USAMO Dream Revive + Self-actualization?
by shiningsunnyday, Oct 23, 2016, 3:47 PM
For the past few weeks, I feel like going through a
...I know I'm probably not making much sense as the majority of my blog readers are younger than I am, but I think this has helped me survive junior year (thus far!) and will become essential as the year progresses further.
Anyways, one of the highlights of my year thus far has been, of course, my
A few days ago, the math contest coordinator told me that the
Nevertheless, this was a
As I excitedly plunged back into my math books / WOOT problems the day after, I realized how rusty I've gone from having basically cut off most of my math time the past few weeks. WOOT combo is hard af, and even my knowledge of Lemmas is slowly unraveling.
It was clear two weeks of instruction-following and acquiescence to authority served well to impair my creativity. While I've long separated math and , only during the past few days did I start juggling with the idea that they may not be
Personal-wise, my goal is still fixated on USAMO [14]. My algebra skills and combo skills are quite lackluster in this regard, but hopefully 105 + 108 + 109 can take care of the former and WOOT + ACoPS the latter. My latest AIME score is .
As for ISEF, I'm still not yet past the researching stage - basically reading random papers that may or may not be relevant. After reading more mathematical ISEF projects, I've realized it's more important to have a clever/unique idea, as opposed to bombarding your project with heavy-weighted theory. The task of finding a mentor has been extremely difficult, and my two advisors for the Yale program have yet found me any good professors, which means I need to prepare for the worst - doing it myself...
On top of everything, the pressure of
Also, I should probably start rereading/reviewing the
Overall, what I find particularly difficult is the ability to balance my life between personal goals and what school expects of you.
The only consistent aspect of my vortex of life is about 15-30 mins of time I reserve for myself every night to rap/watch
Looking ahead, I'm beginning to enjoy going to weekly
...I know I'm probably not making much sense as the majority of my blog readers are younger than I am, but I think this has helped me survive junior year (thus far!) and will become essential as the year progresses further.
Anyways, one of the highlights of my year thus far has been, of course, my
A few days ago, the math contest coordinator told me that the
Nevertheless, this was a
As I excitedly plunged back into my math books / WOOT problems the day after, I realized how rusty I've gone from having basically cut off most of my math time the past few weeks. WOOT combo is hard af, and even my knowledge of Lemmas is slowly unraveling.
It was clear two weeks of instruction-following and acquiescence to authority served well to impair my creativity. While I've long separated math and , only during the past few days did I start juggling with the idea that they may not be
Personal-wise, my goal is still fixated on USAMO [14]. My algebra skills and combo skills are quite lackluster in this regard, but hopefully 105 + 108 + 109 can take care of the former and WOOT + ACoPS the latter. My latest AIME score is .
As for ISEF, I'm still not yet past the researching stage - basically reading random papers that may or may not be relevant. After reading more mathematical ISEF projects, I've realized it's more important to have a clever/unique idea, as opposed to bombarding your project with heavy-weighted theory. The task of finding a mentor has been extremely difficult, and my two advisors for the Yale program have yet found me any good professors, which means I need to prepare for the worst - doing it myself...
On top of everything, the pressure of
Also, I should probably start rereading/reviewing the
Overall, what I find particularly difficult is the ability to balance my life between personal goals and what school expects of you.
The only consistent aspect of my vortex of life is about 15-30 mins of time I reserve for myself every night to rap/watch
Looking ahead, I'm beginning to enjoy going to weekly
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by shiningsunnyday, Nov 8, 2016, 7:58 AM
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