The High School Gap

See you on the other side.

DISCLAIMER

While I’ve observed this phenomenon independently early on, I cannot take credit for being the first to point it out. I first heard the version I will be elaborating on in Mar del Plata, July 2012. The diagrams, further explanation, and tips below, however, are my original work.

I am not (yet) an expert in mathematics education, and the explanations and diagrams below come from my personal observations and not from any formal study. If you want to subject this phenomenon to research, however, do consider e-mailing me. I’d be happy to help!

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 6: Mathematics Olympiad Summer Camp

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 6: Mathematics Olympiad Summer Camp
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Henry

Screenshot from imo-official.com

If you make it all the way, your name ends up on this site. For better or for worse. Forever.

Each year the Mathematics Olympiad Summer Camp selects and trains the Philippine Team for the International Mathematical Olympiad.

If you’re a high school senior, this will probably the last training-contest circuit you will be doing before entering university. Everybody else in your batch will have hung the gloves before you do. Know that whatever happens, you’ve been given the rare honor of staying in the ‘Math Games’ until the very end.

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 5: Philippine Mathematical Olympiad

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 5: Philippine Mathematical Olympiad
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Henry

Image Credit: "weird pi sculpture at the lavender farm" by Brian Ellin. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The letter pi is a apt motif that recurs in each yearly iteration of the PMO logo.

The Philippine Mathematical Olympiad is the premier mathematics contest for high school students in the country. Among the contests and programs we’ve discussed, only this one bears the legitimacy of being the country’s national Olympiad.

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

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 4: Mathematics Trainers' Guild

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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.

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 2: School and University Hosted Contests

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 2: School and University Hosted Contests
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[PDF/Printable] coming soon!

Henry

(Image credit: P. Cowie. Public Domain.)

Tip #1: Keep a formula notebook (see below). You'll find it useful, and so will archaeologists 3500 years later.

I will be discussing this sort of contest (e.g. Sipnayan, Lord of the Math, et al) at once, as there are so many and doing them one at a time would needlessly prolong the series and bore you, my precious readers. There are also other contests that contain math among many subjects; if you’re performing well in the math-only contests, the math there should be manageable.

Back to math-only contests. These are usually organized by a student organization within the school, with varying levels of support from the resident math department.

Again as an NCR resident, most of my examples will be NCR contests. Contests elsewhere of this nature should hopefully not be too different.

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 1: Eight Myths About Mathletes

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 1: Myth Slaying, or Eight Myths About Mathletes

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Henry

(Image credit: Cornelis Cort. Public domain.)

Don't let new myths pop up where old ones die. Vanquish some myths today!

Before we tackle some actual contests, I’d like to dispel some common myths about competing in mathematics.

Myth #1

In a word: no. Hard work and true determination can more than take the place of talent.

Myth #2

We really can’t tell. Many questions in competitive mathematics go beyond standard exercises and speed drills. I’d say it’s safer to subscribe to a competitive math program, or get some books on the topic. At any rate, your obscenely fast arithmetic will be an advantage anywhere.

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed Episode 0: Introduction - Why Compete?

Mathletes’ Greatest Secrets Finally Revealed

Episode 0: Introduction - Why Compete? 
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Henry

"Everest North Face toward Base Camp Tibet Luca Galuzzi 2006" by Luca Galuzzi (Lucag) - Photo taken by (Luca Galuzzi) * http://www.galuzzi.it. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

To echo a famous mountaineer: it's there -- will you climb?

Preliminaries

If you’re reading this, one of these things has happened:

• You want to be the very best (in math), that no one ever was!
• You’ve been admitted into your school math varsity and you want to know what you got yourself into.
• You’ve accumulated experience in a few contests, but you’re stuck in a rut and you don’t know what the next step is.