Skip to main content

Are Olympiads that important?

Hey everyone! This is probably not the best post I have written but I thought something is better than nothing :P. So everyone who is in the Olympiad community have seen blogposts of pro-people describing how they qualified some fancy Olympiads.  But very few people talk about sad stuff.

And yes INMO is now officially 2 weeks away..
Let me talk about a few things though:

  • EGMO TSTs: I feel very ashamed to share but I got 1 mark in my EGMO TSTs. Tests in which I literally gave my whole life. I did so many ISLs ( like SO MANY), I mocked EGMO 2020 TST where my score was 28/42 and I perfected Day 2. 1 mark in the TST just showed my true potential. There are way better people than me in olys. A friend even said to me, "If I wouldn't have got into the team, I would have left math". I felt my whole hard work wasted. I have realised that hard work to some extent helps you in Olys but in the end, you really have to be smart( Not dumb like me). 
    My mental state after EGMO TSTs was horrible. I really left olympiad math, didn't do any problem on my own and had this negative vibe. I am so lucky to have my parents to support me :D.. 

    But then I thought about the grade 5 Sunaina, who literally thought that she can not even get state rank 1 in her state MO. Even 10th Sunaina didn't expect to qualify INMO.  Making the EGMO team was my dream, but honestly, I wanted to make the team just to make new friends. To talk with similar brilliant young Indian females. But thanks to sophie fellowship, OTIS and AoPS, making EGMO wasn't needed anymore.

    Yes representing your country is such a big deal, but honestly, I think it's better to not try Olys in 12 anymore. Quite a big decision, but yes. Does the mean no more oly blogpost? Definitely not. But the problems will simply be my tastes :P

    Am I sure? Yep! I have already talked with my friends, my parents and currently talking with you all. Who else should I tell? :P

    What will you do then? Spend my last year of high school at school, do my internship, explore new math, skincare, expand my math club called philomath club and most importantly be stress-free. 

    A small piece of advice to other fellow aspirants: Just make sure to enjoy Olympiads but please don't bunk school. Don't. Schools are important and simply enjoy life :D..
    And at least if you writing TSTs, getting a bad score is still fine! You learn from it, right?

    I am not leaving Olys because of my bad TST score but just to explore more math. Like, learn Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra, etc. Very Fancy. But something I definitely enjoy more now.

  • This year's INMO: It doesn't matter to me. I really don't care about the outcome, 'cause I have already decided to study in CMI( for which I can try the entrance exam itself). Hehehehe.. 
    And I am a 1-time INMO awardee, so doesn't matter much to me, I cleared the exam once, so I must be good ( nah I was lucky cause I did P1) :triumph:

    And I am fine with not qualifying cause I don't care about EGMO/IMO now :D.. Plus in the math community, I feel a bit old now ( hahahaha :P)

    Plus I haven't really worked hard this year and I feel other people have really worked hard. So idk :(

  • Are Olympiads really that important? For me it was. Before I discovered my love for mathematics. Monsoon Math camp was such an amazing program!!

    When I was in 10th grade and even before EGMO TSTs, my plan was like:
    Wake up, solve problems, eat, solve problems, eat, evening nap, problems, eat, problems, exercise, sleep.
    Don't worry, now I don't :P.. Now I am like wake up, try sharygin, eat, sleep
    I haven't even started the INMO revise prep.

    My main motivation in 10th grade was to get into IMOTC and meet Anushka didi. She is my Idol. ( guess what? SHE KNOWS THAT I EXISTS NOW)

    Currently, Olympiads doesn't matter to me? I think for most people, even though the problems are fun to solve but I think the social factor of Olympiads does create an impact on motivation. Plus I feel a lot of people now know me through my blog!

    But do give Olys a try! At the start, it might seem difficult, but I assure you, if me being dumb qualified it, you can definitely make IMOTC :P

How is my INMO preparation going?
Honestly, I am not preparing at all, just doing sharygin and then I have finals, I will revise some units and that is it. 


What's next then?
KVPY fellow people. And I am sure of it.

Oh btw please try for Sophie Fellowship! Extremely nice program ( but quite competitive). The team consists of students who have previously participated in the IMO, EGMO and the classes are just so good! I was selected for the first season! And I think they will open the second season's application soon!

Another reason for me leaving Olys is definitely my grade. Since I will be in 12th grade soon, I have to focus on my school exams, prepare for KVPY, etc etc..So please start Olys as soon as possible!

I haven't thought much now, but I would definitely love to teach students!

Summary: Life is a roller coaster guys, just simply work hard. Olympiads are great but make sure not to take stress, simply enjoy it. Everything will be nice :D

Take mental breaks and even though you are doing olympiads, make sure to give NTSE, KVPY, etc. Because these Olympiads are just so luck-based.

Moreover, don't leave Olympiads because of bad scores or something. Leave if you have found out something more interisting. For me, it's reading advanced math textbooks! 

P.S. I am leaving Olys doesn't imply I won't be doing any problems. In fact, I will still devote 1 or 2hrs to them, it's just now, I won't do much Algebra :P or boring problems :P. Simply Enjoy!! 

Enjoy math fellow people
Sunaina💜

Comments

  1. Mayukh Chowdhury February 22, 2022 at 2:19 PM

    IMO , this IS probably among the best posts, the beginning was so sad and emotional 😢.Gl for KVPY

    ReplyDelete
  2. AntareepFebruary 27, 2022 at 3:21 PM

    So sad!I just got to know someone who does olympiads.Bye then GL for KVPY

    ReplyDelete
  3. FarazMarch 12, 2022 at 8:34 AM

    Olympiads sparked my interest and I am grateful but in no way I feel they're important. I've met so many High School researchers who had multiple papers published but had no olympiads.Olympiads don't matter in the long run but our interest for STEM does. But they are the most common way for a high school student to embark on their problem solving journey.

    Best,
    Faraz.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My experiences at EGMO, IMOTC and PROMYS experience

Yes, I know. This post should have been posted like 2 months ago. Okay okay, sorry. But yeah, I was just waiting for everything to be over and I was lazy. ( sorry ) You know, the transitioning period from high school to college is very weird. I will join CMI( Chennai Mathematical  Institue) for bsc maths and cs degree. And I am very scared. Like very very scared. No, not about making new friends and all. I don't care about that part because I know a decent amount of CMI people already.  What I am scared of is whether I will be able to handle the coursework and get good grades T_T Anyways, here's my EGMO PDC, EGMO, IMOTC and PROMYS experience. Yes, a lot of stuff. My EGMO experience is a lot and I wrote a lot of details, IMOTC and PROMYS is just a few paras. Oh to those, who don't know me or are reading for the first time. I am Sunaina Pati. I was IND2 at EGMO 2023 which was held in Slovenia. I was also invited to the IMOTC or International Mathematical Olympiad Training Cam
27 comments
Read more

Introduction

  Hey Everyone!! This is my first Blog post. So let me give a brief introduction about myself. I am Sunaina Pati. I love solving Olympiad math problems,  learning crazy astronomical facts , playing hanabi and anti-chess, listening to Kpop , love making diagrams in Geogebra and  teaching other people maths 😊 . I love geometry , number theory and Combinatorics . I am starting this blog to keep myself a bit motivated in doing studies 😎 . Right now, I am planning to write walkthroughs on some of the best problems I tried over the week which can refer for hints 'cause solutions contain some major spoilers and one learns a lot while solving the problem on his own rather than seeing solutions . Also, there will be some reviews about Kpop songs, study techniques, my day to day lifestyles,exam reviews and ofc some non-sense surprises 😂.  I am planning to  try  posting every week on Sundays or Saturdays ( most probably) ! Though there is no guarantee about when I will post , so if you are
19 comments
Read more

How to prepare for RMO?

"Let's wait for this exam to get over".. *Proceeds to wait for 2 whole fricking years!  I always wanted to write a book recommendation list, because I have been asked so many times! But then I was always like "Let's wait for this exam to get over" and so on. Why? You see it's pretty embarrassing to write a "How to prepare for RMO/INMO" post and then proceed to "fail" i.e not qualifying.  Okay okay, you might be thinking, "Sunaina you qualified like in 10th grade itself, you will obviously qualify in 11th and 12th grade." No. It's not that easy. Plus you are talking to a very underconfident girl. I have always underestimated myself. And I think that's the worst thing one can do itself. Am I confident about myself now? Definitely not but I am learning not to self-depreciate myself little by little. Okay, I shall write more about it in the next post describing my experience in 3 different camps and 1 program.  So, I got
16 comments
Read more

INMO Scores and Results

Heya! INMO Results are out! Well, I am now a 3 times IMOTCer :D. Very excited to meet every one of you! My INMO score was exactly 26 with a distribution of 17|0|0|0|0|9, which was a fair grading cause after problem 1, I tried problem 6 next. I was hoping for some partials in problem 4 but didn't get any.  I am so so so excited to meet everyone! Can't believe my olympiad journey is going to end soon..  I thought to continue the improvement table I made last year! ( I would still have to add my EGMO performance and also IMO TST performance too) 2018-2019[ grade 8]:  Cleared PRMO, Cleared RMO[ State rank 4], Wrote INMO 2019-2020[ grade 9]:  Cleared PRMO, Cleared RMO[ State topper], Wrote INMO ( but flopped it) 2020-2021[grade 10]:  Cleared IOQM, Cleared INMO [ Through Girl's Quota] 2021-2022[grade 11]:  Wrote EGMO 2022 TST[ Rank 8], Qualified for IOQM part B directly, Cleared IOQM-B ( i.e INMO) [Through general quota],  2022-2023 [grade 12]:  Wrote EGMO 2023 TST [ Rank 2], Mad
9 comments
Read more

Reflecting on past

INMO Scores are out!! I am now a two times INMO awardee :) I got 16|0|1, so 17 in total! Yes, 16 in P1 T_T. I was thinking I would lose marks because of the way I wrote.  Lemme tell ya'll what happened that day but first I should share a few thoughts I had before the exam. My thoughts Honestly, my preparation for INMO was bad. In fact, I should say I didn't work hard at all. As I have said earlier, I had lost all my hopes for INMO and Olympiads as a whole after EGMO TSTs happened.  Art by Jelena Janic EGMO TSTs i.e European Girl's Mathematical Olympiad Team selection Tests 2022.  Literally my thoughts after EGMO TSTs I feel very ashamed to share but I got 1 mark in my EGMO TSTs. Tests in which I literally gave my whole life. I did so many ISLs ( like SO MANY), I mocked EGMO 2021 TST where my score was 28/42 and I perfected Day 2. 1 mark in the TST just showed my true potential. There are way better people than me in olys. A friend even said to me, "If I wouldn't
7 comments
Read more

Bio is Love..

Adios, everyone! Boards preparation at its peak :(  However, I am not able to study how I used to. Every time I try to study for boards, I just keep thinking much about a topic, stare at the book, jam a song or just start doing procrastination by bookmarking random cute problems in HSO. It's been more than a year I have studied like with a focus on a book. My lappy is being a big distraction tbh. So after INMO score come out, I will just give my lappy for repair and say papa to bring it back home after June 2.  Milk and Mocha I literally am taking 2 days to complete 1 bio chapter, some times even 3. The rate of my "slowness" is probably because I am like every 15 minutes checking discord to see if the INMO scores are out or not. So HBCSE, thank you for keeping me anxious.  Funfact:- we must be grateful that there is an organisation that is conducting these national Olys. There are some countries where no Olys are being conducted. ( Same dialogue which mumma uses, but in p
10 comments
Read more

Geometry ( Finally!!!)

 This is just such an unfair blog.  Like if one goes through this blog, one can notice how dominated  Algebra is!! Like 6 out of 9 blog post is Algebra dominated -_- Where as I am not a fan of Algebra, compared to other genres of Olympiad Math(as of now). And this was just injustice for Synthetic Geo. So this time , go geo!!!!!!!!!!!  These problems are randomly from A Beautiful Journey through Olympiad Geometry.  Also perhaps I will post geo after March, because I am studying combi.  Problem:  Let $ABC$ be an acute triangle where $\angle BAC = 60^{\circ}$. Prove that if the Euler’s line of $\triangle ABC$ intersects $AB$ and $AC$ at $D$ and $E$, respectively, then $\triangle ADE$ is equilateral. Solution:  Since $\angle A=60^{\circ}$ , we get $AH=2R\cos A=R=AO$. So $\angle EHA=\angle DOA.$ Also it's well known that $H$ and $O $ isogonal conjugates.$\angle OAD =\angle EAH.$ By $ASA$ congruence, we get $AE=AD.$ Hence $\triangle ADE$ is equilateral. Problem:  A convex quadrilateral $
Post a Comment
Read more

Solving Random ISLs And Sharygin Solutions! And INMO happened!!

Some of the ISLs I did before INMO :P  [2005 G3]:  Let $ABCD$ be a parallelogram. A variable line $g$ through the vertex $A$ intersects the rays $BC$ and $DC$ at the points $X$ and $Y$, respectively. Let $K$ and $L$ be the $A$-excenters of the triangles $ABX$ and $ADY$. Show that the angle $\measuredangle KCL$ is independent of the line $g$ Solution: Note that $$\Delta LDK \sim \Delta XBK$$ and $$\Delta ADY\sim \Delta XCY.$$ So we have $$\frac{BK}{DY}=\frac{XK}{LY}$$ and $$\frac{DY}{CY}=\frac{AD}{XC}=\frac{AY}{XY}.$$ Hence $$\frac{BK}{CY}=\frac{AD}{XC}\times \frac{XK}{LY}\implies \frac{BK}{BC}=\frac{CY}{XC}\times \frac{XK}{LY}=\frac{AB}{BC}\times \frac{XK}{LY} $$ $$\frac{AB}{LY}\times \frac{XK}{BK}=\frac{AB}{LY}\times \frac{LY}{DY}=\frac{AB}{DL}$$ $$\implies \Delta CBK\sim \Delta LDK$$ And we are done. We get that $$\angle KCL=360-(\angle ACB+\angle DKC+\angle BCK)=\angle DAB/2 +180-\angle DAB=180-\angle DAB/2$$ Motivation: I took a hint on this. I had other angles but I didn't r
4 comments
Read more

IMO 2023 P2

IMO 2023 P2 Well, IMO 2023 Day 1 problems are out and I thought of trying the geometry problem which was P2.  Problem: Let $ABC$ be an acute-angled triangle with $AB < AC$. Let $\Omega$ be the circumcircle of $ABC$. Let $S$ be the midpoint of the arc $CB$ of $\Omega$ containing $A$. The perpendicular from $A$ to $BC$ meets $BS$ at $D$ and meets $\Omega$ again at $E \neq A$. The line through $D$ parallel to $BC$ meets line $BE$ at $L$. Denote the circumcircle of triangle $BDL$ by $\omega$. Let $\omega$ meet $\Omega$ again at $P \neq B$. Prove that the line tangent to $\omega$ at $P$ meets line $BS$ on the internal angle bisector of $\angle BAC$. Well, here's my proof, but I would rather call this my rough work tbh. There are comments in the end! Proof Define $A'$ as the antipode of $A$. And redefine $P=A'D\cap (ABC)$. Define $L=SP\cap (PDB)$.  Claim1: $L-B-E$ collinear Proof: Note that $$\angle SCA=\angle SCB-\angle ACB=90-A/2-C.$$ So $$\angle SPA=90-A/2-C\implies \ang
4 comments
Read more

Just spam combo problems cause why not

This post is mainly for Rohan Bhaiya. He gave me/EGMO contestants a lot and lots of problems. Here are solutions to a very few of them.  To Rohan Bhaiya: I just wrote the sketch/proofs here cause why not :P. I did a few more extra problems so yeah.  I sort of sorted the problems into different sub-areas, but it's just better to try all of them! I did try some more combo problems outside this but I tried them in my tablet and worked there itself. So latexing was tough. Algorithms  "Just find the algorithm" they said and they died.  References:  Algorithms Pset by Abhay Bestrapalli Algorithms by Cody Johnson Problem1: Suppose the positive integer $n$ is odd. First Al writes the numbers $1, 2,\dots, 2n$ on the blackboard. Then he picks any two numbers $a, b$ erases them, and writes, instead, $|a - b|$. Prove that an odd number will remain at the end.  Proof: Well, we go $\mod 2$. Note that $$|a-b|\equiv a+b\mod 2\implies \text{ the final number is }1+2+\dots 2n\equiv n(2n+1
4 comments
Read more