International Mathematics Assessment for Schools (IMAS)

I.  Introduction

International Mathematics Assessment for Schools (IMAS) is a world class mathematics assessment test for middle primary, upper primary and lower junior secondary students.  The test is organized by the IMAS Executive Council.

The organizer strongly feels a need to conduct a mathematics assessment test among schools, countries and regions to test the students’ achievements in mathematics problem solving and to serve as a guide paper for students who wish to improve their ability in this field. This test serves as one of the motivating factors attracting students not only to test their abilities in mathematics but also to challenge their abilities in broadening their mathematical scope. 

II. Aims and Objectives

The aims of the IMAS are to

  1. Provide an achievement test in mathematics for all students and a mathematics competition for students with good performance;
  2. Develop a world class mathematics assessment with international perspective  measuring students’ performances in three cognitive dimensions: Knowing, Applying and Reasoning at Middle Primary (Grade 3 and 4), Upper Primary (Grade 5 and 6) and Junior Secondary (Grade 7 and 8) level; and
  3. Promote effective learning of mathematics in both primary and secondary schools through a publicly recognized performance measuring platform.

The objectives of the IMAS are to

  1. Inform stakeholders, i.e. students, teachers and parents, of the performances of
  2. the students in mathematics at different levels of attainment in well defined reports;
  3. Better serve the needs of students through a more user friendly format of perennial assessment that offers options for participants in terms of topics as well as difficulties of materials being assessed through a public mathematics assessment which will be held once a year; and
  4. Usher in an innovative assessment culture, i.e. participants can choose when they would like to sit for the assessment of content as well as the level of difficulty of the items being assessed.  Participants take the initiative in assessing their competencies and capabilities.

III. Are there differences between IMAS and other international attainment tests?

At present, there are several achievement tests conducted by different educational groups. These tests include PISA, TIMMS, and many others. The introduction of IMAS is not just another international assessment test. The main difference between IMAS and other international mathematics tests is that IMAS is not a once-off testing. There are two rounds of tests, followed by a summer camp in mathematics. More importantly, IMAS is not aimed at merely testing students, but rather to develop students’ mathematics ability and creativity. The following table shows the important attributes of the IMAS.

  IMAS
Aims To assess students’ performance in three cognitive dimensions; Knowing, Applying and Reasoning for the purpose of enriching the universal education of mathematics.
Participants Upper primary, middle primary and lower junior secondary students.
The Test Set in the real world, rather than pure mathematical environment, with situations to which the students can relate.
Its Emphasis IMAS emphasizes items which require the use of a scientific, explorative and creative approach to solve problems.
What does it Measure? IMAS measures students’ working knowledge of mathematics developed from natural ability and learning styles.

Emphasis and Measurement of TIMSS and PISA

The following table displays the characteristics of TIMSS and PISA. Though IMAS and the two tests shared some common basic philosophy on mathematics testing, IMAS is more focused on the development of mathematics ability and is served as a tool to inform schools and teachers on the development of students’ ability in mathematics.

  TIMSS PISA
Aims To assess the knowledge of students, assessment items exhibit a range of difficulty and complexity. To test literacy in mathematics, with a view to improving educational policies and outcomes.
Participants Fourth- and eighth-grade students 15-year-old school pupils’ scholastic performance.
The Test Designed to collect information on students’ backgrounds, attitudes and beliefs related to schooling and learning, information about their classroom experiences. Require students to apply their mathematical knowledge to solve problems set in various real-world contexts.
Its Emphasis Emphasis on items which require mathematical facts and standard algorithms. Items demand connections between existing knowledge.
What does it Measure? Measures traditional classroom content and curriculum attainment. Measures students’ ability to apply what they have learned to real-world situations and to communicate their solutions to others.

The questions in IMAS are designed within the following framework. There are four areas of mathematics involved in the test paper. Questions in each area involve knowing, applying and reasoning.

  Numbers and operations Algebra Geometry Measurements
Knowing        
Applying        
Reasoning        

Knowing means the ability to recognize conceptual work and answers are obtained based on concept and calculation.  Applying means selection of appropriate concepts and working procedures to solve problems.  Reasoning means using logical deduction based on deduction and concepts to obtain an answer.

  1. The Organizer

The IMAS is organized by the body of Executive Council composed of

A. Mr. Cheng, Chun Chor Litwin– Senior Lecturer, Hong Kong Institute of  Education, Hong Kong;

B. Mr. Sun Wen-Hsien- President, Chiu Chang Mathematics Foundation;

C. Dr. Promote Kajornpai – Specialist Supervisor, Office of Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education, Thailand

D. Ms. Elvira SH- Head, Directorate of Kindergarten and Primary Education, Ministry of National Education, Indonesia;

E. Dr. Simon Chua– President, Mathematics Trainers’ Guild, Philippines.

Under the direction of the IMAS Council, an Academic Committee is formed to administer the operation of the mathematics test. The membership of the Committee is as follows:

Academic advisors:

Prof . Zhang Jingzhong—-Fellow, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Mr. Cheung Pak Hong—-Former Principal, Munsang College (Hong Kong Island)

Members:

Prof. Zhu Huawei —- Principal, Shenzhen Middle School, China.  

Dr. Simon Chua —- Former President, The Mathematics Trainers’ Guild, Philippines

Mr. Wen-Hsien Sun — President, Chiu Chang Mathematics Education Foundation,

Taiwan.

Mr. Zheng Huan —- Researcher, Guangzhou Institute of Educational Research,

China

Mr. Vladislav Marinov —-  Project Manager, Aero Scout Enterprise Visibility

Solutions, Bulgaria

Mr. Renard Eric Chua —- Business Manager and Facilitator for several Training

 Program, Mathematics Trainers’ Guild, Philippines.

Ms. Gabriela-Elena Zanoschi —- member of the board of Colegiul National Iasi,

 Romanian.

Mr. Wei LUO —- Former Assistant Professor, Zhejiang University, China.

Other members are the research team headed by Prof. Zhu Huawei and specialists endorsed by individual participating countries.

All other participating countries in the first IMAS will be invited as official members of  IMAS in 2018-2019.

V.  Entrance Qualification of IMAS

There are no preset requirements for students who want to participate in the IMAS. Students may sit for any level of assessment which they find suitable. That is, a student could sit for an assessment test at a higher or lower level; for example, a primary 3 student may sit for the upper primary assessment test. This opens up the frontier for the bright and able student to test their abilities through a public recognized measurement. The IMAS is meant to support the advancement of education for the gifted as practiced in many countries.

VI.  Schedule of the IMAS

There are two rounds of IMAS test in one academic year. The first round of IMAS will be conducted on 25th November to 31rd December for middle primary, upper primary and lower secondary students while the second round of IMAS will be conducted in the succeeding year on  28th February  to 31rd  March.

VII.  Format of the Assessment and Award

The first round of IMAS is for all participants, and the second round is for students who perform well in the first round. The format of the tests in each round is as follows, with the sample question included at the appendix.

  1. First Round of IMAS – Twenty-five problems will be given. The participants are given 75 minutes to finish the ability test.  The first twenty problems are in Multiple-Choice type while the last five problems require integer answers between 0 and 999 inclusive. The distribution of the problems are: Problems 1 to 10, classified as EASY category, each correct answer is given 3 points; Problems 11 to 20, classified as AVERAGE category of which each correct answer will be given 4 points while Problems 21 to 25, CHALLENGE category, every correct answer will be given 6 points.

To encourage students to work mathematics and to recognize students’ achievement, the IMAS will provide award for students entering the tests.  The level of awards of individual student is relative to the performance of other students in their country, of the same year level during the first round of IMAS. The award scheme is as follows:

  • High Distinction – Student whose score is above 95 percentile
  • Distinction -Student whose score is above 85 and below 95 percentile
  • Credit – Student whose score is above 50 and below 85 percentile
  • Participation – Student whose score is below the 50 percentile

Every participant is awarded with a certificate with a personal report.  The IMAS individual certificate means a lot to the participant as it promotes positive effects about one’s performance based on the given assessment.  The report will be in the form of standards of achievement, informing the participant their achievement in addition to the percentile rank. Assessment results could facilitate learning when strengths and weaknesses of their performance are identified.  This information can be shared with mathematics teachers in the region via the feedback loop in seminar and workshops. 

  • The Second Round of IMAS is conducted for those students who achieved to be in the top 10% of all participants of each country. In this test, there are fifteen problems: Problems 1 to 5 are multiple choice type where each correct answer will be given 4 points, Problems 6 to 13 call for short answers where each correct answer will be given 5 points, and Problems 14 to 15 call for detailed solution (or working process) and full mark of each correct answer is 20, partial marks may be given for incomplete answer. The participants are given 120 minutes to finish this test. 

In each participating country, the participants whose scores are in the top 5% percentile will be awarded with a Gold Medal; participants in the top 6% to 15% percentile will be awarded with a Silver Medal and each participant whose score is in the top 16% to 30% percentile will receive a Bronze Medal. If participating country invited more than top 10% of all participants written the Second Round of IMAS, the IMAS Executive Council only given the number of medals base on the top 10% of all participants.

VIII.   Charges and Logistics

  1. If a registration fee is collected from the IMAS participants, then remit USD 3 per participant as entry fee to the IMAS Executive Council. If no entry fee has been collected, then there is no need to remit any amount to the IMAS Executive Council.
  • The organizer of each participating country appointed by the IMAS Executive Council will be responsible for printing and marking of the papers.