Math students on Madison campuses recently received news that could even brighten a January school day.

Their good news came from National Assessment & Testing with results of the 2012 Ciphering Time Trials. Students in Bob Jones and James Clemens high schools and Discovery Middle School participated.

James Clemens earned 15th place in the national contest. “Coach Shaun Bardell prepared students for the last major competition of 2012, consisting of ten rounds in which they had three minutes to solve three problems,” Tom Clymer said. Clymer is director of academic competitions with National Assessment.

Each round challenged the most experienced students to answer all questions, while requiring students with less experience to judge which problems to skip, Clymer said.

Sunny Chennupati placed second in the 10th-grade division, helping James Clemens advance to 15th place.

Bob Jones coaches Rebecca Breland and Kimberly Cox led their math students to 21st place in the nation. In individual rankings, Victoria Van placed 21st among sophomores. Bob Jones also enter National Assessment’s Four-by-Four Competition, which is structured with teams of four instead of individual students.

Also in the 2012 Ciphering Time Trials, Coach Julie Goldston mentored Discovery math students to a solid finish. Several students rated well individually with Winston Van in tenth place; Alan Grissom, 19th; Amelia Goldston and Jasmine Atassi tied for 20th place; and Shantanu Kadam, 22nd.

Discovery also entered the Collaborative Problem-Solving Contest. The entire school can collaborate for one week, doing research or applying technology as needed.

National Assessment & Testing administers a number of high-quality mathematics competitions that schools can receive through the mail and administer at their convenience. Their contests cover various formats, including individual and team tests, along with different difficulty levels, from an easier 100 problems in 30 minutes to a more complicated 15 problems in one week.

For more information, visit natassessment.com.