Y11 BMO

Hiya! I’m currently a Year 10 -> Year 11 student. I’ve been studying Maths Olympiads for about 3 months now maybe, and honestly I see a huge change in my problem solving skills. I can comfortably do diophantine questions at an (national) olympiad level (Eg: BMO, TMO etc)
Since next year I have to take my GCSEs (which I’m taking 12 subjects), I want to know whether I should work towards all 100% in all my GCSE subjects or working on Olympiads. I’m currently working on all 9s but I would say English language would be at risk of falling to 8 if I fumble a little.
Furthermore is there other extra curriculars I should go for in order to study Maths/Physics at Oxbridge? (I only done UKMT and I’m doing SMC/BMO this year)
My goal before I finish Year 13 would be to reach the IMO team, at my pace right now I know I am capable of doing so, but I just want some opinions on this.
Ps: Can any national/international Olympiad participants DM me as I would really appreciate some help and support throughout my journey (most Olympiad questions don’t provide any solutions and I want to improve on many skills such as proof writing…)
Thank you for reading this and have a great day!

The SMC is early in the new academic year so go for that.
https://ukmt.org.uk/competition-calendar-2025-26
A good IMC score might get you a place on a National Maths Summer School.
I wouldn't focus on getting to the IMO team - these focus on very narrow areas of Maths

I understand however I really do enjoy problem solving and I would probably still continue with Olympiads therefore my goal is to participate in at least BMO and IMO if I allocate enough time towards studying and practicing. I've been practicing for BMO and SMC (and some relatively easier IMO problems) and I can consistently get 21/25 on SMC.
But can I also get more information on the National Maths Summer School? I'm quite interested as this year's IMC I was only a few marks off Olympiad boundary. Thank you!

Thank you for the information and no I currently do not have a UKMT mentor. I just had a look on the practice problems and they are quite interesting so I might try some of the questions later. Currently I'm only advanced in mainly algebra and number theory (diophantine problems) whereas geometry and combinatorics at an intermediate level, should I risk it and keep going on nt and algebra or should I also get combi and geometry to at least a BMO level?

Okay i'll do that after SMC then I am quite confident to score at least 100 on it and 110 depending on the paper, I havent bought any books from UKMT yet since they were quite expensive and I could get questions from BMO past papers, however most of these BMO questions don't have any solutions so it's quite tough improving on my proofs. I have already asked for people's opinions on some of my solutions however I feel like i'm missing something, is there any way to get the solutions prior 2018?
Also thank you for the links so much!! Have a great day

Speak to your school as soon as you go back as the mentors will be allocated in September.
https://bmos.ukmt.org.uk/solutions/
Hasn't your school got copies of the books?
If not ask the school library to get them.

Okay I will do that I dont think our school has any sadly, and neither does the library since our school is rather lacking as not many people usually achieve grades/things like UKMT gold, I'll ask once i return to school though.

Did you see I linked solutions for BMO?

Hiya! I’m currently a Year 10 -> Year 11 student. I’ve been studying Maths Olympiads for about 3 months now maybe, and honestly I see a huge change in my problem solving skills. I can comfortably do diophantine questions at an (national) olympiad level (Eg: BMO, TMO etc)
Since next year I have to take my GCSEs (which I’m taking 12 subjects), I want to know whether I should work towards all 100% in all my GCSE subjects or working on Olympiads. I’m currently working on all 9s but I would say English language would be at risk of falling to 8 if I fumble a little.
Furthermore is there other extra curriculars I should go for in order to study Maths/Physics at Oxbridge? (I only done UKMT and I’m doing SMC/BMO this year)
My goal before I finish Year 13 would be to reach the IMO team, at my pace right now I know I am capable of doing so, but I just want some opinions on this.
Ps: Can any national/international Olympiad participants DM me as I would really appreciate some help and support throughout my journey (most Olympiad questions don’t provide any solutions and I want to improve on many skills such as proof writing…)
Thank you for reading this and have a great day!

In response to the GCSE part - I would just spend your time wisely. It sounds like you're walking to a 9 in most subjects and therefore you won't need much time there, most likely just pay attention in school and make notes. Pay attention to mock results and (if you are at a good school where other students will get 9s) make sure you're remaining on their level.

I think most of your outside-of-school academic time can go towards BMO, SMC, etc. This is, frankly, some of the best early prep you can do for a Math/STEM prospective Oxbridge applicant. Closer to the time of actually applying (obviously this is 2 years away so no rush) you'll want to brush up on A-Level knowledge and do some admissions test practice and some "interview/STEP-like" questions since these are roughly what get asked at interview. The BMO is great preparation for this though because even though you're very unlikely to get a BMO question at interview (particularly something like a diophantine), just the idea of "a longer/ 20ish minute question with limited direct instruction and guidance" is exactly the kind of skill you want.
In terms of other options, the Physics Olympiad exists. I know some people teach themselves A-Level topics early. I think that's fine so long as its done properly. I think computer science/ coding could also be useful, I would bet a lot of money you pick it up pretty fast and its a skill that is more useful in the hands of someone with a strong Maths background. It's easy to suggest a number of hard but doable coding projects that lean heavily into the maths/physics you need for university (particularly 3D modelling, working with vectors, matrices, etc.) I would just emphasise to do these things "properly" - that doesnt mean you need to pay anyone but just make sure you're not teaching yourself badly without any checks. A lot of textbooks, free online courses, etc. cover this stuff "properly".

I understand however I really do enjoy problem solving and I would probably still continue with Olympiads therefore my goal is to participate in at least BMO and IMO if I allocate enough time towards studying and practicing. I've been practicing for BMO and SMC (and some relatively easier IMO problems) and I can consistently get 21/25 on SMC.
But can I also get more information on the National Maths Summer School? I'm quite interested as this year's IMC I was only a few marks off Olympiad boundary. Thank you!

Hi, My son is also in Y11, and has been doing SMC since Y8, so this is his 4th-year doing it and he hopes to do BMO1 again this year. He got a merit from BMO1 last year but he has no aspiration to do IMO. I just would like to let you know that if you can perform well enough for IMC, and olympiad round, which for this year, you will have to do Macluarin since you're in Y11, you may be invited to participate in UKMT olympiad mentering scheme. My son got 135 for IMC last year and a gold in Hamilton and was invited to join. The school will have to vouche for you as well. Once you got selected, they will assign you a personal mentor. Basically, you will be given a monthly assignment. The mentor is there to help if you need some guidance and he/she also provides feedbacks on your works. It's a great way to do some fun and challenging maths if you enjoy that kind of things. Good luck!

Is this Olympiad mentoring or the Enrichment mentoring?
That also has monthly support from a UKMT mentor.
Has he been selected for a NMSS? https://ukmt.org.uk/enrichment/summer-schools

The one my son got an invitation is UKMT Olympiad Mentering Scheme. His maths teacher told him that it was because he got Gold from Hamilton Olympiad. He got email with assigned username + password to access a google classroom. The assignment for October month is the second homework and the program will go on with monthly assigned problems until May next year.

The one my son got an invitation is UKMT Olympiad Mentering Scheme. His maths teacher told him that it was because he got Gold from Hamilton Olympiad. He got email with assigned username + password to access a google classroom. The assignment for October month is the second homework and the program will go on with monthly assigned problems until May next year.