Maths Olympiads Remaining

Hello, does someone know if there are any good maths olympiads before the early UCAS deadline in October? I don’t have any except a Bronze in SMC (1 point off a silver) and would really like to have something to demonstrate mathematical capabilities acquired

No UKMT ones - SMC is the first competition of the academic year.

Yeah I know. Do you know about anything else? Doesn’t have to be UK based if can be taken internationally as my school very usually is allowed to host them here

Yeah I know. Do you know about anything else? Doesn’t have to be UK based if can be taken internationally as my school very usually is allowed to host them here

If youre applying in Oct, then you must be applying to oxbridge? If so, doing well on the smc/bmo (or similar) isnt a big deal for the personal statement, rather its a starting point for the entrance exam and interview (tests). In the personal statement they want to see enthusiasm (for maths), and its more about the things youve done, rather than achievement in one particular test. So think more about putting the learning in for the entrance exam/interview tests and how you demonstrate (supercurriculars) your interest.

I would focus on MAT/STEP prep and reading about topics outside the specification. Ask your teacher how they can support you. We have a collection of books we loan to aspiring Oxbridge applicants.

Okay I will take it into account! I am hopefully applying for Maths at Cambridge but my school forces us to apply in October for any university hahahaha

Theres the step foundation modules to get started with in Y12
https://maths.org/step/assignments
which basically cover (the old) step 1 and then maybe think about moving onto step 2 in Y13 and step 3 in the new year. You could also practice on some of the mat and tmua papers for more problem solving stuff which is more about the interview (see the mat livestream stuff) and doing some practice on smc/bmo would help with some interview questions. Try and work out why youre getting bronze on the smc and see if you can improve and learn some of the historical stuff / basics.
But also do some stuff of interest to put on your personal statement. Cambridge is more selective at the interview and step phases, though you still have to get invited to interview.

Theres the step foundation modules to get started with in Y12
https://maths.org/step/assignments
which basically cover (the old) step 1 and then maybe think about moving onto step 2 in Y13 and step 3 in the new year. You could also practice on some of the mat and tmua papers for more problem solving stuff which is more about the interview (see the mat livestream stuff) and doing some practice on smc/bmo would help with some interview questions. Try and work out why youre getting bronze on the smc and see if you can improve and learn some of the historical stuff / basics.
But also do some stuff of interest to put on your personal statement. Cambridge is more selective at the interview and step phases, though you still have to get invited to interview.

For the SMC, I did it my second day after switching schools and countries and did not even know of its existence before taking so there’s that. I practiced some past papers and just in general have improved my maths a lot and I have consistently gotten gold/ high silver in timed practice I have done I my own time. I hope to get a good result next year just in case I decided to reapply one year later or whatever

do you know anything about the PROMYS US program? Because I applied to it and am waiting for the result till the end of April and I was wondering how much they value the problem set compared to previous mathematical achievement, as I didn’t have much from the latter but completed the former and I am quite confident with my responses

Tbh, Id practice stuff (smc/bmo) untimed so you can dwell on a problem a bit and think / develop skills in how you can do an unfamiliar question. Sleep on a problem and think about how you can get started. Forget about getting a good result next time and simply focus on learning / improving your maths/problem solving. Getting a good resullt will follow.
For cambridge, step is more aimed at the a level syllabus (which smc/bmo isnt) so its (smc/bmo) of some, but limited value for that. But the problem solving for hard problems using more elementary methods can be of some value when you solve harder problems using a level stuff. Similarly the interview tests, usually have a problem solving element.

Ok thank you for the response! I have already started with some STEP I papers to get used to the paper as I have barely covered enough for STEP II. What do you recommend I read about? Do you have any book/whatever piece of media suggestions?

okay. I’ll start doing bmo then because smc seems not that problem solving heavy once you do enough papers. I know that bmo has longer questions and such so it seems like a good idea

It's got to be something you are interested in. My students usually start in KS4 with books by Rob Eastaway - 'Why do buses come in threes?' https://robeastaway.com/books
UKMT also publish some books which might be of interest? https://ukmt.org.uk/textbooks
We have started Oxbridge prep with our Year 12s so do talk to your Maths teachers [I teach in a state school]

As part of your step stuff, Id do both. The interviews cover things like curve sketching, ... which isnt really bmo and the step questions tends to be more sign posted than bmo, and are more aimed at a level techniques. You can do a fair number of smc questions in an elementary/problem solving way and its not bad practice, as a part of your overall work.

Just as a note, if you do particularly well this year, you can email your college's admissions after your application is sent off. I can't remember exactly when SMC results come back but I think it would be before your interview and thus before offers are decided.

If youre applying in Oct, then you must be applying to oxbridge? If so, doing well on the smc/bmo (or similar) isnt a big deal for the personal statement, rather its a starting point for the entrance exam and interview (tests). In the personal statement they want to see enthusiasm (for maths), and its more about the things youve done, rather than achievement in one particular test. So think more about putting the learning in for the entrance exam/interview tests and how you demonstrate (supercurriculars) your interest.