Sometimes I ask ia to solve something, I am preparing for nationals, I started by repeating trigonometry , and google ia was good enough ,but now I'm looking for something that explains harder stuff better ,and also that can make similar problems for me to solve when I need ,can anybody please tell me?
I’m entering Year 11 of a 13-year system, so I have two selection cycles before university applications and three before I age out. Based in Cyprus.
Where I’m starting from:
—Sat the national multiple-choice competition three times (25 questions, 60 minutes, negative marking). Peaked around 10 correct. Never entered the actual team-selection pipeline, which I only recently learned is separate.
—No olympiad-specific training. Some independent university-level maths: working through Spivak’s calculus, so real analysis proofs rather than competition technique.
—Aged out of the junior track, so I’d be up against people with years of prep.
The path here is: provincial competitions in November—> national competition in December (top ~10 per grade advance)—> four selection tests during a preparation course, five eliminated per test—> six-person team.
My plan is roughly 10 hours a week for two years — about 1,000–1,400 hours — using AoPS Volume 2, then Engel, Evan Chen’s geometry book, and past BMO and Greek olympiad papers, with weekly timed cold papers to fix a specific problem: I do fine untimed and collapse on contest day.
Questions:
1**.** Is 1,000–1,400 hours a realistic budget for team selection in a small country from this starting point, or am I without a chance?
2**.** For those who made a national team starting late what did the path actually look like? How long before scores improved?
3**.** Is the contest gap fixable in two years, and what specifically worked?
4.** **Is my book sequence right, or should I be somewhere else given the timeline?
Guys, there aren’t really any student-led math communities in Canada. I know CMS exists, but it’s more of an organization/committee than a student community. So, why don’t we make one? A lot of us probably feel lonely while preparing for competitions like COMC, AMC, and others, so let’s build a community where we can practice, discuss problems, and support each other!
Hey everybody I wanted to know where to practice now after im at this point of studying for the AIME and how long do I have to study now like I know it's whenever im free but it's nice to hear what you guys think about the time especially school is starting for me soon so I need a clear and consistent schedule since im going to be super busy this school year with 2 Colleges classes and 4 AP's and one honors class above a AP class.
Here are some of my stats and mock, I got gotten a 49.5 (:`C ik it's bad I didn't really prepare or care for it at that time) on the AMC 10 A 2025. Then after doing some sovleFire and finishing Vol 1 (not all the end of chapter problems tho) I have gotten a 82.5 on AMC 10 mock and a 67.5 AMC 12 B 2023 Mock.
Where do yall I think I should go from here? And plus if I don't obtain AIME, is there still a place for college apps or resume where I can put my raw AMC 12 score js curious?
Curious because starting in middle school, then all throughout high school, my parents didn't let me take the AMCs because they thought I didn't have that dawg in me to practice enough and would get a 0 on everything or sumn
But then my friends were always saying to me that AIME qual is never that serious 🥀
My parents want me to do amc 12 for one last time (im a senior) since i didnt qual for the past 4 years and im so sick and tired of math olympiad, like i genuinely hate it. I tried putting in a lot of effort sophomore and junior year and i didnt pass, which im not too bummed about since i did put my best foot forward. i just want to move on and focus on other stuff (like physics olympaids) but my parents are so fixated on amc. So like any advice? I dont even have to do good on aime i just need to aime qual.
I want to qualify for AIME and ideally USAJMO, but I don't know where to start.
For context, I'm a high school freshman currently taking geometry honors, and I'll be taking algebra two honors next semester. I really want to do the AMC 10 and qualify for AIME, and hopefully even the higher levels.
I'm dealing with carpal tunnel right now, so studying is a bit of a challenge, but I'm trying to figure out the most practical way to prep. I know a lot of competition math, like number theory and combinatorics, isn't usually taught in school.
Should I take an AoPS class? Join my school's mathletes team? I already have the AoPS Introduction to Algebra book, which covers some algebra two topics I haven't learned yet, so maybe I should start there. Or should I just grind Alcumus?
I'm feeling pretty confused about the best path forward. If anyone has experience with these competitions, I’d really appreciate your advice!
I’m about to go to bed so I feel like keeping it brief:
-Just started 10th grade
-Took an interest in becoming good at math
-Would say I’m pretty strong in Algebra 1 and Geometry
-No AMC experience
What do I need to learn and how should I learn it to qualify?
I know it will be very challenging
(Repost)
so basically I’m a rising junior with minimal competion math experience…last year I got like a 37 or something like that on the AMC 10. this year I’m taking both the 12A and 12B and want to qualify.
i took like a practice exam a few weeks ago on a recent previous amc 12 and was able to get like the first 9-10 questions correct.
i was wondering what the absolute “best” way to study is(I’m in a normal accelerated math track at school for context). I can put in around 15-20 hours a week until then.
I'm talking about IMO/Putnam rather than AIME/AMC. I can solve lots of combinatorics stuff in my head while doing other stuff. Sometime's I can do NT or real analysis stuff too. For algebra heavy stuff I almost always need a paper to keep track of and manipulate equations. And for geometry it's impossible without paper for me, but I've also done almost no geometry since there isn't much on the Putnam.
I seem to have similar issues in chess. I'm rated 2000 over the board. But unlike others at my rating, I'm not great at blindfold chess.
I'm not in high school anymore so I'm not able to actually participate in Olympiads, but I'm in a STEM major (and interested in getting better at Math) so I want to fix my foundation in math and become a better problem solver.
I've been working through Alcumus and AOPS videos on Algebra + Counting and Probability and am considering getting some of the Introductory AOPS books.
The problem is that I feel like I'm only getting better at computational problems that require me to know a method and use it, but there are problems that only require concepts I already know that I can't figure out (or can't figure out the elegant solution).
How can I get better at solving more ad-hoc problems that don't seem to require much theory? Is it just a matter of being exposed to more problems?
Hello guys I’m from Africa and I’m preparing for the maths Olympiad in my country. What resources are the best for preparation?
And how different is Olympiad from regular exams like IGCSE or JEE
I guess my biggest question is if I would be able to qualify for IMO in my senior year? I’m an upcoming 9th grader, but I do have some math experience. I competed in mathcounts nationals and qualified from a somewhat competing state I think I got like 38/46 (maybe higher) in my 8th grade year. I took a practice AMC 10 test and got a 130.5 with 21 correct, 1 wrong, and 3 blank. It turned out that this was way over qualified for the AIME so I took that too. I only got 6 problems right which really humbled me and those combined scores don’t make USAJMO to my knowledge. Because of this, I’m very afraid I won’t ever be able to make the IMO, especially because that’s my huge goal for high school.
How feasible is making the IMO in the USA given my current position?
(I also need textbooks to study I’ve only ever done AoPS volume 1)
Theres like barely 23 days left for the examination . I am well versed ( atleast I think so ) in the theory required
I am solving the previous year papers and problems, but often I feel like I lack in certain topics and wanna covert that gap quickly . What is the best resources which is easily coverable ( not too broad) but is concise and worth practicing from?
silver’s guide doesn’t seem enough, and I looked at Putnam and beyond and it seems more proof oriented than necessary, and I don’t think it covers everything required either
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so basically I’m a rising junior with minimal competion math experience…last year I got like a 37 or something like that on the AMC 10. this year I’m taking both the 12A and 12B and want to qualify.
i took like a practice exam a few weeks ago on a recent previous amc 12 and was able to get like the first 9-10 questions correct.
i was wondering what the absolute “best” way to study is(I’m in a normal accelerated math track at school for context). I can put in around 15-20 hours a week until then.
I feel like AI should be incredibly useful for learning math, and I've been trying to apply it to my amc prep. One way of using AI I've found useful is having it explain the motivation behind certain solutions. It is pretty good at explaining why someone would actually think of a certain method for solving a problem.
This can be especially helpful if you feed it an already existing solution from aops and then have it generate hints based off of that solution that tell you the motivation behind them. This way it most likely won't hallucinate, and I get hints that I can look at one at a time when I get stuck on a problem.
I got tired of doing this by hand every time, so I built a website for it: cruxmath.com. It's completely free, has no ads, and no sign up. It currently has hints for every AIME since 2020 and the last 5 questions of the AMCs since 2022. I'm curious what you guys think of the hints and if they are helpful. I would love any other ideas on how to use AI to prepare for math competitions.
Just for some context i started doing Math comp in year 10 and now in year 11, and i have been pretty decent so far, i have gotten 130 something on the AMC 10 and like a 125 somewhere in AMC 12, I did the AIME but didnt really do that well only got like an 7, so now i am just wondering whether or not i should continue working on math olympiad or just focus on other intrests like coding,physics or even studying higher level math subjects.
My main purpose for doing these competition so i can be a standout in Universities but i feel like i started way too late and i feel discouraged whether or not it is even worth my time to continue pursuing something i will never achieve or do i just go and try attempt to make it to USAMO and potentially a medal there?
I would like to take notes and ask a lot ,like where to start for myself.