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First Prelim
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Welcome to another exciting season of Olympiad, your favourite mathematics TV quiz show for secondary schools within Heart city, a city for all,” the quiz master anchoring the competition said, all at once with smiles on his face.
The quiz master is live on stage in Ace TV studios with 6 contestants in front of him and an audience behind them, who sat in three rows and ten columns. The seats, on which the audience sat, were arranged in a stadia-like manner. Each row has a minimum of 40 seat space. The six participating contestants for that day were standing in front of a pulpit each, with a digital in-built screen on the surface. The in-built screen is a digitalized device in which the contestants would use in providing answers to the questions asked. The quiz master is also standing in front of a pulpit similar to that of the contestants. The only difference is that he uses his to read out questions and monitor points of the contestants. The 6 pulpits of the con
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“Ladies and gentlemen,” the quiz master began to say, after the applause had subsided. “There we have our six contestants in the junior category. They are about to go through two rounds.” He paused to observe both the contestants and the audience. The joy on their faces gave him the reassurance he needed. This competition still holds value and he was glad to be its anchor.“The first round is 12 objective questions where they each have 5 seconds to input their answer on the digital screen in front of them. At the end of round 1, the top 3 contestants with the highest score move on to round 2” – he chuckled – “which is the Olympiad 60 seconds of fame.“In round 2, each contestant will be given 60 seconds to provide answers to questions as much as possible. At the end of round 1 and 2, the two contestants with the highest combined score in both rounds, move to the semifinals.”The quiz master sighed
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“Oops!” Funmi sighed.” I would have skinned her alive if she had answered that first question wrong.”Funmi was seated among her school mates at the left flank of the audience seats. They had taken position at a vantage point where they could have a good view of their very own, Ayomide Cole. Funmi was however not happy with Ayomide for entering a tiebreak with a student that scored below her in the qualifying examination.“Funmi, you are talking now,” Perfect said. She was also one of the students, from her school, that have been given the grace to witness the competition first-hand. “Can you even answer that question?”“I…” She wanted to say but her voice trailed off as she heard what Perfect said next.“At least she scored above you in the qualifying exams!”“Third tie break question!” Al-ameen, a JSS 3 student said and held his hand on his head. He w
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“I feel for her,” Emmanuel said sadly. Bode, one of the participants, had just ended his round in the 60 seconds of fame.“Me too,” Perfect agreed beside him. She too was as sad as Emmanuel and it seems like everyone of them shared the same emotion that very moment. They are all eager to know what the final points hold, hoping it doesn’t lead to another tiebreak.“What do you think, Perfect?” Emmanuel asked, not looking away from Ayo.“I believe she will score higher than that boy.” She pointed towards Bode, who wore a comfortable smile on his face as the quizmaster queried him.“I want to believe so too,” Emmanuel said, now staring at Perfect in the eyes. “But could she score more than Anu?”Perfect sighed and buried her face in her palms. She looked back at Emmanuel with inquisitive eyes. “Are you implying the boy and Ayo are likely to have a tiebreak?”“Something like that,” Emmanuel said. “Or Anu and the boy are on the same point, with A
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Glimpse of Hope School Resumes
“Hi, Funmi,” Ayo greeted as soon as she entered SSS 1 Science classroom that Monday morning. School had just resumed for the 2018/2019 session. The previous JSS 3 students were now in SSS 1 and in their various choice of departments: Science, Technical, Commercial and Humanities.“Hi, Ayomide,” Funmi replied with the wave of her hand, making way for her to step farther in. “What about your friend? I guess she is in humanities.”“No. Not at all,” Ayo said without being annoyed as she already knew Funmi was trying to mock her friend. “She’s in commercial class. She wants to be an accountant.”“Oh! I see,” Funmi reacted and walked behind Ayo to where the latte was headed. “What about you?”“I don’t really know.” She sat and Funmi hurriedly sat beside her. “I want to be someone who impart knowledge on others.”“A teacher then?”“Maybe! Preferably, a lecturer.”“Hey! Guys,” Oreoluwa called as he walked towards the duo. He dropped his bag on Funmi
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“I really liked it as Ore and Ayo are placed together in the semifinals,” Funmi said as they settled in their seats, ready to witness the first semifinal stage of the mathematics Olympiad.It’s been quite an interesting Olympiad, which has seen 54 contestants against one another in 9 different stages, in each of the categories; Junior and Senior. In each category, each week had always featured 6 contestants and at the end, 2 contestants would emerge as winners to progress to the semifinals. At the end of the preliminaries, there were only 18 contestants left who were further divided into 3 groups; each group having 6 contestants to battle for the top 2 again, who will then advance to the finals.Here it was, the first semifinals! The first six contestants stood as usual behind each of the pulpits while the quiz master was at his. The stage lights had already been lit and each of them seemed anxious as to what the first round held.“I wish both of them good lu
