Bmo/smc ukmt

What is the difference in level of reasoning between a Q25 SMC question level and a BMO question (Q1) or the intermediate olympiad questions (Hamilton, Maclaurin)?

Reply 1

mqb2766

Original post by uzzi121609

What is the difference in level of reasoning between a Q25 SMC question level and a BMO question (Q1) or the intermediate olympiad questions (Hamilton, Maclaurin)?

Kind of hard to describe but from this years smc / bmo, the smc is ~4 lines if you spot the divide by xy^2 (look at the exponents) and complete the square, so notice its effectively a hidden square problem (there was a similar one a few years ago). The bmo one probably relies on a bit more problem solving to get started so maybe play with the MATHS example a bit more and work it through (or even a simpler word), then a bit more bespoke reasoning and justifying how it works for the larger/more complex case. So usually the bmo is more about working out how to get started (problem solving on exemplar problems) and requiring a decent proof/explanation, and is less concerned with chugging through a calculation.