MATHCOUNTS tips

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

5818 posts

#1 h Feb 4, 2012, 5:18 AM • 202 Y

Y by tuanyuan2008, greatwhiteshark98, Aequilipse, giratina150, AruKasera, shangdevin, LiBoy, Binomial-theorem, ParthKumar, chengp, AkshajK, Showpar, Brindlefeather, dantx5, LightningStreak, NextEinstein, fprosk, cstbear, uvafan, SnapMaster, niraekjs, cire_il, knittingfrenzy18, NewAlbionAcademy, bestmath, pieofdoom51413, amc007, GoldenPi, Berzerk, jrcb01, eric10kong, 62861, q12, Nine, Lord.of.AMC, AwesomeToad, geo31415926, utahjazz, shayrocks, mathisfun7, icantdecide, sinhaarunabh, hockeyman, doodlemaster7, sjwon3789, r31415, ssy899, flyingdragon, sicilianfan, SuperSnivy, nbute, mathway, Nitzuga, Royalreter1, gaygaygaygay, WOLFHEART, Math99, penguin25, mathman523, Eunectus, ptes77, bobthesmartypants, mathgenius64, math-rules, Konigsberg, countyguy, Xu12345, nanojaingirl, Readingrocks88, anwang16, awesome, UrInvalid, PiesAreSquared, MSTang, bluecarneal, yrushi, guilt, yugrey, Draco, number, fractals, apos2011apos2011, jeffchen, blasterboy, Kieran1, va2010, fadebekun, forthegreatergood, vinayak-kumar, equationmaster101, richardh, 155919, 171282, qwerty137, afroromanian, mikechen, Ragnarok7, MathDino609, harita19, coolrg, Iamteehee, MathematicsOfPi, julia2012, Aang, mishka1980, kj2002, Addicted2math, droid347, WolfOfAtlantis, NumberNinja, mathmagic12, howie2000, theskyisthelimit, tongzhao, e_is_cool, wonder23, MathSlayer4444, ingenio, chemistrygirl, csmath, aquakitty11, wu2481632, theriverinmarch, RoastBeef, 150AMC10, pedronr, 162282, h313, MathLearner01, hesa57, tennis1729, iNomOnCountdown, raptorw, hwl0304, dolphin8pi, YayForAoPs, sturdyoak2012, Not_a_Username, jsheen0516, PiDude314, zmyshatlp, stan23456, Anns, Josephine, cellogirl12, once, Anish_S, BobaFett101, pandyhu2001, celestialphoenix3768, thinkinavi, Rubaiya, Mudkipswims42, thatindiankid55, Ancy, Temp456, spartan168, rlybd5, pi-3.14, Mathguy5837, shootingstar8, ishankhare, illogical_21, Iamawesome1, mathathlete06, bigmath, pengpeng, sub_math, Krypton36, mathlogician, littlepiglet4428, snow_monkey, Toinfinity, Cygnet, TsunamiStorm08, UnearthedCyclone, Adventure10, Mango247, and 24 other users

As a new season of MATHCOUNTS rolls around, and I've "aged out", I'm putting up some tips that you may want to look at. I made Nationals in my final year last year, if that means anything to anybody.

Long

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Aequilipse

3707 posts

Aequilipse

#2 h Feb 4, 2012, 5:27 AM • 7 Y

Y by Saphira 7, hockeyman, 171282, rlybd5, Cygnet, Adventure10, Mango247

When you're doing problems, do you like literally partition off parts of the paper, or scratch paper, like making mini triangle sections per problem and marking the ones? That sounds like a good idea, in this little week I have before chapter, I'll try that!

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#3 h Feb 4, 2012, 3:42 PM • 8 Y

Y by dantx5, NewAlbionAcademy, geo31415926, hockeyman, 171282, rlybd5, Adventure10, and 1 other user

Take a look at this excellent article for an example of what I mean. That article also greatly applies to MATHCOUNTS in general.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Mrdavid445

5123 posts

Mrdavid445

#4 h Feb 4, 2012, 3:48 PM • 11 Y

Y by LightningStreak, geo31415926, hockeyman, 171282, blueflute19, rlybd5, Adventure10, and 4 other users

I would like to add to the management of time:

For School and Chapter round, me and my coach thought that it was best that you do you problem slowly, but accuratey.

For States and Nationals, solve the problems as fast as you can, and skip the ones you don't know to give you time for future problems.

This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Mrdavid445, Nov 20, 2012, 8:59 PM

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#5 h Feb 4, 2012, 11:02 PM • 12 Y

Y by dantx5, ParthKumar, hockeyman, flamefoxx99, PiesAreSquared, mikechen, theriverinmarch, ingenio, zmyshatlp, Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

Thanks for the compliments

Draco wrote:

Again, note that Sprint questions are weighted slightly more towards the end.

Although this is slightly true, you should be focusing on getting a higher total score than getting the more difficult problems. A more efficient approach to solving and checking is optimal over checking/solving backwards due to tiebreaks, and you certainly shouldn't be working on harder problems more due to tiebreaks. It is far more likely that you will miss a question that you should have gotten correct due to this style than it is to lose on tiebreaks, although it does happen.

As a side story: At states last year, my friend scored 44, along with 3 others. He was placed 4th on tiebreaks, eventually missing Nationals because I (as 5th place) defeated him in official CD. Although this would seem to be an argument in favor of working on later problems, it is much more likely that had he focused on those problems, he would have missed an earlier question and had a much harder time advancing. Additionally, the problems he missed were relatively early problems, which were likely missed because they weren't checked.

mathgenius64 wrote:

Wow I've already finished mine. I did pretty well but my strategy was to work through sprint in 25 minutes and check for a while. Not that good though. I got 11th in my chapter.

Assigning specific timeframes for goals (e.g. 25 minutes for sprint, then check, or 10 minutes reading all questions, etc.) are not generally good ideas, as the amount of time needed for specific tasks varies greatly with the difficulty and type of questions on the test. A better strategy is "Work through sprint, check ones that gave me difficulty, check later questions, check earlier questions" or some variant of such (perhaps you find it better to check easier questions first).

Mrdavid445 wrote:

I would like to add to the management of time:

For School and Chapter round, me and my coach thought that it was best that you do each problem slowly, but accurately.

For States and Nationals, solve the problems as fast as you can, and skip the ones you don't know to give you time for future problems.

While I agree with this philosophy in part, each person needs to find the strategy that suits them best. Objectively evaluating your strengths and weaknesses is a must (and I really should have put this in the opening post). For example, if you know that you are weak in geometric problems, you will know to both spend more time on them and to check them first. Similarly, if you are excellent at combinatorics, you might not want to spend as much time checking those. This philosophy also only applies to students who are capable of solving all 30 Chapter sprint problems while working slowly, which certainly doesn't apply to everyone. Conversely, a very strong student who can easily solve all the problems quickly will only be hurt by the time lost.

There is no "one-size-fits-all" strategy to MATHCOUNTS, and there is also no approach specifically tailored to you. Only you can determine how to effectively approach the test, and I don't want to make it seem like I'm telling you how to do it. You should do what you determine to be best (but you should always have a concrete reason for your approach). When you practice, preferably with actual MATHCOUNTS tests (but standalone problems, mock tests, or even other contests are also good sources), try different strategies in order to see how they perform.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

EuclidGenius

1180 posts

EuclidGenius

#6 h Feb 5, 2012, 12:38 AM • 4 Y

Y by theriverinmarch, Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

For the Chapter (I got 2nd indiv. Team 1st. CD 2nd), my strategy was to do the first 3 pages in about 15 minutes and spend about 7 minutes doing the last page (usually hardest, not always, most of the times they are trivial and easy, if you have good number sense and knows your formulas). Then I check going backgrounds from the last page, then the 2nd page then the 3rd. (Weird, but I always do it and it works

) The team, just divide up the problems (the strongest members doing the last page and the weaker ones doing the first page and always check!). For the target, quickly glance at both problems first and then do the easiest one first. Spend about 1-2 minutes doing that one. Then do the other one in 3-4 minutes and always Check your work!! For the countdown round, buzz in as soon as know something like "The answer is 5586/48" like BOGTRO said.

Good luck everyone!!

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

sjwon3789

588 posts

sjwon3789

#7 h Feb 11, 2012, 6:15 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

BOGTRO wrote:

8. CD - Buzz in before you know the answer
Another dangerous but rewarding technique, only do so if you know you can get the answer within 3 seconds. For example, if you know that the answer is 15*16, that would be a good time to buzz in. Countdown is also an important time to utilize tip 6 - use your intution! With only 45 second per problem, and the "race" element, you need to be very fast in order to pick up your points. For example, this question:
If $5^n+5^n+5^n+5^n+5^n=5^6$ , compute n, from the 2011 State CD round, was one that I instantly recognized as a question I could solve within 3 seconds (btw, so did my opponent). I instantly buzzed in (before I knew the answer!), gave the correct answer of 5, and ended up winning my next match to make Nationals. Had I not buzzed in when I did, my opponent would have (he was going for his buzzer as well), and I would have missed out. In this case, the extra few milliseconds were incredibly important. [/hide]

How much time do you get for buzzing?

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#8 h Feb 12, 2012, 4:53 AM • 3 Y

Y by theriverinmarch, Adventure10, Mango247

You supposedly get 3 seconds to answer, but at Chapter or State you may very likely get more time (although this is not to be counted on). For example, at Chapter I buzzed in before knowing the answer (which was a bad decision as I made a stupid mistake, although the match wasn't affected), and got nearly 6-7 seconds to answer while the announcer attempted to find my name and turn off the buzzer.

Obviously, the higher the level goes, the closer to 3 seconds your time will actually be. Despite this, even at State you can get several seconds to answer due to human error.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Minamoto

233 posts

Minamoto

#9 h Feb 12, 2012, 5:09 AM • 6 Y

Y by Redundant, Dominater76, ishankhare, Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

I'd also suggest that you check your answers as you go, especially at Nats. While it may seem counter-intuitive since you'll probably be "thinking the same way," it's actually better if you expect to run out of time. That way, you can make sure you check everything and also check faster, as you'll have just done it. Also, you can find (common) simple math errors that way. Rechecking should only take 5-15 seconds until you can move on. I got to 13th at Nationals last year with that method

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

sjwon3789

588 posts

sjwon3789

#10 h Feb 12, 2012, 6:14 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

BOGTRO wrote:

You supposedly get 3 seconds to answer, but at Chapter or State you may very likely get more time (although this is not to be counted on). For example, at Chapter I buzzed in before knowing the answer (which was a bad decision as I made a stupid mistake, although the match wasn't affected), and got nearly 6-7 seconds to answer while the announcer attempted to find my name and turn off the buzzer.

Obviously, the higher the level goes, the closer to 3 seconds your time will actually be. Despite this, even at State you can get several seconds to answer due to human error.

So do you suggest on buzzing in if it's a short computation problem?
Unlike long word problems?

In chapter*

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#11 h Feb 12, 2012, 10:12 PM • 5 Y

Y by Math99, countyguy, afroromanian, Adventure10, Mango247

I would suggest buzzing in when you are very close to getting the answer. If the question is asking "How many factors of 24 are there", then you should buzz in quickly since calculating this takes far less than 3 seconds. I'll give some quick examples:

2010 Chapter CD #1 wrote:

Meera began an exam at 11:37 a.m. and finished at 1:19 p.m. the
same day. How many minutes did she take to complete the exam?

This is a problem that you can easily buzz in on quickly. You can solve it by the following thought process:
"13:19-11:37=2:00-:18=1:42=102" or
"13:19-1:00=12:19, 12:19-:40=11:39, then 2 more minutes is 1:42=102". Since this problem is a problem that you will be doing nothing but computation, you should buzz in quickly before knowing the answer.

2010 Chapter CD #2 wrote:

If 3x + 8 = 23, what is the value of 3x ‒ 3?

Buzz in instantly. You can solve this by either subtracting 11, or by quickly solving to get x=5. Neither one should take more than 3 seconds.

2010 Chapter CD #4 wrote:

Each edge length of a cube is tripled. How many times the volume
of the original cube is the volume of the new cube?

Buzz in instantly. You could either:
"So tripling 3 times is 3^3, which is 27 [or if you didn't know this, then 3*3=9 9*3=27]"
"Cube with side length 1=volume 1, Cube with side length 3=27. 27/1=27".

In general, most Chapter questions you can buzz in very quickly (or instantly) with little to no risk of getting it wrong.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Herp

226 posts

Herp

#12 h Feb 20, 2012, 1:21 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Although I'm not competing this year (already too old), what are your views on guessing and checking?
I've noticed that in some problems it saves a lot of time to simply guess and check for the answer than actually working out the entire problem. So, should it be used as a last resort or is it a method that should be used to approach problems?

I can't agree more on the question-number-difficulty thing. If I recall correctly, 2011 State Sprint #30 was just a simple case of factoring.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Texaslax

117 posts

Texaslax

#13 h Feb 20, 2012, 3:13 PM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

It's just like any other approach: There's a time to do it, and a time not to do it.
I find, especially on multiple choice questions, sometimes the problem writers will "give" you a "list" of numbers to check, and the answer is usually 1'st or 2'nd on the list (or vice-versa).
Most of the time there is a "trick" involved, especially in MathCounts; then, guess-and-check is too slow.
Hope this helps!

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

brightknight

1098 posts

brightknight

#14 h Feb 20, 2012, 4:30 PM • 2 Y

Y by jeffchen, Adventure10

What about right before the test? Do you recommend working on legit problems, or just resting your mind?

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#15 h Feb 21, 2012, 6:28 AM • 6 Y

Y by Ragnarok7, zmyshatlp, Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users

brightknight wrote:

What about right before the test? Do you recommend working on legit problems, or just resting your mind?

Do whatever both relaxes you and/or gets you into the proper mindset. For me, this was doing number sense problems (I think I posted this earlier, but I may be thinking of a gmail conversation). You can find these on agmath.com, which has 10 Number Sense worksheets that I feel helped me to mentally prepare before the test. If for you, this is working on a 3.5-hour practice, then go for it. If it's looking at a school round, then do that. If it's just meditating and watching the butterflies, that's great too.

EuclidGenius wrote:

What do you think are the most critical useful formulas ?

Ok look, you guys can ask me any questions you like, and I will answer to the best of my ability, but this is one that I cannot, and will not, answer. There is no formula or list of formulae that will either serve as the key to MATHCOUNTS or aid you in any way that you wouldn't get from any other such list. You should not be memorizing formulae just to apply them. You should fully understand the concept behind the formulas, know when to apply them, and know how to manipulate them to fit the problem you are trying to solve. Simply knowing the formula is not at all enough and not something that I will try to teach you.

That said, you still need to know basic formulae that you can't easily derive. Things like basic area formulas (including Heron's and rs=A) are musts to know, since these are easily understood and are usually clear when to apply. More advanced formulas like PIE are great to know, but a lot better to understand. Perhaps you will be able to solve a problem such as "How many integers less than or equal to 100 are divisible by 2 or 3" by direct application of a formula, but you will be harder pressed to solve "How many integers less than or equal to 100 are divisible by 2, 3, or 4" without really understanding PIE. Note that question was a National Target #1, so this is not an abstract example. Another example is sum of divisors - difficult to quickly derive, good to know, but necessary to understand. Same with Vieta's, which is even more important to understand instead of memorize.

Some other formulae that can be directly applied without much thought can also be useful - the best example that I can currently think of is shoelace. Deriving this is very difficult to do, and thus learning it is a good idea. Applying it is usually straightforward and directly yields an answer. Chicken McNugget is also a good example - it's non-trivial to derive, and is typically a direct application in MATHCOUNTS. Even with this, you should understand what it's saying [in the case of Chicken McNugget, you should understood how to prove that given the maximum, no higher number satisfying the conditions can exist. This will help when you have more than 2 numbers - working backwards until you find the maximum will allow you to prove to yourself that you are correct].

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

jasonmathcounts

79 posts

jasonmathcounts

#16 h Feb 22, 2012, 1:56 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

What do you think helped you improve the most? and also, what is a good goal to aim for on state (if you want to get into nationals)? (I live in IL, btw)

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#17 h Feb 22, 2012, 3:57 AM • 5 Y

Y by aryarao, zmyshatlp, Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

jasonmathcounts wrote:

What do you think helped you improve the most?

Practice. There is no substitute for this. Besides this, getting into the proper mindset was highly beneficial.

jasonmathcounts wrote:

and also, what is a good goal to aim for on state (if you want to get into nationals)? (I live in IL, btw)

This is another question that I cannot answer, since I simply have no idea. You should always be aiming to get a 46, or at least the best you can possibly achieve. Obviously, if I tell you that you need a 46, or a 44, or a 41, or a 12, you're not going to go into the test saying "ok, I'm going to get exactly x because that's what I need to make whatever".

That said, the scores in NJ last year were 44/44/44/44/43/42/42/42/41/41, if this helps you at all. Note that different states are wholly different, and thus you may need a higher or lower score for your particular state. I have heard that California requires 45, while states like Wyoming require a 12 [both are unconfirmed statements and represent only what I recollect hearing last year, which makes this likely inaccurate].

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

mcdonalds106_7

1138 posts

mcdonalds106_7

#18 h Feb 22, 2012, 7:52 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

@BOGTRO

I don't think it would be too hard-pressed to find a different solution for the problem. First we find the LCM of 2,3, and 4. This is 12. So we check the first 12 numbers to see if they are multiples of 2,3, or 4:

1: No
2: Yes
3: Yes
4: Yes
5: No
6: Yes
7: No
8: Yes
9: Yes
10: Yes
11: No
12: Yes

Eight of them are, and four of them aren't. Clearly, since 12 is divisible by 2,3, and 4, the next 12 numbers will also go in this cycle, and it will continue like this. Since eight of the first twelve numbers are yes, then sixty-four of the first ninety-six numbers will be yes (Run this through your head until you can make sense of this). So we can just test the remaining four numbers:

97: No
98: Yes
99: Yes
100: Yes

So there are 64+3= $\boxed{67}$ numbers. Don't worry, this won't take too long if you have good number sense. But the problem with this is that if the numbers were larger, (For example, if the question was "How many numbers less than 2012 are divisible by 9, 10, or 11) this method would be very time-consuming and prone to mistake.

Let the prime factorization of a number be $p_1^{e_1}p_2^{e_2}p_3^{e_3}\ldots$ . The sum of the factors of this number would then be $(p_1^0+p_1^1+p_1^2\ldots)(p_2^0+p_2^1+p_2^2\ldots)(p_3^0+p_3^1+p_3^2\ldots)\ldots$ . For example, if your trying to find the sum of the divisors of 18, since the prime factorization of it is $2\times 3^2$ , it's sum would be $(1+2)(1+3+9)=3\times 13=\boxed{39}$ . Sometimes, when there is a huge sum, it may be useful to use the formula: $p_k^0+p_k^1+p_k^2+\ldots +p_k^n=\dfrac{p_k^{n+1}-1}{p_k-1}$ for some prime $p_k$ .

Let the sum of the reciprocals of the divisors of a positive integer $m$ with $n$ divisors be $\dfrac{1}{d_1}+\dfrac{1}{d_2}+\dfrac{1}{d_3}+\ldots+\dfrac{1}{d_n}$ , where $d_k$ is a divisor of $m$ for $1\le k\le n$ . Also, let $d_kd_{n+1-k}=m$ for all $k$ (So $d_k$ and $d_{n+1-k}$ are factor pairs of $m$ ) We wish to make the sum have a common denominator. Since the denominators are all divisors of $m$ , a good thought would be to make the denominator $m$ . Since we have $d_kd_{n+1-k}=m$ , this means that $d_k=\dfrac{m}{d_{n+1-k}}$ . We take the reciprocals of both sides to get that $\dfrac{1}{d_k}=\dfrac{d_{n+1-k}}{m}$ . So we now can change our equation into $\dfrac{d_n}{m}+\dfrac{d_{n-1}}{m}+\dfrac{d_{n-2}}{m}+\ldots +\dfrac{d_1}{m}$ . We now put this all over one fraction (And flip the order of the numerator) to get $\dfrac{d_1+d_2+d_3+\ldots +d_n}{m}$ . We recognize that the numerator is just the sum of the divisors, so the sum of the reciprocals of a number is basically the sum of the divisors divided by the number itself. I actually did not know of this formula, I actually derived it in about 10 seconds. This is a very useful skill.

EDIT: Meh not-very-close sniped. It takes too long to type $\LaTeX$ .

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

jasonmathcounts

79 posts

jasonmathcounts

#19 h Mar 2, 2012, 1:01 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

If I have a really hard problem that I can't solve (or it will take a long time to solve), should I check over all the other problems or spend all the remaining time trying to solve the hard one?

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

InDe_eD

52 posts

InDe_eD

#20 h Mar 2, 2012, 3:01 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

i would quickly check over the other questions, since you might have made some mistakes. Better getting 1 problem wrong than many more. After checking, try solving it. But if you don't have time, and you're aiming for a perfect score just go for it.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#21 h Mar 3, 2012, 11:20 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

jasonmathcounts wrote:

If I have a really hard problem that I can't solve (or it will take a long time to solve), should I check over all the other problems or spend all the remaining time trying to solve the hard one?

You have to be able to determine what is "difficult." If you don't think you have a significant chance at solving the problem, skip it and return to it with any excess time you have. If you think that you can solve the problem in a reasonable amount of time, go for it. However, if you find yourself getting nowhere after a minute or two, it will probably serve you better to skip it and come back later.

Most MATHCOUNTS problems don't require much more than a quick obvious insight to basically solve the problem. Many (even difficult ones, including 2011 National Sprint #30) are direct applications of formulas. For this reason, they are not generally difficult, but they are also difficult to solve without that insight. If you find yourself completely lost, you likely haven't seen that insight before and are thus unlikely to find it then (this applies much less to "real" competitions like the AMC or AIME, where problems have many steps and new insight is sometimes required). In that case, you should skip the problem.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Ratatouille

22 posts

Ratatouille

#22 h May 5, 2012, 4:38 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Hello,
I have been preparing for Mathcounts. I am in 7th Grade.
I have the Practice Competitions Volume 1 & 2 by Josh Frost.
I also have the book by J Batterson.
I would like to order some books from the Mathcounts Store.
Can you suggest some books from the Mathcounts store and which years
in particular. I was considering the Past Competiton books and the Stretches/Warm-ups.
Thank you.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

Draco

1118 posts

Draco

#23 h May 5, 2012, 5:16 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Well, Volume 1 was a great help to me for MATHCOUNTS, and also helped me prepare for competitions beyond it, such as the AMCs.
You should strongly consider purchasing that, as it gives a strong coverage of most topics in MATHCOUNTS.
As for past competitions, you should consider trading some from here: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=132&t=133189&start=1360
AoPS, Volume 1, and past tests are the only practice materials I've used to get to Nats.
I've never used many stretches/warm-ups, but many can be found online, so it is not necessary to buy those either.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

flamefoxx99

1037 posts

flamefoxx99

#24 h Nov 17, 2012, 3:18 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

sorry if I'm reviving a topic.
Mathcounts says that there are tiebreakers, but I don't really understand the stuff behind that, with a bunch of if-then, but, ... junk. Can anyone explain what they are and tips on dealing with them?

When I do practice sets, I treat every question the same except for the last 2 pages, which take me a little bit more time (first year). Are these tiebreakers random, are they designated, or what? How do I deal with them?

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

sjwon3789

588 posts

sjwon3789

#25 h Nov 17, 2012, 3:25 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

anthonyjang wrote:

sorry if I'm reviving a topic.
Mathcounts says that there are tiebreakers, but I don't really understand the stuff behind that, with a bunch of if-then, but, ... junk. Can anyone explain what they are and tips on dealing with them?

When I do practice sets, I treat every question the same except for the last 2 pages, which take me a little bit more time (first year). Are these tiebreakers random, are they designated, or what? How do I deal with them?

I asked the same thing on how the tiebreaker works, here

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#26 h Nov 18, 2012, 2:06 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

anthonyjang wrote:

sorry if I'm reviving a topic.
Mathcounts says that there are tiebreakers, but I don't really understand the stuff behind that, with a bunch of if-then, but, ... junk. Can anyone explain what they are and tips on dealing with them?

(Please correct me on this if I am in error. I am not sure how this works and there is no official information offered. The below is bits and pieces of AoPS discussions and loose guidelines in the handbook):
Ties are handled differently at different places, but in general:
1) Higher sprint round score is ranked higher
2) The contestant who answered more of the last 10 sprint round questions correctly is ranked higher.
3) If both participants have the same sprint round score on the last 10 questions, whichever of the contestants got #30 correct is ranked higher. If both participants got #30 on sprint round correctly, whichever contestant got #29 correct is ranked higher. Repeat for n -> n-1. (for example, if I get #3 and #27 wrong, and you get #25 and #8 wrong, you would be ranked higher).
4) If a tie still cannot be broken (say, between 2 perfect scores), a tiebreaker round is instituted.

This tiebreaker round works effectively like another set of target questions (and should thus be around the same difficulty). Participants can submit their answers at any time, but only once. Ties are broken by
1) Most questions answered correctly
2) If both participants answer the same non-zero number of questions correctly, the faster submission is ranked higher.
3) If neither participant correctly answers a question, I **believe** that another round is run until the tie is broken.

You should read the little info given in the handbook for the most official information, though this does not explain anything about a tiebreaker round other than calculators are allowed on it.

Handbook wrote:

Ties will be broken as necessary to determine team and individual prizes and to determine which individuals
qualify for the Countdown Round. For ties between individuals, the student with the higher Sprint Round score
will receive the higher rank. If a tie remains after this comparison, specific groups of questions from the Sprint
and Target Rounds are compared. For ties between teams, the team with the higher Team Round score, and then
the higher sum of the team members’ Sprint Round scores, receives the higher rank. If a tie remains after these
comparisons, specific questions from the Team Round will be compared. Note: These are very general guidelines.
Competition officials receive more detailed procedures.

Quote:

When I do practice sets, I treat every question the same except for the last 2 pages, which take me a little bit more time (first year). Are these tiebreakers random, are they designated, or what? How do I deal with them?

I'm not 100% sure what the question here is asking. The tiebreaker round functions effectively like an extra set of target questions, but you also need to take into account that speed is a factor. You would thus follow essentially the same type of strategy as you would in Countdown, though the problems will almost certainly be harder than countdown problems (to my knowledge, no tiebreaker questions have ever been released to the general public), and as such you should scale your strategy to account for the extra necessary time.

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

brightknight

1098 posts

brightknight

#27 h Nov 18, 2012, 3:46 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

If you finish the test early, which part of the test should you try to check first?

Z Y

The post below has been deleted. Click to close.

This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.

BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#28 h Nov 20, 2012, 8:57 PM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

brightknight wrote:

If you finish the test early, which part of the test should you try to check first?

Whatever part you're least confident about. While ideally you want to check over the entire test, sometimes time makes this an impracticality. Sometimes there are little hints as to which problems should be checked. For example, a problem which seems misplaced (a very hard #5, or a very easy #29, etc.) should be at least read over again as it is likely there's a trick involved. Ugly questions that you bash out, use the cubic formula on, substitute in some trig variables, and calculate the size of Mars on to come out with a nice answer likely doesn't need to be checked, as a stupid mistake would likely result in an ugly answer. Conversely, a problem where you get an ugly answer but shouldn't is a huge red flag to check.

Problems that are pure computation (or boil down to such) are also a priority to check, as a tiny error can have disastrous consequences. Problems where you get a reasonable answer are less likely to have a stupid mistake somewhere, since such mistakes normally give a silly answer. Sanity check your answers (is your answer to a probability question 7?) in order to see what might not even be close to correct. If you're really stuck, make an educated guess and move on.

Z Y