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Author Topic: Good advice for State/National Competititons  (Read 2537 times)

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Good advice for State/National Competititons
« on: March 06, 2018, 11:39:38 AM »

Sprint:

Sprint was always my favorite round. At nationals, I missed two Targets but still managed to get into the Countdown because of my sprint score (it's also the first tie-breaker). So Sprint is important.

In the actual competition, I didn't follow any of the weird "start at the end" or "skip questions you can't get right away" strategies. I just blazed right through them. I guess part of this was based on my ability; I could do all of the problems (except maybe 1 or 2), it was just about how much time I spent on them. I found it most useful to finish all of the problems I started, unless I really was stuck, which didn't happen much. Anyway, my advice (assuming you get 20+ in practices) is to just go in order. The last ones are the hard ones, and they usually take longer, but all of the problems are worth the same amount, so it's best to make sure you do the easy ones.

At State, the biggest thing I can say about Sprint is to use the problem number to your advantage. If it's a #7, and the best you can come up with is like 20 separate cases, there's probably an easier way. This is also true only slightly of Team, and not at all of Target. On Sprint, the first few should get you warmed up, and I would expect to get half way in around 1/3 the total time.

To prepare, I would just find a hundred or so Sprint problems and work through them all in one or two sittings. Just doing problem after problem after problem helps you for Sprint.

Target:

Target has always been my worst round, except at Regionals. The key with Target is to get an answer quickly, and then check it in every way you know. I always solved both problems (or at least got an answer) and then went back and checked them. Occasionally, I checked the first before moving on, but you're right the first time a lot.

Make sure to read the problems at least twice and remember all of the little tricks they like to throw in, like converting square inches to square feet (x144), and anything else they might come up with.

To be honest, I don't know how to prepare for Target without just doing old tests.

That's all I can think of right now. Confidence is a great booster too, almost as much as sugar and caffeine.

No, I'm serious - lots of sugar helps you think faster. But that's coming from someone who never gets stressed, so it might be different for you. But I always had a pop or two and any donuts they had before the contests.

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Re: Good advice for State/National Competititons
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2018, 11:39:56 AM »

As for MathCounts advice, where do I begin. First, and perhaps most importantly, you must remember that MathCounts is just a competition, and there are more important things in the world. Also, while it's definitely nice to win or place highly at Nationals, the AMCs are *more* (loosely used term here) important.

Memorization is important, but how you apply your memorization is more important. For example, perhaps you know the binomial theorem. But do you know why it works exactly the way it does? Same logic goes for most every theorem or formula you memorize.

Avoiding careless mistakes is a very personal issue and difficult to deal with. Everybody has different things that cause them to make mistakes, and I suppose somehow identifying the situations in which you are prone to making mistakes is the best first step toward reducing the number of these mistakes you make. It's very difficult not to make careless errors; I personally never managed to get 8/8 on the Target Round at either State or Nationals in either of my years.

Finally, preparation in general consists of doing lots of problems. I remember doing every State and Nationals round in MathCounts history, as well as every Warmup, and Workout. However, simply doing 10,000 problems is not a guaranteed formula for success. Even if you get 29/30 on a sprint round, it's extremely important that you focus on the problem you missed, and understand exactly why you weren't able to solve it (didn't know a formula, didn't see a different approach, made a careless error, etc.). In fact, even if you get 30/30 or 46/46, unless you know you solved every problem in the fastest and most efficient possible way, you still have room to improve.

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Re: Good advice for State/National Competititons
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2018, 01:09:09 PM »

(Not that good advice for many kids. haha ---Yongcheng)


Heh, it's just last minute cramming. Here's a breakdown of how I studied.


Before Chapter: 2 hours a week or so. Maybe five or so Nationals/State sprint rounds.

Between Chapter and States: Yay. I won chapter, I can rest up. Maybe two sprints and a target a week.

Six weeks after States: omg I won states! I'm gonna slack off and play World of Warcraft and goof off with friends.

Two weeks before Nationals: Aaaah, Nationals is coming. Major cram session. Three hours or so a day.

One week before Nationals: hmm I think I'm ready.

Four days before Nationals: I'm talking with Ignite through AIM and I realize that I'm still pretty awful at Countdown. Major, major, MAJOR cram session ensues.

Three days before Nationals: Major, major, MAJOR cram session. First day I do 13 hours, second day I do around 20, and the last day I do about 12 hours. I get a good night's sleep the day before I get on the plane. I skipped school for three days and I drank every can of soda in the house. A six-pack of root beer, a case of cola, 45 hours of studying, and quite a bit of talking with DarkKnight, Klebian, and Ignite later, I'm fairly ready for Nationals.

Note that by Nationals I mean Thursday, not the test itself. Again, congrats to everybody who did well.


btw Tommy, I got ten hours of sleep in the three days before the competition :p



No, I remember getting up at 3:30 AM to visit the restroom and realizing how close Nationals was... I also remember staying up until 3-ish the day I studied 20 hours because I went to sleep right after Ignite (I was talking with him through AIM) did...

Yes I did skip school for three days.

Either way, this strategy worked for me, so maybe you 7th graders should follow this last-minute cramming advice


If you really want to win, I recommend you do NOT follow my strategy (unless you have a lot of Mountain Dew and even more experience with this sort of cramming). I recommend at least two hours a day starting from even before Chapter. In my opinion, cram studying (studying three days or less before the competition) is about 40% more effective than normal studying, however, I wouldn't count on it.