Great minds with great confidence – that was the energy that kick-started the Mind Competitions 2023, jointly organised by Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement (MMLM), UTAR, and Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), in collaboration with Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair (KLESF), on 9 September 2023 at UTAR Kampar Campus.

Since 2016, the Mind Competitions have always been part of MMLM’s initiatives to promote mental literacy. That effort proved successful again with an overall participation of more than 570 participants for this year’s competition. At the Kampar Campus, the registered participants reached more than 80 people. The categories at the competitions were Memory Competition, Mind Mapping, and Mental Calculation.

The Mind Competitions 2023 was held concurrently in two other locations at UTAR Sungai Long Campus and TAR UMT Penang Campus. The Memory Competition consisted of four categories – Random Words, Random Numbers, Dates & Events, and Random Letters of the Alphabet. The time allocated for each category was 30 minutes.

In the Mind Mapping Competition, participants were divided into two categories – ages five to 12, and ages 13 and above. Participants were required to complete the mind mapping from written text, and free-style creative mind map. In the Mental Calculation Competition, participants were seen completing questions involving mental additions and mental multiplications.

Ameena Alifa binti Ahmad Luqman was an inspiration as she proved that age was not a limitation. The 6-year-old, who is also the youngest participant of Kampar Campus, participated in the Memory Competition, which was further divided into categories of Random Words, Random Numbers, and Random Letters of the Alphabet. Though shy, her mom mentioned that she enjoyed participating in the competitions.

Ameena was accompanied by her elder sister Alisha Alifa binti Ahmad Luqman, who also participated in the same sub-categories, under the Memory Competition. She expressed that she had fun at the competition because she enjoyed writing.

Their mother, Nor Afifah binti Sabri commented, “I think this competition is a good platform for my children to stimulate their minds. I am glad that they have this chance of exposure from participating in the competition. I am proud of them, and I believe they have worked hard because they practised random words and random numbers on the “Memory League” website.”

Another participant who also showed great confidence was Zoe Wong Xin Hui. She enthused, “I believe I did very well in the competition, and I was able to complete all the questions within the time given. I practised by referring to various mind maps that I could find online and studied the ways these mind maps were outlined. I also practised mathematics to prepare myself for the Mental Calculation competition.”

The 18-year-old also said, “I had a great time drawing my mind map because it is something I really enjoy doing. The STEM workshop located outside the hall also gave me much inspiration for my mind map drawing. I am glad I participated in the competition. I acquired useful information from the STEM workshop.”

Eleven-year-old Sarveswarar Ramesh was enthusiastic when he commented, “I think I did well in the competitions I have participated in. I was very focused in the competitions and I know that the hard work from my practises paid off really well. Therefore, I feel very excited and happy.”

For Lim Xiu San, it was her second time participating in the Mind Competition. “I first participated in this competition when I was 10 years old. I would not say I am very experienced in this competition but I am glad to be able to participate in this year’s competition. I look forward to my next participation in the coming year.” The 16-year-old was accompanied by her father, Lim Ching Yam, who also participated in one of the categories. They travelled from Johor.

Winners’ results will be posted on mmlm.utar.edu.my on 17 October 2023. Participants can view the results online until 10 November 2023. Winners will be notified via email and invited to attend the award ceremony at the 17th Malaysia Festival of the Mind in conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair 2023. The first-place winner will win RM5,000; the second-place winner will win RM2,000 and the third-place winner will win RM1,000. A Special Prize of RM500 will also be awarded to the winning participant under the children category and senior citizen category each. The Best School Prize of RM500 will be awarded to the school with the highest number of student registration in each competition category.