Students find maths test difficult

Participants of the National Science Olympiad (OSN) X got on a bus to transport them back to the hotel after completing a four-hour long maths test.

Auladi Halim Umar Lubis, a student of SMA Modal Bangsa senior high school in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, appeared despondent, claiming he had lost the competition after he had left one question unanswered.

“We dealt with four maths problems, which had to be completed in four hours.

“Unfortunately, I left one problem on geometry unresolved,” he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday in an interview on the way back to the hotel.

He conceded to the complicated maths problem being tested in this year’s Olympiad.

He said the level of difficulty had thrown him off track.

“Frankly speaking, I did not expect such a complicated problem,” he said.

Despite the problem, Auladi said he was glad to have joined the Olympiad and made the event an opportunity to add to his experience and make friends as well.

He said he and fellow team members from Aceh had under-gone intensive training for five days, dealing with various science problems.

There were 1,565 students from elementary, junior high and senior high schools from 33 provinces taking part in the Olympiad, which will run until Aug. 7.

The event is part of the national preparation for international competition, in which Indonesian students have flourished in past events.

Early this week, the government, through the National Education Ministry, awarded scholarships to those who performed well in the recent competitions.

Dian Natalia, from SMA 5 senior high school in Jayapura, Papua, said intensive training ahead of their departure had helped face the questions, although the ones presented during the test had proved to be a struggle.

“We were in training camp for seven days.

“That is ample time to prepare us well, although today I was met with difficulty in attempting to complete the maths problems,” she said.

Papua is sending 13 students to the event.

The 15-year-old girl said she was braced for failure.

“This is a good experience for me. If I fail, I promise to prepare better next year,” she said.