Math Competitions

     As I wrote in my first post, I like to do math competitively. As of now, I am in 9th grade, but I didn't start doing competitive math until the second half of 8th grade. Before that, I had always liked doing math, but I never really considered doing math competitions or doing any form of training for them. I had taken a math competition in 4th grade and 5th grade called the Noetic Math Contest, and I did the best in my school district. However, afterward, I didn't do any other math contests, as our school district did not give students opportunities to take them. As a result, I wouldn't touch competitive math again until 8th grade.

     During 8th grade, I was taking an honors Geometry class. In the class, I would frequently read the textbook and skip ahead multiple chapters, leaving me bored. As a result, one day, I discovered competitive math again. My mom had heard about the AMC 10 and AMC 12 from a relative, and she was interested in seeing how well I would do. For those unfamiliar with what the AMC is, the AMC 10/12 are 25 question, multiple choice math competitions with a time limit of 1 hr and 15 min. 10th graders and below can take the AMC 10, while 12th graders and below can take the AMC 12. Obviously, the AMC 12 is much more difficult than the AMC 10.

     So, when I came home one Friday, my mom gave me, an 8th grader that hadn't seen competitive math in 3 years, a past contest of the AMC 12. This did not go well. I scored, out of 25 questions, a 4. I couldn't even fathom the meaning of the last few questions. I couldn't believe that I, someone who I thought was decent at math, just got a 16% on a math competition. Today, I now know that these math competitions are incredibly difficult, and I shouldn't feel bad about low scores. However, I wanted to do better. As a result, I took more AMC 12s. And the scores continued to pile up: 5, 4, 5, 5. Well... at least I was consistent! :D Fortunately, my younger self did not see it that way, and was determined to do better. Then, my mom decided that perhaps the AMC 12 was a bit too difficult, and gave me an AMC 10. On my first AMC 10, I got a 12, which I was pretty proud of. However, I wanted to do better. 

     After I finished my first AMC 10, I decided to look at some of the later problems, determined to at least make a dent in their surface. However, as I looked at the problems, they seemed so random, incalculable. I couldn't do anything. So, as any incredibly honest student would do, I went to Google and typed in the exact test number, expecting to find some random website with weird ads that had incomprehensible answers. What I found instead was incredible. The first website that popped up was artofproblemsolving.com. If you like math and don't know about this website, what are you doing? This website has books, classes, forums, and a wiki all about advanced math for those wishing to study it. As I went through this website, I found an endless hoard of knowledge. There were answers for almost every single math problem. From this website, I learned a great deal of competitive math. And as I learned more, I began to enjoy it more.

     Fast forward to today. I still love doing math competitions. I moved out of the Springfield school district to Magnet High School, a school for engineering. At Magnet, there is a Math League, where I do math competitions such as the NJML and the CJML. Today, I can also score much better on the AMC exams. On practice AMC 10s, I can frequently get at least 18 questions, most of the time more, and on practice AMC 12s, I can get at least 15 questions, most of the time more. This year, for the first time, I will be taking the AMC 10 and 12 in hopes of qualifying for AIME, a more difficult math competition. My ultimate goal is the qualify for the USAMO, an extremely difficult math olympiad that required incredible scores on the AMC 12 and AIME. Hopefully, I can accomplish my goals in the future, but I know that it will be tough and I will have to struggle to get them done. However, I have already come so far in the last year, and I will continue to strive to complete my goals.

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