose to omit questions by drawing a line through the entire set of answer choices; omitted questions receive one point. Wrong answers are worth zero points. So the highest possible written score is 125.

For more information, contact Dr. Daryl Stephens, director, at 423-439-6973 or e-mail stephen@etsu.edu.

Typical Contest Day Schedule

2009 Contest -- Saturday, November 14

2008 Contest -- Saturday, November 8

Copy of 2008 program (PDF document, prints out on legal size paper)

Past Tests and Contest Winners

New tests are written every year by different writers, so difficulty and content will vary each year. Below you will find a collection of some old tests. Answer keys were included when available. All tests are in PDF format. Go to www.adobe.com to get the free Adobe Reader or http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php to get the free Foxit Reader if for some reason you can't open these files.

• 2009 Contest Winners -- 2009 Item Analysis (PDF file)
• 2008 Contest Winners
• 2007 Contest Winners
• Item analysis of 2007 tests

Previous Years' Tests

The tests below are the only ones that we could find. The tests marked with an asterisk were created directly from the word processing file, so the text may possibly be copied and pasted into another program. The rest of the tests are scanned as images. Thanks to Michael Falgatter, adjunct faculty member, for scanning these in his high-speed scanner.

The written test answer sheets have answers for all the tests for that year. The problem solving tests are saved as a single file with questions and answers for all contests unless otherwise noted.

Page last updated November 17, 2009 by Daryl Stephens. Orginally created November 12, 2007.