UoM Maths Comp???

[luken93]

I'll come straight to the spesh section, in the hope that someone such as TT will help haha.

my teacher has entered me into the UniMelb Maths Comp, and I had a look at last year's exam....

OMG

how do you even do those questions, i can do the first one and thats about it?

any advice or help with last years one at least?

thanks

[stonecold]

do we have another watchman on our hands???

[kyzoo]

Don't think in your head, try to map out all your thinking processes and reasoning on paper even if they aren't going to be part of the paper. Draw rough diagrams on paper. And don't do the questions in order, last year I missed out on one of the easier questions (Q4, 5, or 6? the one to do with functions) because I did them chronologically. If you get stuck on a question, just jump to the next one. Also remember that this competition is the complete opposite to VCE Maths, it's about presenting your solution or logic in a clearly understandable way rather than getting the answer. That can be quite hard, I remember for the chessboard question it took me 2-3 pages of reasoning for me to be satisfied with my answer >.<.

[luken93]

do we have another watchman on our hands???

haha not quite i dont think

Don't think in your head, try to map out all your thinking processes and reasoning on paper even if they aren't going to be part of the paper. Draw rough diagrams on paper. And don't do the questions in order, last year I missed out on one of the easier questions (Q4, 5, or 6? the one to do with functions) because I did them chronologically. If you get stuck on a question, just jump to the next one. Also remember that this competition is the complete opposite to VCE Maths, it's about presenting your solution or logic in a clearly understandable way rather than getting the answer. That can be quite hard, I remember for the chessboard question it took me 2-3 pages of reasoning for me to be satisfied with my answer >.<.

yeh my spesh teacher let me do last yrs today, got the 1st q in about 30 mins, but then thought i was goin well on the 2nd till i realised it was wrong.....after i had worked out my answer. i didnt really understand the chessboard one either, it was a bit strange. will have a play with the other q's after the hols

i must admit it is a hell of a lot funner than VCE maths

[darkphoenix]

LOL all that stuff is so hc.

[TrueTears]

yeah, these competitions are very different from VCE, questions are much funner (from my perspective), one should really read some basic problem solving books before doing the competitions. One could try "Winning solutions" or "Art and craft of problem solving volume 1", they will help immensely with competition maths as they give you the elementary explanations of combinatorics, algebra and a bit of number theory. Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.

[kyzoo]

I can never be screwed preparing for these comps.

[luken93]

yeah, these competitions are very different from VCE, questions are much funner (from my perspective), one should really read some basic problem solving books before doing the competitions. One could try "Winning solutions" or "Art and craft of problem solving volume 1", they will help immensely with competition maths as they give you the elementary explanations of combinatorics, algebra and a bit of number theory. Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.

and where would i get these books? i don't think the school library is that advanced haha

I can never be screwed preparing for these comps.

i can see how this comes about after looking at it.

[luken93]

I'll come straight to the spesh section, in the hope that someone such as TT will help haha.
my teacher has entered me into the UniMelb Maths Comp, and I had a look at last year's exam....
OMG
how do you even do those questions, i can do the first one and thats about it?
any advice or help with last years one at least?
thanks

UOM is mainly just olympiad maths = awesome! I agree: Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.
You get it from the AMT (who get copies from the American Maths Trust). In other words, go here: http://www.amtt.com.au/
Yeah so basically, to prepare, if you bother to prepare, do Combi Geometry Algebra Number Theory Inequalities Have fun!
Cheers!

yeh dont think i'm that into it to spend 50 bucks on a book for a test that i'm gonna get nowhere in haha
how do they get 30 or so runners up when there are 1000+ entrants, and they have a winner??
does that mean they are the only ones who get all 6 questions?
does each question have a mark??

[TrueTears]

Nah I can send you the ebooks for all of that? Mind pming ur email?

[AzureBlue]

I'll come straight to the spesh section, in the hope that someone such as TT will help haha.
my teacher has entered me into the UniMelb Maths Comp, and I had a look at last year's exam....
OMG
how do you even do those questions, i can do the first one and thats about it?
any advice or help with last years one at least?
thanks

UOM is mainly just olympiad maths = awesome! I agree: Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.
You get it from the AMT (who get copies from the American Maths Trust). In other words, go here: http://www.amtt.com.au/
Yeah so basically, to prepare, if you bother to prepare, do Combi Geometry Algebra Number Theory Inequalities Have fun!
Cheers!

yeh dont think i'm that into it to spend 50 bucks on a book for a test that i'm gonna get nowhere in haha
how do they get 30 or so runners up when there are 1000+ entrants, and they have a winner??
does that mean they are the only ones who get all 6 questions?
does each question have a mark??

LOL I've spent at least $1000 on olympiad books It's just fun sometimes!
I don't know exactly how it's marked but around 3-4 complete correct solutions will get you a outstanding award ($60) which I have gotten twice. TrueTears, do you know if it's the normal 7-mark a question marking scheme?

[the.watchman]

LOL I've spent at least $1000 on olympiad books It's just fun sometimes!

LOL I've just borrowed all of my olympiad books (phys & chem) from school

do we have another watchman on our hands???

I just saw this and wtf?!?! Since when did I become the benchmark?

[TrueTears]

dono azure, haven't been checking out the uom maths comps for a while now.

and yeh luken i sent the books they will be a good read if you want anymore just ask me i have too many ebooks for olympiad maths lol...

[EvangelionZeta]

yeah, these competitions are very different from VCE, questions are much funner (from my perspective), one should really read some basic problem solving books before doing the competitions. One could try "Winning solutions" or "Art and craft of problem solving volume 1", they will help immensely with competition maths as they give you the elementary explanations of combinatorics, algebra and a bit of number theory. Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.

and where would i get these books? i don't think the school library is that advanced haha

I can never be screwed preparing for these comps.

i can see how this comes about after looking at it.

Don't listen to kyzoo, without any preparation he still manages to get $60 prizes from that competition.  >.>

[EvangelionZeta]

yeah, these competitions are very different from VCE, questions are much funner (from my perspective), one should really read some basic problem solving books before doing the competitions. One could try "Winning solutions" or "Art and craft of problem solving volume 1", they will help immensely with competition maths as they give you the elementary explanations of combinatorics, algebra and a bit of number theory. Try "Geometry Revisited" for geometry, very good book.

and where would i get these books? i don't think the school library is that advanced haha

I can never be screwed preparing for these comps.

i can see how this comes about after looking at it.

Don't listen to kyzoo, without any preparation he still manages to get $60 prizes from that competition.  >.>

Yeah same, I don't prep for MUMC either... I prep in AMO and big stuff like that but I tend to do better in MUMC anyway.
I have the e-books too but can't be stuffed reading half of them, I need more practice, not more reading. So probably going to practice off IMO Selection School papers and lecture questions. There's like 500 pages for one camp!!!!

I'll never get you people.  Why would you even want to do Olympiad maths? >.>;;