What motivates you

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AndrewZhong2012

1276 posts

AndrewZhong2012

#1 h Feb 22, 2025, 1:23 AM • 2 Y

Y by cubres, BookExplorer

9Poll:

What got you into math?

694 Votes

Parents made you do it

22%

(156)

You enjoy problem solving

43%

(299)

You think it will help your college application

27%

(186)

You don't do math, just Reaper and Greed Control

3%

(19)

Other(state below)

5%

(34)

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What got you guys into math? I'm asking because I got ~71 on the AMC 12B and 94.5 on 10A last year. This year, my dad expects me to get a 130 on 12B and 10 on AIME, but I have sort of lost motivation, and I know these goals will be impossible to achieve without said motivation.

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AndrewZhong2012

1276 posts

AndrewZhong2012

#2 h Feb 22, 2025, 1:41 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

For me its option 1 and myparents make me do it bc option 3

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videogamer

83 posts

videogamer

#3 h Feb 22, 2025, 1:57 AM • 3 Y

Y by bachkieu, cubres, Mathandski

My parents made me do it as a kid and then over time I started liking math.

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sadas123

1072 posts

sadas123

#4 h Feb 22, 2025, 2:16 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

When I first did Math Comp I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my life

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Rice_Farmer

892 posts

Rice_Farmer

#5 h Feb 22, 2025, 2:21 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

My parents introduced me to it, I grew to love it

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Andyluo

860 posts

Andyluo

#6 h Feb 22, 2025, 2:41 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

My parents introduced me to it, I started seriously practicing for college apps, and then I started to enjoy it

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abbominable_sn0wman

41 posts

abbominable_sn0wman

#7 h Feb 22, 2025, 2:44 AM • 4 Y

Y by Pengu14, Lhaj3, elasticwealth, cubres

school math was way too boring, so when i first really got into math contests in 7th, i was very excited by the fact that instead of just practicing the mechanics, the mechanics were just tools you used to solve puzzles.
Retrospectively, I realize when I was young i'd create these problems for myself based on the things i noticed around me. Two examples of this lived in my old kitchen: this tiled thing that lived behind the stovetop, and a digital clock. On the former I would imagine different polyominoes and play around with them in my mind. With the later, I noticed the sum-of-digits mod 9 thing (which of course i wasn't aware of at the time), and would try to come up with patterns amongst the numbers. I bet my parents were probably so confused why I'd be staring at the clock for 15 minutes and forgot to eat

So it was (still is) so cool to realize that all the random crazy ideas i have can be used to solve problems.
It certainly doesn't hurt college apps, either. But I also think the specific score itself doesn't really matter as much. (Ex: You're not gonna get rejected from someplace if you have a 220 index instead of a 221). (I don't have either welp--)

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lovematch13

653 posts

lovematch13

#8 h Feb 22, 2025, 3:05 AM • 2 Y

Y by abbominable_sn0wman, cubres

My parents exposed me to lots of stuff when I was young so I could find something that I enjoyed. That thing was competition math.

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alex_xie

93 posts

alex_xie

#9 h Feb 22, 2025, 3:08 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

Andyluo wrote:

My parents introduced me to it, I started seriously practicing for college apps, and then I started to enjoy it

yo same

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Happyllamaalways

478 posts

Happyllamaalways

#10 h Feb 22, 2025, 4:27 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

1. I enjoy doing math (a lot). I started when I was 3-4 years old and never got tired of it.
2. I’m actually cooked for college apps if I don’t clutch up on the AMC/AIME

(Like seriously tho, it’s 2025. Literally EVERYTHING is hyper-competitive. Like, if I failed the AMC then my gyatt doesn’t even stand a chance to get into a good college. Unfortunately, nowadays there are just too many smart people out there, which means more opps to battle tryna get into college.)

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Jaxman8

95 posts

Jaxman8

#11 h Feb 22, 2025, 4:34 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

My parents never forced me to do it, I wish they would have tho. I started late as a result, 7th grade.

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Shadow6885

2404 posts

Shadow6885

#12 h Feb 22, 2025, 4:39 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

Jaxman8 wrote:

My parents never forced me to do it, I wish they would have tho. I started late as a result, 7th grade.

Same except my first comp was technically 6th

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RocketScientist

327 posts

RocketScientist

#13 h Feb 22, 2025, 4:40 AM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

@bove same lol
I started Beast Academy and later AoPS in 5th grade because my parents wanted me to be challenged more, but I made the decision to start comp math in 7th grade. I won't lie that college apps aren't a motivator, but it's more importantly that I enjoy problem solving and meeting other people who do.

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lovematch13

653 posts

lovematch13

#14 h Feb 22, 2025, 5:35 AM • 2 Y

Y by cubres, HockeyMaster85

Happyllamaalways wrote:

1. I enjoy doing math (a lot). I started when I was 3-4 years old and never got tired of it.
2. I’m actually cooked for college apps if I don’t clutch up on the AMC/AIME

(Like seriously tho, it’s 2025. Literally EVERYTHING is hyper-competitive. Like, if I failed the AMC then my gyatt doesn’t even stand a chance to get into a good college. Unfortunately, nowadays there are just too many smart people out there, which means more opps to battle tryna get into college.)

Nah bro where did this college logic come from (and why does college imply success?)

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nsking_1209

163 posts

nsking_1209

#15 h Feb 22, 2025, 6:03 PM • 1 Y

Y by cubres

My parents pushed me to start contest math. I did and started loving it and I began to grind. Then the college apps part came in, and I got more serious abt it.

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sultanine

685 posts

sultanine

#57 h Mar 19, 2025, 3:49 PM

Y by

my parents force me to

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sultanine

685 posts

sultanine

#58 h Mar 19, 2025, 3:51 PM

Y by

they think :play_ball:

=

and

=

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Thunderingfalcon14

713 posts

Thunderingfalcon14

#59 h Mar 19, 2025, 3:53 PM

Y by

What motivates me is college, how do I get into UCLA without good math grades?

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sadas123

1072 posts

sadas123

#60 h Mar 19, 2025, 4:02 PM

Y by

Jaxman8 wrote:

My parents never forced me to do it, I wish they would have tho. I started late as a result, 7th grade.

Same I started in 5th grade because I used to go to a trash school no offense.

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giangtruong13

77 posts

giangtruong13

#61 h Mar 19, 2025, 4:16 PM

Y by

Welp, maths comes to me a little abruptly. When i was in kindergarten, I dont know how to do the plus and minus. In grade 5, im supa fuuuing terrible at Maths, this makes me not graduate from the Specialized Middle School. But in secondary, things started to happen when I decided to join my school’s Math Specialized Team again, i had got high mark in grade 6 and got the highest mark in grade 7 also got a second prize of the city math competition. And with that, I could study in the Specialized School and got selected for the Math Specialized Team

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akliu

1731 posts

akliu

#62 h Mar 19, 2025, 8:01 PM • 1 Y

Y by NamelyOrange

For the wide majority of people, they'll realize that it's not realistic to get up to some point up the ladder far beyond your reach (for example, a lot of people have accepted the fact that they're not going to IMO, or that they'll never get a Nobel prize, or something like that). That's when you set a good goal, and work like hell to get towards that goal. For me, that goal was olympiad; I've been within a problem's reach for the last two years, but both years, I was still motivated to do math even after my failures. That's just because of the personal realization that in the end, contest results don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

I think that the greatest contribution to yourself that contests will do for you is introduce you to a community and some friends that you'll really cherish. Sounds corny, but it's probably true for most people. Even if you're doing it just for the college applications, that's still fine -- but "the friends you make along the way" are also probably a close reason number 2 for doing them.

That being said, I think that your goals aren't unrealistic; I went from a 99 on the 10B one year to a 129 (let's round that up to a 130, trust...) on the 10B the next year, and I wasn't particularly motivated throughout the entire year. As long as you get out of that "zero motivation" slump, you'll probably feel a lot better about your goals.

Go for it! See what you want to do, not your dad expects you to do.

This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by akliu, Mar 19, 2025, 8:02 PM

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mdk2013

482 posts

mdk2013

#63 h Mar 19, 2025, 10:13 PM

Y by

Oh wow ive never really thought about that, so basically what happened was in 1st grade, i looked up at my dad and thought, "wow how is he so good at math", and then my dad put me into beast academy to improve my skills. I did relatively fine, but i sold in the competition hosted at aops. Then i kept taking aops classes, i wasn't honestly that excited but i did it anyways. Then out of the blue, i got first in a comp (aops again). Then again, and again, and again, and then i was like really excited because well, i got first. By this time, i had recognized that i had potential with math, and i was good at it. I also just enjoyed problem solving, idk why but i liked solving math problems. From that point on, i got into serious comps, and I was motivated to practice to get good scores, even if i didnt do good. And now were at the present time, where I am still motivated to get good scores in comps, resulting in motivation to do and practice math everyday and

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ChaitraliKA

973 posts

ChaitraliKA

#64 h Mar 19, 2025, 11:47 PM

Y by

My parents encouraged me to do math competitions in 7th grade, but afterwards I did everything on my own, and my parents kinda just leave me alone when I do math. They never ask me on their own which competitions I'm doing. They barely even know what aime is. I kinda just go up to them and ask "can you pay this fee" and they're like yeah, and then I just continue to do stuff on my own. Sometimes I wish my parents had math expectations for me, but seeing how it is for some of my other friends, maybe I should be happy.
I do math because I like it

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booking

293 posts

booking

#65 h Mar 19, 2025, 11:53 PM

Y by

My school got me into math, my parents also suggested it!

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jlcong

364 posts

jlcong

#66 h Mar 20, 2025, 2:36 AM • 1 Y

Y by Pengu14

Math is way too competitive.

For majority it is a good community, enjoyment, and exercising the brain. Since many JMO level problems will not help irl. Math only helps build up the brain, just like hitting the gym to build up muscle, not for real life application.

Small percentage make high level, so motivate yourself if you enjoy it. Because in life, doing things you enjoy for happiness is the whole point.

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NamelyOrange

484 posts

NamelyOrange

#67 h Mar 20, 2025, 3:05 AM

Y by

Personal interest, with some college and parental pressure mixed in.

math story-ish

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DreamineYT

272 posts

DreamineYT

#68 h Mar 20, 2025, 3:06 AM

Y by

For me, good problems are satisfying to solve and hard or bashy problems make you feel better after doing them. The friends I make along the way are also a very good reason for me to do math, mostly because they're much more disciplined and hardworking then your normal schoolmates. Going to competitions and hanging out with friends is fun. Finally, doing math makes you smarter. A lot smarter. Which means that if someone calls you dumb, you can flex your math and always just be smart(relatable for me). No one will ever call you dumb. College apps are just a bonus(a really big one, though).

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jkim0656

304 posts

jkim0656

#69 h Mar 20, 2025, 3:10 AM

Y by

NamelyOrange wrote:

Personal interest, with some college and parental pressure mixed in.

math story-ish

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FunBrightStage

258 posts

FunBrightStage

#70 h Mar 20, 2025, 3:52 AM

Y by

For me it’s my parents make me do it, and some subconscious part of me knows it’s good for me sob

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pingpongmerrily

3502 posts

pingpongmerrily

#71 h Mar 20, 2025, 1:18 PM • 1 Y

Y by jlcong

jlcong wrote:

Math is way too competitive.

For majority it is a good community, enjoyment, and exercising the brain. Since many JMO level problems will not help irl. Math only helps build up the brain, just like hitting the gym to build up muscle, not for real life application.

Small percentage make high level, so motivate yourself if you enjoy it. Because in life, doing things you enjoy for happiness is the whole point.

bro actually cooking for once

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