Yi Hong (middle) during the I-NMC 2025 awards ceremony after he emerged as the Second Runner-up in Category Z.

What does 100 questions plus 20 minutes equal to?

For TAR UMT’s Peh Yi Hong, it resulted in Second Runner-up finish (Category Z) in the International-National Mathematics Competition (I-NMC) 2025 organised by Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and Tunghai University, Taiwan, on 2 August 2025.

Yi Hong, a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Management Mathematics with Computing student, raced against the clock and against other competitors to complete 100 mathematics questions on probability and statistics within 20 minutes. On top of that, the competitors had to do it without using calculators.

“I was quite frantic during the test, but competing with my peers was both an exciting and challenging experience. I only wished I had prepared more because there were some unfamiliar questions which took up much time to solve, resulting in me falling behind during the later stages. However, I am incredibly satisfied to win the second runner-up prize despite the circumstances.

“My lecturers were very helpful in providing me sample questions to practice and prepare myself mentally prior to I-NMC 2025. I must also credit my course mates as well, who helped me take notes in class and made sure I did not fall behind in my studies while preparing for the competition,” said Yi Hong.