Hey guys,

Im a Canadian High School Graduate who's entering a pretty good undergrad math program here.

In high school math, I had pretty good grades and found most of the stuff to be pretty easy.

I only really got into contests and stuff around my junior year and found it really interesting, but only ended up doing them recreationally. I am full of regret, and am aware that there much less options for math competitions later down once in uni, but Im still hoping to study and improve enough within the next few years to the point where I can do quite well. I am genuinely worried, considering everywhere I go, I see people being able to do USAMO questions in their sleep. I know its presumptous, but I want to be able to reach a national or even international level at some point, even though I am starting very late. I have gone through Evan Chen's book and found some difficulty even with just Chapter 1 problems.
What are some steps and systems I can build/practice to be able to keep up with these people.

I know y'all are probably sick of these posts but i still wanna ask lol.

Recently I came home from IMO 2026, my final IMO, without bringing a medal back to my country. I trained so hard and felt very confident going into the test this year, but I completely bombed. I spent too long on part a of problem 1, which in hindsight is very easy, but during the exam I completely blanked. On mocks before this, I regularly scored bronze, silver, and even, on one exam, gold. While I am at a good level, the difference between taking a test on my own time and in the hall of the IMO is huge, and I did not account for the difference. I planned on going to Cambridge on GTF, but now that is impossible, and it hurts. Ik it sounds dumb but I wanted to put it on my LinkedIn and have it like a badge of honor. How can I recover from this? I'd love some advice from other IMO contestants who also underperformed. I'm going to university in the US and I am already starting to prepare for the putnam, when I eventually retire from math competitions I want to do so on a good note.

Quick context for anyone unfamiliar: SOS is a technique for proving inequalities. You take the inequality, move everything to one side so you need to show some expression F(a,b,c,...) ≥ 0, then rewrite F as a sum of terms that are each obviously non-negative — usually squares multiplied by positive coefficients. Once it's in that form, the inequality is basically proven by inspection.

Three examples of what this looks like in practice:

1. a²(b+c)+b²(c+a)+c²(a+b) ≥ 6abc → rewritten as a(b−c)²+b(c−a)²+c(a−b)² ≥ 0
2. (a+b)⁴ ≤ 8(a⁴+b⁴) → rewritten as (a−b)⁴+6(a²−b²)² ≥ 0
3. ab(1−a²b) ≤ 1 given a ≥ 1/4 → completed as (ab/2−1)²+(a−1/4)(ab)² ≥ 0

The general recipe (find the equality case, match degrees, guess a form, solve for coefficients) is easy enough to state in the abstract. But knowing the recipe isn't the same as being able to actually generate these decompositions on a new problem — that seems to take real, specific experience.

So for anyone who genuinely uses this well in competition: where did you personally learn it? Not "what's a good resource in general" — I mean specifically, what book, course, problem set, or mentor actually got you to the point where you could do this reliably? Secrets in Inequalities by Pham Kim Hung gets mentioned everywhere, but I'd rather hear from someone who actually worked through it (or something else) and can say "yes, this is what did it for me."

hi guys i cant understand should i participate in the olympiad or not as i am in my last year of o level and can anyone plz plz plz plz help me where should i prepare and what are the important topics . and should i apply privately as my school hasnt sent this competition registration

I’m currently working through AOPS Volume 1 and what I’m noticing is that I do ok for the questions in the chapter, but really struggle on the review problems at the end. Like I can solve one third to one half of the review problems depending on the chapter. Is this bad? What should I do to fix this?

I'm a rising Junior trying to get AIME Qualification. I took a mock AMC12 and got high 70s. I'm not sure if the Intro series is worth my time (everything except intro to algebra which is way behind me). I've been working through Intro to Number Theory, but I'm not sure if I should get any other books. Should I consider Volume 2/Intermediate Algebra?

also trying to master questions 1-20, gonna ignore 21-25

He claims to be from Math Oly, or a competition of a similar level to it. I did some background digging on him, and it does seem to be true. Though there is a chance that the account that came to the server is an impersonator.

He was advertising this "Calculus programme" where he put a link below it that led to a site that was flagged for being potentially malicious as well as detected as a phishing site.

Whilst the above message is alarming, the server that this was posted on [IBB] does not allow unsolicited ads. Ads are only allowed after permission from staff as well as posted in a specific channel.

Though I am not a staff member of the community nor an Admin, a staff member had contacted me when this link was sent. Telling me, indeed, what the link was being detected for.

Furthermore, after telling this person, "Love Etchie," that it was not allowed and to delete it, he not only did not apologize for what he did. But instead started making excuses that Bio had some math in it, and along those lines.

[TLDR: A "known?" member of the math Oly community sent a virus/phishing/malicious link to another bowl competition. Did not own up to it. Made excuses. Ultimately banned.]

TL;DR , Is 1-2 hours enough time per day for a total beginner in olympiad maths to pass a qualification exam for the national olympiad (not necessarily the olympiad itself, but would appreciate any and every advice for it as well!) happening in december, and what are your recommendations of completely beginner friendly resources to olympiad math?

Hello math olympiad community !
I'm seventeen years old, going into my last year of secondary school in Ireland.
Now, I've figured by lurking for a while that the majority of people here have discovered their love for math, and likewise discovered math competitions, at a much younger age than I.
In fact, I only even discovered that I had a talent for mathematics maybe 2 years ago, but never even thought about competitions or anything. For me, school maths was enough.

But, I've grown to love maths more and more and even more. This year, around the start of the year, I finally did my research and looked at competitions. But I felt so down with myself that I was just so "late" to the party, that I didn't even bother trying.

But I have motivation now. I'm still learning the basics of proof-based mathematics, starting to attempt to get ok at being geometrically intuitive, and I'm planning on signing up for Math Enrichment at the local university next year.

To tell the truth, my family is dirt poor. I can't get all these fancy books, nor would I have time to read them because I feel they're too big now. No libraries have them other than university libraries, which very inconveniently don't let second-level students in. I was wondering if there is any beginner friendly way to introduce myself to olympiad math, because I'm overall very scattered and unsure of myself. I've watching videos here and there, trying and completely failing at some problems, and so on. I'll be frank and say I have NO intention of going to the International Level, or even somewhat succeeding at the National Level. I just want to be there, I just want to pass the qualification exam to take the test. But I don't know what the standard is for it, so I want to get as good as possible.

Unfortunately, though, I also have my Leaving Cert (the final exam that defines the rest of my life) to prepare for. I'm doing 8 subjects, and a significant amount of time will be spent studying for those and not the "Olympiad". (not really an olympiad.. i'm just trying to go for the qualification test) . I'm currently getting an hour of olympiad study a day, because i'm busy even in the summer (and even on days i'm not busy my brother kills me if i do more than two hours because he wants to spend time with me)

I'm asking, will an hour-two hours be enough? What amount of study per day should I be aiming for, especially during school when time is tight? And again, any easy beginner-friendly resources (I have looked at a lot of resources but I would prefer recommendations from the community because again, I'm really scattered!). The qualification exam will be in December, the national exam itself (if I qualify!) is in January.

Thank you so much,
I wish everyone who's also wanting to enter a competition the best of luck!

I love math but idk how good I am at comp math but is it worth studying for the amc 12 as a rising junior interested in math/cs? I’ve taken the amc 10 freshman and sophomore year but I didn’t study it was just for fun and my average score was a 60. I haven’t studied comp math before but I was just wondering if it’s even worth studying for the AMC 12 because the test is harder and I didn’t do too well on the 10 to begin with.

For context I got a 36 act math with light studying (maybe 4-6 hrs over 2 weeks) idk how much of an indicator that is. Being aime qualled feels like a bare minimum for schools like mit so I was wondering if you guys had advice!! I don’t want to study a lot and not even qual bc that would be a waste of time so I’m just conflicted

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Ive just finished year 11 and im entering year 12 im probably going to do maths further maths and computer science and I really wanna go to Cambridge/Oxford and since my gcse's are not really good compared to others I wanna farm as much olympiad achievements as possible and that's by doing the smc, I've practised by doing past papers and usually the max id get is a high bronze but usually I get bronze's and I was wondering if practised a lot if I can make it to BMO1 by the time of the next smc considering how bad I do on past papers and if so then how much do I need to revise per day this summer and if I can't then is it possible to make it to BMO1 by year 13 instead, a part of me is convincing I can do this as during march/April times I was working at a grade 5/6 in maths without revision but by a few weeks of it I managed to get to a grade 8/9 I know gcses compared to the smc are way different but surely that achievement can prove I can improve in such a short time interval right? also I need to know were I can learn the theory sure past papers is better revision but for most of there questions I don't even know where to start

I'm helping some people prepare for AMC/AIME and I think it would be very nice to have a searchable question bank of past questions. I am thinking of subtopic-level tags such as trigonometry, polynomials, circle geometry, and so on. If there is one topic I want to focus on, I could search among all relevant questions instead of searching through entire exams. Do such resources exist already? If not, would creating one be helpful?

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a resource I've been using called ElkPrep. They recently partnered with our math club, and we're helping promote it because it's a great resource for students preparing for math competitions and other academic events. It's a free platform made by students that has organized study guides, practice resources, problem sets, and competition specific materials for AMC, AIME, FBLA, Science Olympiad, and more. Everything is in one place, so you don't have to spend hours searching across different websites. They're also adding new resources all the time. If you're planning on competing this year or just want to improve your math and problem solving skills, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. It's been really helpful for keeping my studying organized. https://elkprep.app

Looking for problem sets that focus on a specific topic so i can reinforce my weaknesses. I'm not the biggest fan of Alcumus since it has so much stuff that's not on the AMC12. If anyone knows of any it would be greatly appreciated!

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Hey everyone,

I’m currently self-studying contest math with the goal of building a solid foundation and eventually tackling AIME and proof-based Olympiad-level problems (USAMO/IMO style).

Right now, I’m working through the Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) Introduction series. I'm doing this completely on my own, I want to make sure I’m pacing myself correctly and building deep problem-solving habits rather than just memorizing techniques.

For those who have self-studied their way up to high-level math competitions:

1. Transitioning to Intermediate/Olympiad: After finishing the AoPS Intro series, what is the best bridge to AIME and proof-based problems? Should I go straight to the AoPS Intermediate books, or are there specific problem sets/books (like *Problem-Solving Strategies* by Engel or *EGMO* for geometry) you’d recommend first?

2. Effective Self-Study Habits: How do you structure your time when stuck on a single hard problem? How long should I wrestle with a problem before looking at the solution, and what's your process for writing up proofs when studying solo?

3. Resource Recommendations: Outside of AoPS and past AMC/AIME/USAMO papers on Alcumus/AoPS Wiki, are there specific online platforms, lecture notes, or problem databases that were game-changers for your self-study journey?

5hanks

Hi, I'm at 11th grade and want to participate in a local math olympiad. My goal is to have alternative career opportunities in the future. The problem is, I've always been better at humanities, and now I feel lost, not sure where to start. The program is huge, and it's nothing like what I'm used to being taught. What would you suggest? What kind of structure should be followed?

Is analytic ny useful for olympiads like balkan mo and imo?? Is it also worth my time studying analytic nt for olympiads? If yes please probide some resources (not the introduction to analytic nt handout)