Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 4: Mathematics Trainers' Guild

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 4: Mathematics Trainers' Guild

< first | previous | all | next | last >

Henry

(Image credit: publicdomainpictures.net)

YMIITP often brings participants to interesting locales around the country.

The Mathematics Trainers’ Guild offers one of the largest scale training programs in the country, and sends participants to a large variety of international events. It also keeps quite a high profile – if you perform, you will likely see your name in the papers.


Format
The structure of the training program has been quite stable.

Initial admission is by means of a qualifying exam (for returning students, this should be exceedingly easy).

The first part (MCFKTP) consists of several half-day sessions conducted on Saturdays, in called MTG centers (usually one of the schools nearest your neighborhood). Each session involves some handout with discussion notes and a problem set; the handout reads very much like a book, and the exercises are too numerous to attempt within the session itself. Beginning in the third session, a quiz will be given before/after class proper. These tests will often have nothing in common with the handout topics.

Sometimes, students will be mass-enrolled in what are called “correspondence contests”, e.g. AMC8/12, CMC, MOEMS. There will be an examination during the last session.
The second part (YMIITP) involves a short stay in a hotel/resort, where students experience uninterrupted training and assessment. Expect zero correlation between the test topics and the lesson topics.

Performance in the YMIITP dictates admission into the final phase, MOSTP. This is free of charge for full qualifiers, but not for willing alternates. Expect daily worksheets and frequent testing. Your test results will determine which contest you are sent to (see NOTE 1)  .

NOTE 1
Not all contests are created equal. But all are worthwhile.

There is a sort of pecking order when it comes to the 'prestige' of each destination contest. The testing works to assign students to contests in which they have a fair chance of performing well. (In team contests, teams often are formed with balance in mind. There is a misconception that particularly strong students will be lumped into an all-star team. This may not always be the case; sometimes teams are organized so each team has one specialist in each subtopic.)

However, because of this, some people might be too fixated on getting into the contest they think is more "prestigious".  Well, it is true that a handful of classic competitions have been around longer, are more established, and are quite in demand. But every competition (whether or not well known) should be interesting and worthwhile in its own right. And some relatively new contests have produced top notch problems, sometimes even harder than the classic events!

All experience has told me is that if you really like this and you do excel in it, you won't be wasting your time wherever you are sent.

If your performance is consistently stellar, you may be sent to an different MOSTP in a separate center, involving instructors invited from outside the country, and special opportunities to certain (often more difficult) olympiads.


Preparation
I’ve found that the best way to make the most of this training, paradoxically enough, is to view it as a supplement. The job really doesn’t stop at mastering the provided materials; one has to actively search for more tools, strategies, and resources. Everybody else will be doing this.

The general expectation is that you learn, one way or another, to face problems unlike anything you have ever seen before. Indeed, the actual contests you will be sent to will be like this, and that’s perhaps why the tests rarely match the lessons.


Also, when you’re starting out, please don’t get discouraged if you don’t perform as well as you like. In MOSTP all grade school levels will be lumped together, and all high school levels too – so you will probably be working with students a few years older than you. It’s tempting but very dangerous to ride by the excuse: “They’re a grade ahead of me.” Just work hard, do your homework, and the rest will follow.

Resources
If you’re still in grade school, get a copy of Lehoczky and Rusczyk’s The Art of Problem Solving as soon as possible. It’s an extremely good resource and I think it’s a good guard against the High School Gap (I’ll be discussing this soon). For now the first volume is just right.

If you’re in your second to third year of high school, it’s best to be finishing off the second volume. After AoPS, you will find Engel’s Problem Solving Strategies useful. Since MTG sends people to some of the regional olympiads in China, the training will often involve problems of this style (think heavy algebra and trigonometry!); it’s hence prudent to brush up with some good compilations.The main idea is to keep going! If you keep to a strict training schedule, and commit yourself to a set number of problems per day, you should have no problem keeping in pace.

Tips
Don’t belittle the correspondence contests.
Compared to flying off to foreign locales (and taking school off!), shading in little circles in the neighborhood center can seem a tad unglamorous. Those little marks, however, can lead to some important invitational contests (think AIME or the CMC), that may be themselves run through correspondence. I thought of doing a write-up on these contests just to show how important they are, but being a global thing there’s probably enough said about them elsewhere.

Don't shy away.
For many, MTG training sessions are the only chance to meet young individuals with a similar passion for competitive mathematics (and, of course, to keep up with the competition [see NOTE 2]). MTG also brings together many students who have an unyielding inclination to ace academics. It’s a chance to share and hear of opportunities, workshops, scholarships, et al. You will also be meeting many of these people in university, so socialize! The fact that contest days end is not in your control; the number of friends you walk away with, however, is.

NOTE 2
At first you might feel very isolated by the fact that everybody is competing with each other individually, but consider that everybody else is feeling the same way. And it gets easier, believe me.

Besides, experience tells me it's best not to care too much about performance and rankings and all that. They all just distract you from solving math problems and having a great time with your newfound friends.

I think virtually everyone will eventually forget who from what school won what award in which country in which year, but a lot of us do remember the spectrum of emotions these contest years have put us through.

Develop good lifestyle skills.

It may seem like a vacation, but it isn't.

This may seem like a laughable point, but the YMIITP can get a bit stressful, so it’s a must to sleep early, eat smart, get along with roommates (they will likely be your roommates abroad too), et al. This applies especially to the young ones who may be having their first time out of home, and ironically to the older students (me in early high school!) who have gone through it so often that the whole affair feels like a vacation. Have fun, but know why you’re there.This also applies to during the actual contest abroad. Needless to say, YMIITP is a way to weed out students who find it difficult to live on their own. It’s unfortunate to meet contest day with an intense stomachache, or a chronic allergy acting up. But then again, these things happen, even to the best.