Federal Way Public Schools’ Thomas Jefferson High School has some of the best high-school mathematicians in the country, as demonstrated by their 22nd-place finish in the 2015 Fall Startup Event, a national mathematics contest administered by National Assessment and Testing.

Coach Tom Norris prepared students for the first major competition of the academic year, in which students worked furiously for 30 minutes, racing to answer 100 problems in a variety of mathematical topics.

According to Tom Clymer, the director of the competition, “It’s a lot like a musician practicing scales.”

With so many questions and so little time, competitors must not only have strong mathematical skills, but also be able to quickly decide which problems to solve and which to skip.

After results from students across the nation were processed, Orgil Batzaya placed 16th in the 11th-grade division, helping the Raiders to place 22nd in the nation.

Thomas Jefferson High School will be participating in all four of National Assessment and Testing’s contests this year, including the 2015 Ciphering Time Trials on Dec. 12th and 2016 Four-by-Four Competition on Feb. 4. Each of these contests features 10 rounds in which students have three minutes to answer problems, but the first requires students to work individually on three problems per round, while the second allows teams of four to tackle four problems in each round.

National Assessment and Testing administers high-quality mathematics competitions that high schools can participate in by email. Their contests cover a variety of formats, including individual and team tests, as well as a variety of difficulties, from 100 easy problems in 30 minutes to 15 complex problems in one week.