THE Newcastle Permanent Primary School Mathematics Competition will be held in hybrid mode for the first time on Wednesday.
A record 20,400 students have registered to participate in the 42nd competition this year, including more than 12,400 students from 159 schools across the Hunter region.
The 2021 lockdowns saw last year's contest held completely online. This year almost 13,300 will sit the country's largest and longest running competition of its kind online and more than 7100 will use paper.
Newcastle Permanent CEO Bernadette Inglis said smartphones meant almost everyone has access to a calculator at all times, "but being able to do maths in your head or on paper is still a critical life skill".
"The same rules from the very first competition, held in 1981, still apply: no calculators and no rulers."
