The Student Room Group

The BMO1: Aftermath 2007!

Well Its BMO1 tomorrow so I guess I'm just gonna ask the usual:
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- What are you hoping for out of 60?
- What are your strong points?
- What are your points that need working on?
- When are you sitting BMO1?
- How much preparation have you done?
- Are you sitting it alone or with other people?"
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- What are you hoping for out of 60?
>25 (>30)
- What are your strong points?
algebra, Number theory, Geometry(they aren't always that hard)
- What are your points that need working on?
COMBINATORICS - You can't tell if your right with these ones.
- When are you sitting BMO1?
first thing tomorrow
- How much preparation have you done?
Circle centers, Fermat's little theorem, Recursion
Jensen's inequality, AM-GM, Cauchy-Schwartz etc.
- Are you sitting it alone or with other people?"
Only one in my school doing it.
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and...
Good Luck Everyone

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Reply 1
Yeah I'm doing it tomorrow..
not really sure what to expect out of 60.. I need more practice on most things :wink: couple of other people taking it in my school.
Reply 2
- What are you hoping for out of 60?
Pfft anything really! I might get a geometry question so hopefully about 10, but it would be brilliant if i got more, and maybe even through to BMO2 :eek:

- What are your strong points?
Geometry because it's just drawing lines and noticing things

- What are your points that need working on?
Just about everything else lol

- When are you sitting BMO1?
Tomorrow, 8:30am in a store cupboard. Had to get my ICT mock moved for it.

- How much preparation have you done?
Very little. Have looked at past papers but can't do many questions so I have been asking my mum (she was good in her day) and generally thinking about it all the time. Teachers have been useless.

- Are you sitting it alone or with other people?
Alone :smile: I got the best mark (and the only one above 88) in my school. Shouldn't be too bad though as I sat it alone last year too.

Good luck to everyone!
Reply 3
What are you hoping for out of 60? 20-30 would be nice, although on a couple of the past papers I've only been able to do 1 question :s-smilie:
- What are your strong points? number theory, and only recently geometry
- What are your points that need working on? combinatorics
- When are you sitting BMO1? 8:30
- How much preparation have you done? all of the past papers i could get my hands on
- Are you sitting it alone or with other people?" alone
Reply 4
What are you hoping for out of 60?
Hoping for? 20+. Expecting? 0 - 15, with a slim possibility of more.

What are your strong points?
I don't think I have the experience yet to be able to comment on this fully, but from past papers I have tried, number theory is probably my forte, and I think I have reasonable chances on algebra questions. On occasion, I've been able to dissect a geometry problem, but am not counting on it.

What are your points that need working on?
Combinatorics. The idea of working through cases doesn't appeal to me. And yes, I agree with people who say that it is difficult to determine whether an answer is correct or not, unlike proofs. If there's an easy combinatorics question, I think I might have a chance. In general, however, this is definitely a field in which I do feel I need to develop some security.

When are you sitting BMO1?
As far as I know, 0910 tomorrow.

How much preparation have you done?
Generally a lot of Olympiad-style mathematics reading (although I'm doubtful as to how helpful this will have been...), and a couple of practice questions (which will undoubtedly have been more helpful). I don't feel like I have prepared well enough, but at this point, I've decided to just let tomorrow come, and see whether fate is on my side.

Are you sitting it alone or with other people?
There are others. I don't know the exact amount, but it's only a handful. Most are Year 13, and there are only two of us in Year 12.

I wish everybody sitting the paper the best of luck, but most of all, I hope everybody enjoys the experience, and finds some satisfaction in having taken it.
Reply 5
- What are you hoping for out of 60?

I'm really not sure. Not very much I don't think!

- What are your strong points?

I'm okay at algebra and geometry

- What are your points that need working on?

Combinatorics - I hate those questions!

- When are you sitting BMO1?

2pm after I've done two GCSE mock papers in the morning (9:30-11 and 11:30-1, I think) and sat on my own in the exams officer's room for an hour apparently eating lunch. It doesn't take me a whole hour to have a sandwich! :rolleyes: I don't think tomorrow will be a very good day for me!

- How much preparation have you done?

A couple of past papers, two "preparation sheets" (2005 and 2007) and I've tried some questions from "The Art and Craft of Problem Solving" and the "Mathematical Olympiad Handbook". Not nearly enough. :frown:

- Are you sitting it alone or with other people?"

Alone. Everyone else (if there is anyone else, I don't actually know) will be sitting it in the morning as they're not doing their mocks. grrrr.

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Good luck to everyone who's taking it tomorrow!
:smile:
Reply 6
I thought it went very well. I answered 3 questions. Questions 1 and 2 seemed rather easy in comparison with past questions, and I managed to get both out in about 10mins each. I spent the remaining time starring at questions 3, which eventually came out 15 mins before the end :smile:
Reply 7
Please will people refrain from talking about the questions themselves until everyone has taken it ^_^ ? Thanks a lot! Just to stop unfair advantages being gained :smile: ...
I did it and couldn't answer any questions at all. In the end I just left a sheet saying "I give up, you win".

I feel stupid and embarrassed, although I should probably be proud for qualifying in the first place.
Reply 9
DanielJBaker
I did it and couldn't answer any questions at all. In the end I just left a sheet saying "I give up, you win".

I feel stupid and embarrassed, although I should probably be proud for qualifying in the first place.


Don't feel like that :smile: , it's designed to be a very difficult exam. You can take it again next year ^_^ , by then you will have gotten a lot better. Well done on even qualifying, that puts you in the top 1,000 or so out of 150,000!
Reply 10
I managed two questions (the first two).. not entirely happy that 1/3 of them were geometry :O
Reply 11
Got 4 questions out - 1, 2, 4 and 6. 1, 2 were done in about 35 minutes total, 4 took me maybe 40 minutes, spent half an hour staring at the geometry questions (3 and 5) in disbelief, wrote half a side of nonsense, and then got 6 out in about an hour and a half.

Geometry is awful :-p.

Hoping for: 40 would be awesome, but I'd really expect somewhere in the 30's. I'll probably achieve my aim though, to beat the other guy in my year (he almost qualified to BMO2 last year >_<), so it's all good.

For all you younger people, I got about 6 last year, and didn't even turn up the year before; so don't be put off!
Reply 12
pyrolol
Got 4 questions out - 1, 2, 4 and 6. 1, 2 were done in about 35 minutes total, 4 took me maybe 40 minutes, spent half an hour staring at the geometry questions (3 and 5) in disbelief, wrote half a side of nonsense, and then got 6 out in about an hour and a half.

Geometry is awful :-p.

Hoping for: 40 would be awesome, but I'd really expect somewhere in the 30's. I'll probably achieve my aim though, to beat the other guy in my year (he almost qualified to BMO2 last year >_<), so it's all good.

For all you younger people, I got about 6 last year, and didn't even turn up the year before; so don't be put off!


Geometry is awful @_@
the same as you.
worked out 1,2,4,6.
2 geometry questions...
when my friends showed how easy question 3 is.
sigh~
really regreting i didn't finish all of the books about geometry my teachers asked me to do 2 years ago.
aiming for 35+...
hoping i can get the chance to BMO2
no questions about inequality:s-smilie: (my strongest part....)
Reply 13
I also did questions 1, 2, 4 and 6.

I suppose I should be pleased, but I'm rather disappointed that I didn't manage to do either geometry question, especially since it was pretty much the only thing that I prepared for that turned up on the exam. :s-smilie:
Reply 14
I did all six questions, though my solution to Q5 is a bit dubious :smile: .
Reply 15
Simba
I did all six questions, though my solution to Q5 is a bit dubious :smile: .

I don't think I've actually bothered congratulating you yet (as far as I can recall, I just swore at you a bit :p:) so well done. :biggrin:

Best of luck getting to Hungary.
Reply 16
Hehe :P thanks a lot. Well done on what you did as well :smile: .
Reply 17
Simba
I did all six questions, though my solution to Q5 is a bit dubious :smile: .


Well done!


Only managed to complete 3 myself, bit disappointed as based on a couple of past papers I was hoping for around 35-40 out of 60, now I reckon more like 25-30.

Managed 1,3,4 and then wasted a lot of time experimenting on q2 (having seen the answer I feel like a bit of an idiot). As a result barely got stuck into the final two questions. oh well.

What do people think the boundaries are likely to be? My impression was that the exam was slightly harder than last year, and I think it was something like 35 to reach BMO2 then (22 for y12).
Reply 18
The paper has now been uploaded onto the BMOC website.
*quickly looks at paper and starts attempting questions*

Thanks Dystopia.