Correlation between UKMT Maths challenge and being able to do Maths at Uni

For context, I'm a year 12 Student studying Physics, Computer Science, Maths and Further Maths and got a 9 in GCSE Maths with an A in the OCR FSMQ. I'm also good at solving general mathematical problems, however I never seem to be able to get anything above a high silver/low gold in the UKMT challenge papers?

Should this be a reason to not apply to maths at a top university like cambridge, or do I still have a chance?

Not necessarily although Cambridge do love UKMT competitions. Later in the year look at MAT and STEP questions ... if you can't do those then look beyond Oxbridge.

Source?

Source?

As an Oxbridge maths tutor, At this point of time, I think a much better indicator at this point is how you're finding MAT or STEP papers. Longer term, university requires deeper understanding of mathematics. SMC can be a good thing to be involved in, but is too narrow a metric to judge your future on.

I said CAMBRIDGE love UKMT .... although Oxford used to host Summer schools until they hiked the price. The first time we spent ages sorting the IT system in lecture rooms for them!

I'm unconvinced of that too, Some may in Cambridge, but from experience maths faculty members rarely make mention of UKMT competitions.

I do know lecturers personally at both universities - some are my ex--students! Several Cambridge tutors have explicitly told me BMO success is vallued ... maybe you talk about other stuff? Dr Vicky Neale [RIP} was a big UKMT supporter for example ...

I don't doubt there are some who value UKMT but it isn't commonly valued.

Wrong - many Trinity, Cambridge offer holders have BMO on their application

Trinity is the obvious exception as they’re as invested in these competitions as you are. But Trinity aren’t exactly representative of Cambridge.

My Cambridge experience was a long time ago, but I don't remember a single conversation there about "competitive maths" in 3 years of study. It really does seem to be a Trinity thing. If you're dealing with people at the top level (BMO, IMO etc) I can see why you'd want to nurture and develop that sort of thing (national pride etc), but I do feel uncomfortable when I see kids posting stuff like "it's school policy for everyone doing FM to take the SMC (or whatever)" - surely kids have enough pressures at school without being driven through maths competitions as if they're somehow necessary or relevant for uni study.

Trinity is the obvious exception as they’re as invested in these competitions as you are. But Trinity aren’t exactly representative of Cambridge.

So I'm right - other colleges do value it too. Why would Maths admission people lie to me or my students?

Later in the year look at MAT and STEP questions ... if you can't do those then look beyond Oxbridge.

(from Dr Siklos's advpcm document)
Your first impression on looking at a STEP paper is likely to be that it looks very hard. Don’t be discouraged! Its difficult appearance is largely due to it being very different in style from A-levels.

I don't think

How are you at all right? I said Trinity were invested in this as an exception. Davros has agreed with that assessment. I am not denying your experiences but they seem to be parochial. For over a decade I presented alongside Cambridge academics to thousands of prospective maths students - a frequent question was "how should I be preparing for HE" and UKMT and competitions just never got mentioned by the Cambridge academics.