BMO Preparation 2017/18

Original post by jbaillie2002

Huh? Do you mean you are unable to explain it or you'd rather not?

I mean that I wanted him to explain it - and stop being so stuck up that he was on the camp and us peasants were not.

EDIT: I take back all that is italicised :colondollar:

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 89

username3467594

10

Original post by etothepiiplusone

I mean that I wanted him to explain it - and stop being so stuck up that he was on the camp and us peasants were not.

Apologies. The use of the word 'our' in your precious reply suggests you were on the camp as well.

Reply 90

Original post by TheBigBrick

Haha I was on it too, I'll tell you all. Basically we had 1.5 hours of geometry with Geoff Smith in the mornings, which did power of a point, triangle centres, the Euler Line, encircles, ceva and Menalaus theorems, the nine point circle, the Wallace simson line, to name a few.We then had number theory for 1.5 hours which was mostly about primes and divisibility, modular arithmetic, the Euclidean algorithm, and fermats little theorem. Then lunch for an hourThen 3x 1 hour sessions in the afternoon. Usually 2 of them were group problem solving sessions of IMO problems, and one of them was a learning session, for example functional equations, or Catalan numbers and double counting. It was basically maths all day long. On the final day, there was a 4.5 hour IMO style Olympiad with 3 questions.

Tyvm, may I ask whether most people already knew the earlier, easy stuff, and whether most people kept up with the harder stuff?

Reply 91

Original post by etothepiiplusone

I mean that I wanted him to explain it - and stop being so stuck up that he was on the camp and us peasants were not.

What year are you in? What were your bmo scores? Just asking outta interest

Reply 92

Original post by jbaillie2002

Apologies. The use of the word 'our' in your precious reply suggests you were on the camp as well.

Np - 'our' meant you and I and everyone else not on the camp but interested in Olympiad maths

Reply 93

username3467594

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Original post by etothepiiplusone

Np - 'our' meant you and I and everyone else not on the camp but interested in Olympiad maths

Ah I understand now. Took your comment to have a totally different meaning. Apologies ahain

Reply 94

Original post by TheBigBrick

What year are you in? What were your bmo scores? Just asking outta interest

11 going into 12.

I am yet to qualify for the BMO - I got a merit in the senior kangaroo and a distinction in the Maclaurin this last year, ho hum.

You?

Reply 95

Original post by etothepiiplusone

Tyvm, may I ask whether most people already knew the earlier, easy stuff, and whether most people kept up with the harder stuff?

Everyone there is a major math lover/nerd, including myself, which meant that most people already knew the basic theory, such as modular arithmetic, pidgeonhole principle, some other basic combinatorial ideas, and some geometry. The main thing though was that everyone was able to figure stuff out for themselves, and figure it out fast.
The harder stuff was basically the geometry, and the generating functions, in that in geometry, we'd be shown a theorem, and then it would instantly be used to prove a further result, which would be used to prove yet another, and so on. New geometry material quickly compounded, which was hard to keep up with at times. Generating functions are just completely weird if you've never used them before, but being the conceptual difficulty, they're manageable.
Knowing extra theory gave an advantage, but because everyone there was bright, it didn't disadvantage anyone who didn't know the extra theory.

Reply 96

Original post by etothepiiplusone

11 going into 12.

I am yet to qualify for the BMO - I got a merit in the senior kangaroo and a distinction in the Maclaurin this last year, ho hum.

You?

10 into 11, got 30 in bmo1 and 4 in bmo2. Aiming for 40-50 bmo1 and 20 bmo2 this year (hopefully).

Reply 97

Original post by TheBigBrick

10 into 11, got 30 in bmo1 and 4 in bmo2. Aiming for 40-50 bmo1 and 20 bmo2 this year (hopefully).

Wow, good luck and hopefully you can balance BMO with GCSEs ( prioritise BMO :smile:

) next year.

May I ask how the Oxford camp selection process works?

Reply 98