Class update + latest AIME score + HMMT + math tutoring
by shiningsunnyday, Aug 28, 2016, 10:25 AM
It's been a week... let me get started
First, some class updates.
1A: Advanced Chinese
2A: Contemporary Nonfiction
3A: Multivariable Calculus
4A: AP Statistics
1B: AP Computer Science
2B: AP Physics 1
3B: AP Chemistry
4B: Free period
So this weekend I took 2 mock AIMEs.
Last but not least, I'm pleased to announce I'm officially getting a paid job tutoring
I also told my contest coordinator I'll be open to tutoring good students in the school contest math. After all, it's time to start self-actualizing.
It's clear I'll have to pay my own way to HMMT if I go (see my post here) so the tutoring money will be put to good use.
Also rip PSAT coming up - the international semifinalist cutoff is the highest out of any region (them Chinese kids...) so my chances are pretty slim.
First, some class updates.
1A: Advanced Chinese
Still trivial. Though apparently I’m (at least one of) the best in class, so the teacher kind of likes me (shameless brag oops). A few days ago, when I finished a reading passage earlier than everyone else, she assigned me to help this really cute girl at the other table, so I cracked some Chinese jokes (she for some reason didn’t seem as enthusiastic as I expected) as she struggled with the passage.
Anyways the one bad thing is the teacher assigns a LOT of busy work — vocabulary quizzes, reading, worksheets, etc. that don't help me in any way whatsoever, but hey, that's by definition high school.
Anyways the one bad thing is the teacher assigns a LOT of busy work — vocabulary quizzes, reading, worksheets, etc. that don't help me in any way whatsoever, but hey, that's by definition high school.
2A: Contemporary Nonfiction
For some reason I’m the most vocal student in the class — what’s extremely odd being the other students don’t talk, so I feel I have the obligation to keep the atmosphere at least non-dead (which is kind of hard considering my voice sounds pretty dead). Nevertheless the teacher seems to like me, so that’s good. However, I failed the quiz today — the first summative, which pisses me off as the questions were REALLY specific about the readings (which were long af).
3A: Multivariable Calculus
Trivial — mostly review: 3D vectors, dot/cross products, equations of lines/planes. Hopefully it’ll get harder soon. I’ve managed to kill time by talking to E, the only girl in the class. Like just the other day, as we were taking a formative, I asked her (who usually sits next to me but recently began sitting next to a white kid AHHHH) “hey do we round this to newton-meters” (we were doing dot product on a problem about work). “Yea, but I feel like it’s too much work.” “Too much work?” “Hahaha nice one.” < 3
As the smartest boy and girl respectively in the school, I feel obligatory that we should at least have somewhat of a bond, so I pulled a few more of my patented moves on her today.
“Why can’t you cross a mountain climber and a mosquito?”
“Whattt?”
“Because you can’t cross a vector with a scalar.”
As the smartest boy and girl respectively in the school, I feel obligatory that we should at least have somewhat of a bond, so I pulled a few more of my patented moves on her today.
“Why can’t you cross a mountain climber and a mosquito?”
“Whattt?”
“Because you can’t cross a vector with a scalar.”
4A: AP Statistics
I’m really starting to dislike this class — not the content, which is trivial, but how subjective the ****ing teacher can be.
Just the other day, we were talking about a random sample (basically assign an integer to each one of the population and randomly draw them from a hat to get a desired sample size). One of the quiz questions was: Which is true about a random sample of size k?
a) Every set of k members have an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
b) Every member has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
c) Blah blah
d) Blah blah
e) All the above
Any non-imbecile knows a) and b) are both true, so the only possibility is e). But c) and d) were flat out wrong answers, and so the problem is flawed. My stats teacher, however, is off at the other corner of the classroom cracking his Indiana-accented jokes with some cute girls, and I decided I was left to fend for myself. I clicked e).
WRONG.
The answer turned out to be a). I knew then that I'm now in a position of having to awkwardly articulate my (correct) reasoning without seeming to tip the teacher-student balance.
I opened my textbook to this page and went to go vindicate my human rights.
Just the other day, we were talking about a random sample (basically assign an integer to each one of the population and randomly draw them from a hat to get a desired sample size). One of the quiz questions was: Which is true about a random sample of size k?
a) Every set of k members have an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
b) Every member has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.
c) Blah blah
d) Blah blah
e) All the above
Any non-imbecile knows a) and b) are both true, so the only possibility is e). But c) and d) were flat out wrong answers, and so the problem is flawed. My stats teacher, however, is off at the other corner of the classroom cracking his Indiana-accented jokes with some cute girls, and I decided I was left to fend for myself. I clicked e).
WRONG.
The answer turned out to be a). I knew then that I'm now in a position of having to awkwardly articulate my (correct) reasoning without seeming to tip the teacher-student balance.
My stats textbook wrote:
"In a random sample, every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample."
Conversation with teacher, the entire class was listening wrote:
Hello Mr. B, I believe the question on the quiz the other day is flawed, because both answers a) and b) are correct.
Mr. B: Errr what yer talkin bout. Ok lemme explain.
Me: Ok so-
Mr. B: A random samper is by deffy nation avery set of k members equerr chance of bean selected.
Me: But-
Mr. B: It's the exact defy nation in the text buk that I coppyed.
Me: But below the definition, it also says in a random sample every member has an equal chance of being selected
*Silence*
Class: *growing anxious*
Mr. B: Nunu ok lemme explain how probability works.
Mr. B: Say I have a class of 17 students. Every sample must selects suudent in sum order rit? in some order right.
Mr. B: The probability I select u is 1/17. But here's the catch. If I select Mark there first, then the probability I select you next is 1/16. Creary 1/17 isn't 1/16, so it's not always true the probability of each member beings elected is equal.
Me: *appalled at what I was hearing*
Me: But that's assuming Mark is selected first and I selected second. It could be the other way around.
*Silence, all conversations in the class has stopped*
Mr. B: Er no let me draw this.
Mr. B: So every sample MUST be selected in some order right.
Me: But-
Mr. B: Right??
Me: Yea... *rip my weak asian voice*
Mr. B: OK. So if I select Sally there first, she has probability 1/17. But the probability changes if I select someone else first. Whoever that someone else is, he/she has probability 1/17 while the rest of the class has probability 1/16. But now, look, if I select a SET of k members, they must all be equal!
By then, despite logos being on my side, the amount of ethos overwhelmed me, and I was forced to acquiesce. So there I was, a Combo 3 student, well-versed (not really but you get the point) in the Probabilistic Method, getting lectured on an (amazingly ludicrous) definition of how basic probability works, without a chance to strike back.
I retreated slowly to my seat, the gaze of the whole class on me, the best math student in the school.
Mr. B: Errr what yer talkin bout. Ok lemme explain.
Me: Ok so-
Mr. B: A random samper is by deffy nation avery set of k members equerr chance of bean selected.
Me: But-
Mr. B: It's the exact defy nation in the text buk that I coppyed.
Me: But below the definition, it also says in a random sample every member has an equal chance of being selected
*Silence*
Class: *growing anxious*
Mr. B: Nunu ok lemme explain how probability works.
Mr. B: Say I have a class of 17 students. Every sample must selects suudent in sum order rit? in some order right.
Mr. B: The probability I select u is 1/17. But here's the catch. If I select Mark there first, then the probability I select you next is 1/16. Creary 1/17 isn't 1/16, so it's not always true the probability of each member beings elected is equal.
Me: *appalled at what I was hearing*
Me: But that's assuming Mark is selected first and I selected second. It could be the other way around.
*Silence, all conversations in the class has stopped*
Mr. B: Er no let me draw this.
Mr. B: So every sample MUST be selected in some order right.
Me: But-
Mr. B: Right??
Me: Yea... *rip my weak asian voice*
Mr. B: OK. So if I select Sally there first, she has probability 1/17. But the probability changes if I select someone else first. Whoever that someone else is, he/she has probability 1/17 while the rest of the class has probability 1/16. But now, look, if I select a SET of k members, they must all be equal!
By then, despite logos being on my side, the amount of ethos overwhelmed me, and I was forced to acquiesce. So there I was, a Combo 3 student, well-versed (not really but you get the point) in the Probabilistic Method, getting lectured on an (amazingly ludicrous) definition of how basic probability works, without a chance to strike back.
I retreated slowly to my seat, the gaze of the whole class on me, the best math student in the school.
1B: AP Computer Science
Rip getting harder the tags are actually really messy to do (I'm such a noob compared to other AoPSers) and we have a project due this week and I haven't even started. The teacher is also not really approachable.
Other day wrote:
Teacher: So what wind brings you here 10 mins tardy to my class?
Student: Uh... my laptop broke...
Teacher: So you're coming to a CS class without your laptop for 3 consecutive days??
Student: My mom said she'll get me a new one... (super softly)
Teacher: Are you telling me out of the whole house there is only ONE laptop for you to use?
Student: No... I-
Teacher: Do you have a sibling?
Student: No...
Teacher: Yea thank god your parents decided not to have another one after you came out
The shots continued firing for 5 mins, and after that I have no idea how the morally demoralized student even managed to sit down in his seat without collapsing.
Student: Uh... my laptop broke...
Teacher: So you're coming to a CS class without your laptop for 3 consecutive days??
Student: My mom said she'll get me a new one... (super softly)
Teacher: Are you telling me out of the whole house there is only ONE laptop for you to use?
Student: No... I-
Teacher: Do you have a sibling?
Student: No...
Teacher: Yea thank god your parents decided not to have another one after you came out
The shots continued firing for 5 mins, and after that I have no idea how the morally demoralized student even managed to sit down in his seat without collapsing.
2B: AP Physics 1
Still mad af I'm having to put through motion diagrams and drawing dots and adding/subtracting numbers. Oh well, once again, this is school - you're not supposed to learn anything (useful).
3B: AP Chemistry
Getting interesting -- learning line spectrums, electron configurations and the quantum model -- most of which are familiar from my grade 9 quiz team days, but still cool.
4B: Free period
Need I explain
So this weekend I took 2 mock AIMEs.
-- 2014 AIME I and 2014 AIME II. I was a bit worn out after sleep deprivation + doing too much olympiad math, so my answers came sporadically and the timing was a bit screwed up. But overall, I would predict my current ceiling to be around an 8. It was clear the effect of not doing any computational problems since mid-March has taken a toll on me - as I found myself fussing over basic arithmetic and obvious counting problems (also there were no like NO GEO problems in the 2014 AIMEs, djmathman I feel you...). So I would say my actual ceiling (that is, if I get back into computation-math mode) should be around a 10. However, that's no excuse -- I've got to get better.
This brings me to HMMT problems -- which I find really enjoyable and suitable - as the Feb round problems are mid-late AIME and beyond, so I'll be mocking some HMMT rounds any now and then in addition to olympiad training.
Also, after reading some of the rules on the website, I'm trying to see if I can get on a team or register as an individual for the February round of this year -- so I have an excuse to fly over and meet y'all AoPSers.
I have no idea what's considered a "good" (as in USAMO-qualifying equivalent) performance for HMMT, so if any y'all know I'll appreciate it. 
This brings me to HMMT problems -- which I find really enjoyable and suitable - as the Feb round problems are mid-late AIME and beyond, so I'll be mocking some HMMT rounds any now and then in addition to olympiad training.
Also, after reading some of the rules on the website, I'm trying to see if I can get on a team or register as an individual for the February round of this year -- so I have an excuse to fly over and meet y'all AoPSers.
I have no idea what's considered a "good" (as in USAMO-qualifying equivalent) performance for HMMT, so if any y'all know I'll appreciate it. Last but not least, I'm pleased to announce I'm officially getting a paid job tutoring
around equivalent of 18 dollars an hour
a sophomoreoh yeah in case anyone's interested she's a girl by the way.
YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I'M TUTORING A GIRL
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
CLEARLY NOT THE REASON WHY I IMMEDIATELY AGREED TO MY MATH CONTEST COORDINATOR IN A SPLIT SECOND WHEN SHE RECOMMENDED THE STUDENT TO ME
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND THIS. I (NOT HER) AM GETTING P.A.I.D. TO SPEND TIME WITH A GIRL AND SHOWING OFF TO HER WHAT I DO BEST - MATH.
in my school contest level math (like mid-AMC problems!).OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
CLEARLY NOT THE REASON WHY I IMMEDIATELY AGREED TO MY MATH CONTEST COORDINATOR IN A SPLIT SECOND WHEN SHE RECOMMENDED THE STUDENT TO ME
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
DO YOU GUYS UNDERSTAND THIS. I (NOT HER) AM GETTING P.A.I.D. TO SPEND TIME WITH A GIRL AND SHOWING OFF TO HER WHAT I DO BEST - MATH.
I also told my contest coordinator I'll be open to tutoring good students in the school contest math. After all, it's time to start self-actualizing.
It's clear I'll have to pay my own way to HMMT if I go (see my post here) so the tutoring money will be put to good use.
Also rip PSAT coming up - the international semifinalist cutoff is the highest out of any region (them Chinese kids...) so my chances are pretty slim.
I still struggle to get above a 700 on the new SAT reading section. Looks like I better be putting in the hours every night on those reading passages...
Yup further reason to wipe out the word "sleep
Yup further reason to wipe out the word "sleep
just gotta make sure I don't die before I qualify for USAMO lol
" from my vocabulary
Eric Thomas wrote:
Sleep is for people who are broke
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by shiningsunnyday, Aug 29, 2016, 12:04 AM
sigh, why won’t anyone pay me for teaching them math
May 2018
April 2018