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k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

WOOT early bird pricing is in effect, don’t miss out! If you took MathWOOT Level 2 last year, no worries, it is all new problems this year! Our Worldwide Online Olympiad Training program is for high school level competitors. AoPS designed these courses to help our top students get the deep focus they need to succeed in their specific competition goals. Check out the details at this link for all our WOOT programs in math, computer science, chemistry, and physics.

Looking for summer camps in math and language arts? Be sure to check out the video-based summer camps offered at the Virtual Campus that are 2- to 4-weeks in duration. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following events:
[list][*]April 3rd (Webinar), 4pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learning with AoPS: Perspectives from a Parent, Math Camp Instructor, and University Professor
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April 9th (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Learn about Video-based Summer Camps at the Virtual Campus
[*]April 10th (Math Jam), 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET, 2025 MathILy and MathILy-Er Math Jam: Multibackwards Numbers
[*]April 22nd (Webinar), 4:00pm PT/7:00pm ET, Competitive Programming at AoPS (USACO).[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

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0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
Discuss the Stanford Math Tournament Here
Aaronjudgeisgoat   299
N 4 minutes ago by techb
I believe discussion is allowed after yesterday at midnight, correct?
If so, I will put tentative answers on this thread.
By the way, does anyone know the answer to Geometry Problem 5? I was wondering if I got that one right
Also, if you put answers, please put it in a hide tag

Answers for the Algebra Subject Test
Estimated Algebra Cutoffs
Answers for the Geometry Subject Test
Estimated Geo Cutoffs
Answers for the Discrete Subject Test
Estimated Cutoffs for Discrete
Answers for the Team Round
Guts Answers
299 replies
+1 w
Aaronjudgeisgoat
Apr 14, 2025
techb
4 minutes ago
RIP BS2012
gavinhaominwang   12
N an hour ago by KevinYang2.71
Rip BS2012, I hope you come back next year stronger and prove everyone wrong.
12 replies
gavinhaominwang
Today at 12:32 AM
KevinYang2.71
an hour ago
Interesting inequalities
sqing   0
an hour ago
Source: Own
Let $ a,b,c\geq 0 ,b+c-ca=1 $ and $ c+a-ab=3.$ Prove that
$$a+\frac{19}{10}b-bc\leq 2-\sqrt 2$$$$a+\frac{17}{10}b+c-bc\leq  3$$$$ a^2+\frac{9}{5}b-bc\leq 6-4\sqrt 2$$$$ a^2+\frac{8}{5}b^2-bc\leq 6-4\sqrt 2$$$$a+1.974873b-bc\leq 2-\sqrt 2$$$$a+1.775917b+c-bc\leq  3$$

0 replies
sqing
an hour ago
0 replies
Two permutations
Nima Ahmadi Pour   12
N 2 hours ago by Zhaom
Source: Iran prepration exam
Suppose that $ a_1$, $ a_2$, $ \ldots$, $ a_n$ are integers such that $ n\mid a_1 + a_2 + \ldots + a_n$.
Prove that there exist two permutations $ \left(b_1,b_2,\ldots,b_n\right)$ and $ \left(c_1,c_2,\ldots,c_n\right)$ of $ \left(1,2,\ldots,n\right)$ such that for each integer $ i$ with $ 1\leq i\leq n$, we have
\[ n\mid a_i - b_i - c_i
\]

Proposed by Ricky Liu & Zuming Feng, USA
12 replies
Nima Ahmadi Pour
Apr 24, 2006
Zhaom
2 hours ago
Easy Number Theory
math_comb01   37
N 2 hours ago by John_Mgr
Source: INMO 2024/3
Let $p$ be an odd prime and $a,b,c$ be integers so that the integers $$a^{2023}+b^{2023},\quad b^{2024}+c^{2024},\quad a^{2025}+c^{2025}$$are divisible by $p$.
Prove that $p$ divides each of $a,b,c$.
$\quad$
Proposed by Navilarekallu Tejaswi
37 replies
math_comb01
Jan 21, 2024
John_Mgr
2 hours ago
ALGEBRA INEQUALITY
Tony_stark0094   3
N 2 hours ago by sqing
$a,b,c > 0$ Prove that $$\frac{a^2+bc}{b+c} + \frac{b^2+ac}{a+c} + \frac {c^2 + ab}{a+b} \geq a+b+c$$
3 replies
Tony_stark0094
Today at 12:17 AM
sqing
2 hours ago
Inspired by hlminh
sqing   3
N 2 hours ago by sqing
Source: Own
Let $ a,b,c $ be real numbers such that $ a^2+b^2+c^2=1. $ Prove that $$ |a-kb|+|b-kc|+|c-ka|\leq \sqrt{3k^2+2k+3}$$Where $ k\geq 0 . $
3 replies
sqing
Yesterday at 4:43 AM
sqing
2 hours ago
How many people get waitlisted st promys?
dragoon   26
N 2 hours ago by wuwang2002
Asking for a friend here
26 replies
dragoon
Apr 18, 2025
wuwang2002
2 hours ago
A Familiar Point
v4913   51
N 2 hours ago by xeroxia
Source: EGMO 2023/6
Let $ABC$ be a triangle with circumcircle $\Omega$. Let $S_b$ and $S_c$ respectively denote the midpoints of the arcs $AC$ and $AB$ that do not contain the third vertex. Let $N_a$ denote the midpoint of arc $BAC$ (the arc $BC$ including $A$). Let $I$ be the incenter of $ABC$. Let $\omega_b$ be the circle that is tangent to $AB$ and internally tangent to $\Omega$ at $S_b$, and let $\omega_c$ be the circle that is tangent to $AC$ and internally tangent to $\Omega$ at $S_c$. Show that the line $IN_a$, and the lines through the intersections of $\omega_b$ and $\omega_c$, meet on $\Omega$.
51 replies
v4913
Apr 16, 2023
xeroxia
2 hours ago
9 USA(J)MO Grading Poll
elasticwealth   6
N 3 hours ago by greenturtle3141
Please vote honestly. If you did not compete in the USA(J)MO, please do not vote.
6 replies
elasticwealth
4 hours ago
greenturtle3141
3 hours ago
Apple sharing in Iran
mojyla222   3
N 3 hours ago by math-helli
Source: Iran 2025 second round p6
Ali is hosting a large party. Together with his $n-1$ friends, $n$ people are seated around a circular table in a fixed order. Ali places $n$ apples for serving directly in front of himself and wants to distribute them among everyone. Since Ali and his friends dislike eating alone and won't start unless everyone receives an apple at the same time, in each step, each person who has at least one apple passes one apple to the first person to their right who doesn't have an apple (in the clockwise direction).

Find all values of $n$ such that after some number of steps, the situation reaches a point where each person has exactly one apple.
3 replies
mojyla222
Apr 20, 2025
math-helli
3 hours ago
Iran second round 2025-q1
mohsen   5
N 3 hours ago by math-helli
Find all positive integers n>2 such that sum of n and any of its prime divisors is a perfect square.
5 replies
mohsen
Apr 19, 2025
math-helli
3 hours ago
Iran Team Selection Test 2016
MRF2017   9
N 3 hours ago by SimplisticFormulas
Source: TST3,day1,P2
Let $ABC$ be an arbitrary triangle and $O$ is the circumcenter of $\triangle {ABC}$.Points $X,Y$ lie on $AB,AC$,respectively such that the reflection of $BC$ WRT $XY$ is tangent to circumcircle of $\triangle {AXY}$.Prove that the circumcircle of triangle $AXY$ is tangent to circumcircle of triangle $BOC$.
9 replies
MRF2017
Jul 15, 2016
SimplisticFormulas
3 hours ago
Combo problem
soryn   3
N 4 hours ago by soryn
The school A has m1 boys and m2 girls, and ,the school B has n1 boys and n2 girls. Each school is represented by one team formed by p students,boys and girls. If f(k) is the number of cases for which,the twice schools has,togheter k girls, fund f(k) and the valute of k, for which f(k) is maximum.
3 replies
soryn
Yesterday at 6:33 AM
soryn
4 hours ago
Question about USAMO, self esteem, and college
xHypotenuse   29
N Apr 8, 2025 by InftyByond
Hello everyone. I know this question may sound ridiculous/neagtive but I really want to know how the rest of the community thinks on this issue. Please excuse this yap session and feel free to ignore this post if it doesn't make sense, I don't think I really have a sane mind these days and something has gotten into my head.

I want your advice on what I should do in this situation. It has been my dream to make usamo since ~second semester of 9th grade and I started grinding from that time on. Last year, I qualified for the aime and got a 5. This year I really wanted to qualify for the olympiad and studied really hard. I spent my entire summer working on counting and probability, the subject I suck at the most. And yet, on amc 12, I fumbled hard. I usually mocked ~120-130s on amc 10s but on amc 12 this year, I got really mediocre scores ~100. So I had no chance of making usamo.

So during winter of 2024-2025 I kinda gave up on aime studying and I was like "hey, if I can't get into usamo, maybe ill qualify for usapho." Since I was pretty good at physics at that time. So I spended my winter hard grinding for f=ma and guess what? The test had stupid and ridiculous questions and I only got an 11. What really sucks is that even with the stupid amount of cheaters in f=ma, if I changed all of my "D" guesses to "C," then I would have qualified. Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.

And also since I didn't study for aime, I ended up being super rusty and so I only got a 7. Solved 9 tho. (I usually can consistently solve 10+ on aimes).

And now here's my senior year and ofc I want to apply to a prestigious college. But it feels stupid that I don't have any usamo or usapho titles like the people I know do. I think I will have good essays primarily due to a varied amount of life experiences but like, I don't feel like I will contribute much to the college without being some prestigious olympiad qualifier. So this led to me having a self esteem issue.

This also led me to the question: should I study one last year so that I can get into usamo in my senior year, or is there no point? Since like, colleges don't care about whatever the hell you do in your senior year, and also, it seems just 'weird' to be grinding math contests while the rest of the people from my school are playing around, etc. So this time around I've really been having an internal crisis between my self esteem (since getting into usamo will raise my self esteem a lot) and college/senior choices.

I know this may seem like a dumb question to some and you are free to completely ignore the post. That's fine. I just really want advice for what I should do in this situation and it would really help bring my life quality up

Thanks,
hypotenuse
29 replies
xHypotenuse
Apr 3, 2025
InftyByond
Apr 8, 2025
Question about USAMO, self esteem, and college
G H J
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#1 • 14 Y
Y by Pengu14, Alex-131, miguel00, Skillfulcotton, Maximilian113, scannose, steven0531, Countmath1, Danielzh, pingpongmerrily, cubres, Exponent11, rayford, aidan0626
Hello everyone. I know this question may sound ridiculous/neagtive but I really want to know how the rest of the community thinks on this issue. Please excuse this yap session and feel free to ignore this post if it doesn't make sense, I don't think I really have a sane mind these days and something has gotten into my head.

I want your advice on what I should do in this situation. It has been my dream to make usamo since ~second semester of 9th grade and I started grinding from that time on. Last year, I qualified for the aime and got a 5. This year I really wanted to qualify for the olympiad and studied really hard. I spent my entire summer working on counting and probability, the subject I suck at the most. And yet, on amc 12, I fumbled hard. I usually mocked ~120-130s on amc 10s but on amc 12 this year, I got really mediocre scores ~100. So I had no chance of making usamo.

So during winter of 2024-2025 I kinda gave up on aime studying and I was like "hey, if I can't get into usamo, maybe ill qualify for usapho." Since I was pretty good at physics at that time. So I spended my winter hard grinding for f=ma and guess what? The test had stupid and ridiculous questions and I only got an 11. What really sucks is that even with the stupid amount of cheaters in f=ma, if I changed all of my "D" guesses to "C," then I would have qualified. Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.

And also since I didn't study for aime, I ended up being super rusty and so I only got a 7. Solved 9 tho. (I usually can consistently solve 10+ on aimes).

And now here's my senior year and ofc I want to apply to a prestigious college. But it feels stupid that I don't have any usamo or usapho titles like the people I know do. I think I will have good essays primarily due to a varied amount of life experiences but like, I don't feel like I will contribute much to the college without being some prestigious olympiad qualifier. So this led to me having a self esteem issue.

This also led me to the question: should I study one last year so that I can get into usamo in my senior year, or is there no point? Since like, colleges don't care about whatever the hell you do in your senior year, and also, it seems just 'weird' to be grinding math contests while the rest of the people from my school are playing around, etc. So this time around I've really been having an internal crisis between my self esteem (since getting into usamo will raise my self esteem a lot) and college/senior choices.

I know this may seem like a dumb question to some and you are free to completely ignore the post. That's fine. I just really want advice for what I should do in this situation and it would really help bring my life quality up

Thanks,
hypotenuse
Z K Y
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NoSignOfTheta
1717 posts
#2 • 8 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, elasticwealth, balllightning37, cubres, ryanbear, Exponent11, K124659, Ruegerbyrd
Always guess C.
Z K Y
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elasticwealth
335 posts
#3 • 3 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres, Ruegerbyrd
I am sure a lot of people on this forum will say “try to make usamo in senior year as a personal goal/achievement”. I disagree. Do what makes you happy in your senior year. Have some fun!
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youlost_thegame_1434
35 posts
#4 • 2 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres
Post #1

What confuses me here is if your dream is to make USAMO or to go to a good college. Obviously, if your dream is to make USAMO, go for it! You will have absolutely nothing else to do in the second semester of your senior year. If your dream is to go to a prestigious college, then there's really no point in making the USAMO next year. It obviously will not help you on college applications, and it doesn't carry too much prestige later in life.

I also don't understand why you are having a 'crisis' about college. At this point, there's probably very little you can do to improve your application, so you should be focusing on perfecting your essays and getting good letters of recommendation instead of worrying.

Lastly, not everyone who gets into an amazing college has a great achievement in a prestigious olympiad. For instance, approximately 1000 people qualify for the USA(J)MO or the USAPHO every year, whereas the number of people who enter Physics or Math majors at prestigious institutions easily exceeds this number.
Z K Y
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miguel00
592 posts
#5 • 2 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres
xHypotenuse, I can somewhat relate, although I could not imagine how sad you would feel since this is your 11th grade year. This was basically me last year, hopeless and crushed. Last year, I failed to qualify for anything that I hoped to make, whether it be math camps or olympiads. I think what brought me success this year is because I learned to enjoy the process. I started math back up as a hobby not an occupation. While this may not apply to you now as a rising senior, I think what made all the difference is not putting too much pressure on myself. Enjoy your life. Cherish the moments that you spend doing something that you truly like. At the end of the day, I think it is passion that matters. If intense, insatiable passion is shown in your essays, I think the admission office will likely pick you. So just try to enjoy what you are doing and take a step back and ask yourself: "Will my college-graduate self really care about competitions or awards I got during my high schools years?"

What matters is the future and future is at your doorstep.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by miguel00, Apr 3, 2025, 2:39 AM
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#6 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
youlost_thegame_1434 wrote:
Post #1

What confuses me here is if your dream is to make USAMO or to go to a good college. Obviously, if your dream is to make USAMO, go for it! You will have absolutely nothing else to do in the second semester of your senior year. If your dream is to go to a prestigious college, then there's really no point in making the USAMO next year. It obviously will not help you on college applications, and it doesn't carry too much prestige later in life.

I also don't understand why you are having a 'crisis' about college. At this point, there's probably very little you can do to improve your application, so you should be focusing on perfecting your essays and getting good letters of recommendation instead of worrying.

Lastly, not everyone who gets into an amazing college has a great achievement in a prestigious olympiad. For instance, approximately 1000 people qualify for the USA(J)MO or the USAPHO every year, whereas the number of people who enter Physics or Math majors at prestigious institutions easily exceeds this number.

I get what you mean but the dilemma I'm getting is more complex than that...like I would feel disappointed if I don't have usamo qual and still get into like a good college, idk. And even if I don't get into a good college, that's fine with me I just really want to become an olympiad qual of some sort to gain self respect/confidence...not really sure how I feel about both right now. Just pondering about the future

I know I can get into a good college if I try hard...I am definitely working on writing good essays and I've built a lot of good relationships with teachers and mentors. Just that I feel disappointed that I won't be able to show only qual or anything likeat in my college apps. I am trying to major in math btw (thinking applied math because more computational focus. and also since I do really love math inherently).
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by xHypotenuse, Apr 3, 2025, 3:09 AM
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#7 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
NoSignOfTheta wrote:
Always guess C.

REAL
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giratina3
494 posts
#8 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
If it’s something that you want to do so you can say that you qualified for an Olympiad to your friends in the future, then do it. Otherwise, you probably won’t be able to write it on your college app because of timing issues, so it won’t help you get into college. I know a senior who told me, “Bro, why not do it? It’s the last AMC I’m ever going to take. I can’t miss the last AMC I’ll ever be able to take for the rest of my life!”
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by giratina3, Apr 3, 2025, 3:26 AM
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deduck
204 posts
#9 • 2 Y
Y by KevinYang2.71, cubres
@op i have the same situation, also rising senior and missed usamo. i am grinding for olympiads because i want to but personally i dont think there is anything wrong if u just want to take senior year chilling, usamo doesnt matter that much anyways
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Countmath1
180 posts
#11 • 2 Y
Y by cubres, rayford
dorothykim123 wrote:
Hey bud. Quit whining and get to work on something! You typed up an essay full of a bunch of "yap" (no offense here) thinking you're asking a real question, but this really came off as a massive rant. Who are you to be crying about guessing D instead of C and blaming the god of fortune for not qualifying for USAPhO?
Idiot101 wrote:
Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.
(Do you understand how incredibly stupid this sounds?)

Sorry, but for me, this post seemed like you were looking for some sort of validation from the readers of this forum. Either way, neither achievement (AMO/USAPhO) was going to move the needle on your college app much anyway, assuming you have considerable achievements otherwise. If not, you were screwed from the beginning anyway.

Really, you're asking: should I make AMO or not? To answer that realistically, nobody even remotely cares. Hope this helped.

Thanks,
Dorothy Kim (Associate Director of Admissions @ Brandeis)

Wow hey there! I'm a senior and I got into Brandeis RD with a generous scholarship. I love the school so much (fantastic STEM) and everyone reading this should apply when the time comes :)

On another note, @op do what you love. I got a 13 AIME + USAMO and got rejected by MIT, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, and Amherst, while another (very capable) person from my school got into MIT although he doesn't know what a modular congruence is. The truth is that awards really cap off an application, and colleges really care about genuine interest (plus how you fit into the class they're trying to craft).
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Skillfulcotton
191 posts
#12 • 2 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres
You should study for USAMO or USAPHO qual if you enjoy it, if it makes you feel bad don't. Just don't get discouraged with whatever you do. The decision you make to grind won't make a difference to your future. It doesn't help your admissions, but that's not the reason you should or shouldn't do comp math. There are other things you could be doing your senior year rather than putting in time for an oly qual. However, I would say grind for it to get the satisfaction of at least making it once and having the effort pay off or at least knowing that you tried. Just don't spend every second of free time you have on it. It might seem pointless grinding for something that won't make a difference, but then there's no point to anything. It's hard, but that's okay. Don't overstress yourself over this, and just do what your gut feeling tells you. Just enjoy your year and do what makes you feel best :D :).
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Skillfulcotton, Apr 3, 2025, 5:20 AM
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awesomeming327.
1699 posts
#13 • 5 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres, Exponent11, llddmmtt1, scannose
Quote:
Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.
That's so unfortunate! I solved 3 actually and guessed the rest. I ended up with a 14/25!
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rhydon516
550 posts
#14 • 2 Y
Y by xHypotenuse, cubres
ragebait used to be believable :(
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#15 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
Skillfulcotton wrote:
You should study for USAMO or USAPHO qual if you enjoy it, if it makes you feel bad don't. Just don't get discouraged with whatever you do. The decision you make to grind won't make a difference to your future. It doesn't help your admissions, but that's not the reason you should or shouldn't do comp math. There are other things you could be doing your senior year rather than putting in time for an oly qual. However, I would say grind for it to get the satisfaction of at least making it once and having the effort pay off or at least knowing that you tried. Just don't spend every second of free time you have on it. It might seem pointless grinding for something that won't make a difference, but then there's no point to anything. It's hard, but that's okay. Don't overstress yourself over this, and just do what your gut feeling tells you. Just enjoy your year and do what makes you feel best :D :).

I definitely want to, I realize that my usamo goal is for my personal satisfaction anyways

But yes I think my mind is a bit more cleared up now, I’d still grind for oly qual regardless of college decisions
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by xHypotenuse, Apr 3, 2025, 6:35 AM
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#16 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
awesomeming327. wrote:
Quote:
Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.
That's so unfortunate! I solved 3 actually and guessed the rest. I ended up with a 14/25!

Noooo :(
So unfortunate
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Inaaya
293 posts
#17 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
If you want to you can, there's nothing stopping or forcing you to
Try to do what you love and have fun doing it
Best of luck in college admissions!
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awesomeming327.
1699 posts
#18
Y by
xHypotenuse wrote:
awesomeming327. wrote:
Quote:
Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.
That's so unfortunate! I solved 3 actually and guessed the rest. I ended up with a 14/25!

Noooo :(
So unfortunate

List of topics I went into the test knowing
- Kinematics
- Electrostatics
- Circuits
- Magnetism

That’s it
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#19
Y by
Only kinematics is wild
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rayford
443 posts
#20
Y by
awesomeming327. wrote:
xHypotenuse wrote:
awesomeming327. wrote:
That's so unfortunate! I solved 3 actually and guessed the rest. I ended up with a 14/25!

Noooo :(
So unfortunate

List of topics I went into the test knowing
- Kinematics
- Electrostatics
- Circuits
- Magnetism

That’s it

thats wild i should have taken it xd
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hashbrown2009
182 posts
#21
Y by
I mean...
do you really WANT to do USAMO in your senior year?
It's your last year for high school and I believe admissions are already sent by then

Just do what you want. It's your senior year, you should probably enjoy yourself.
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qwerty123456asdfgzxcvb
1084 posts
#22
Y by
hashbrown2009 wrote:
I mean...
do you really WANT to do USAMO in your senior year?
It's your last year for high school and I believe admissions are already sent by then

Just do what you want. It's your senior year, you should probably enjoy yourself.

math is fun
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arfekete
254 posts
#23 • 1 Y
Y by xHypotenuse
Go for it! I am a current senior. I was in the same situation last year, studied and made USAMO this year, and it worked out. If you do Regular Decision, you can update colleges by emailing them or uploading them to their portal. I didn't make USAMO until senior year, but I updated my colleges and I got into Yale (with no other crazy Extracurriculars or oly). It is definitely still worth going for USAMO. If you don't want to do RD, you can still use your AMC and AIME scores themselves.

Also, for self esteem, senior year USAMO quals can still get medals :), and it's always nice to have a goal.
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#24
Y by
arfekete wrote:
Go for it! I am a current senior. I was in the same situation last year, studied and made USAMO this year, and it worked out. If you do Regular Decision, you can update colleges by emailing them or uploading them to their portal. I didn't make USAMO until senior year, but I updated my colleges and I got into Yale (with no other crazy Extracurriculars or oly). It is definitely still worth going for USAMO. If you don't want to do RD, you can still use your AMC and AIME scores themselves.

Also, for self esteem, senior year USAMO quals can still get medals :), and it's always nice to have a goal.

That's a really nice side bonus
Also just a quick question, how did you manage the USAMO grind while also balancing college apps in general?
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InftyByond
205 posts
#25
Y by
qwerty123456asdfgzxcvb wrote:
hashbrown2009 wrote:
I mean...
do you really WANT to do USAMO in your senior year?
It's your last year for high school and I believe admissions are already sent by then

Just do what you want. It's your senior year, you should probably enjoy yourself.

math is fun

circumrectangular hyperbola moment:
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Countmath1
180 posts
#26
Y by
xHypotenuse wrote:
arfekete wrote:
Go for it! I am a current senior. I was in the same situation last year, studied and made USAMO this year, and it worked out. If you do Regular Decision, you can update colleges by emailing them or uploading them to their portal. I didn't make USAMO until senior year, but I updated my colleges and I got into Yale (with no other crazy Extracurriculars or oly). It is definitely still worth going for USAMO. If you don't want to do RD, you can still use your AMC and AIME scores themselves.

Also, for self esteem, senior year USAMO quals can still get medals :), and it's always nice to have a goal.

That's a really nice side bonus
Also just a quick question, how did you manage the USAMO grind while also balancing college apps in general?

Hijacking this-- it's not too difficult if you start your apps early. I had a personal statement done by July and most of my essays done by September. I had plenty of time to grind and get a 13 AIME when the time came.

Then again I got fried by college apps so i'm not the best person to ask here.
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anticodon
143 posts
#27
Y by
you should probably grind one last year. That's what I'd do. You'll regret it if you look back at age 50 and see that missed chance...at least if you try, you'll know

You said that senior year is characterized by "playing around" (well, not really, but yk what I mean). Does playing around really help you prepare for college? I mean, one year of playing around is enough for you to be shocked by the wave of work in freshman year of college, especially if you're in a ivy league college
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cowstalker
286 posts
#28
Y by
na ur concerns are valid. that's the thing about competitions, they are a hit or miss. this gets even more exxaggerated as you get into later stages like making mop or something which requires even more luck. I would reccomend doing something your passionate about because I really don't think you have been doing olympiads cause u like them but rather for colleges which will not go anywhere.
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Acumlus
17 posts
#29
Y by
dont put the fries in the bag, u can do great things
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xHypotenuse
774 posts
#30
Y by
cowstalker wrote:
na ur concerns are valid. that's the thing about competitions, they are a hit or miss. this gets even more exxaggerated as you get into later stages like making mop or something which requires even more luck. I would reccomend doing something your passionate about because I really don't think you have been doing olympiads cause u like them but rather for colleges which will not go anywhere.

I do olympiads because I like winning and feeling better about myself (college is a side quest) but I'm most passionate about learning new math concepts/strategies so that I can solve new problems. (Just yesterday I picked up complex plane geo and I found it really interesting) So in that sense olys could be a side quest as well, not sure yet tho
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by xHypotenuse, Apr 8, 2025, 6:35 PM
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InftyByond
205 posts
#31
Y by
post more on hso and do more alg and nt
(geo is banned and combo is BANNED)
(unless you like geo or combo bombo then just do geo geo geo combo combo)
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by InftyByond, Apr 8, 2025, 7:08 PM
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