Massachusetts Girl Wins $20,000 First Prize In Math Competition

- 9 other top performers share additional $23,000 in prizes -

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Elizabeth Synge, of Boston
University Academy in Massachusetts, won the $20,000 prize for first place in
the Advantage Testing Foundation's Math Prize for Girls competition held at
NYU this morning. With an additional $23,000 in prize money, the Math Prize
for Girls represents the world's largest math award exclusively for young
women in high school.

"We have endowed the Math Prize for Girls to encourage young women with
exceptional potential to become the mathematical and scientific leaders of
tomorrow," said Arun Alagappan, president of the Advantage Testing Foundation
and founder of the competition.

Joy Zheng of Washington, Lynelle Ye of California, and Jane Wang of New Jersey
all tied for second place and won nearly $6,000 each. 6 runners up earned
$1,000.

237 high school girls from across the nation participated in the competition
at NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. The exam consisted of 20
complex problems covering algebra, geometry, trigonometry, combinatorics, and
number theory. "The topics may be standard for high school, but the problems
certainly aren't," said Dr. Ravi Boppana, Math Director at the Advantage
Testing Foundation and primary author of the exam. "Even our simplest problem
is too hard for a test such as the SAT."

The Advantage Testing Foundation is the public service arm of Advantage
Testing, a private tutorial service dedicated to academic rigor, long-term
educational development, and the proposition that tests are powerful vehicles
for learning. "The mission of the Advantage Testing Foundation is to advance
the educational opportunities of students whose backgrounds are currently
underrepresented in higher education," Mr. Alagappan said.

He hopes the Math Prize for Girls will have far-reaching benefits beyond
inspiring female students to pursue degrees in higher mathematics. "The United
States continues to rank among the lowest of developed nations on
international student assessments in math and science," he said. "If we are to
keep pace with the rest of the world, we must dispel this absurd, dismaying
stereotype that girls have less to do with math than boys."

For more information, visit mathprize.atfoundation.org, www.atfoundation.org,
and trials.atfoundation.org.

Contact: Charles Loxton
Advantage Testing Foundation
cel. (917) 445-4061
cloxton@advantagetesting.com

SOURCE Advantage Testing Foundation

Charles Loxton, Advantage Testing Foundation, +1-917-445-4061 (cell),
cloxton@advantagetesting.com