All About Math Olympiad Training & Questions

[CoffeeCat]

HyperKiasu:

CoffeeCat:

Depends on your or your kids' motivation. If it's just for fun then nope but if you are hoping for better performance then yes. The competition is stiffer nowadays as compared to in the past since many children are \"motivated\" and undergo mo training.

If the kids are self-motivated+smart+parents' guidance, still need to go training? I thought the benefit from course for this kind of kids is practice, more practice, more and more practice.....then if practice can be done at home, then why still need to go the training course? :? sorry really duno what the training centre can offer....

back in my generation, the self-motivation+smart+guidance might be sufficient but probably not so now. As with all academic competitions, the level of difficulty is almost proportional to time. Now the unofficial smops syllabus includes concepts and applications either beyond the primary maths syllabus (a bit of secondary and a tiny bit of jc) or not taught in conventional school curriculum. Which is why some of the nonroutine and harder questions can stump even some of our primary school teachers.

I know there are tuition centres that offer math Olympiad training by giving students past papers to practice ( this is so primitive, what I was subjected to) but the better ones adopt a topical approach to help students to grasp concepts better. This topical approach, coupled with the resources of the centres and experience of capable trainers is what the better mo training courses offer.

Also, even though armed with solution books, a motivated student might still has trouble with certain concepts or not able to understand the model solution or failed to appreciate the underlying principle. If the parent'guidance is good enough then naturally this issue is minimized. If not that's when private trainers or centres come in.

[life butter well]

She’s not sure of the exact wording, but one of the questions was…


A goat has a rope attached to its neck. The string, which is 14m long, is attached to a ring, which is attached to a 20m rail. Not including the diameter of the ring, how many square meters of grass can the goat eat?

[CoffeeCat]

HyperKiasu:

CoffeeCat:

[quote=\"HyperKiasu\"]Any idea whether there is an age restriction for the competion? Can P4/5 participate?

Which competitions?
For SMOPS, they have recently limited to p6 only.
NMOS is pitched at p5 level, off limit to p6, p4 are allowed to take part.

I checked the websites, NMOS opens to all primary levels except P6. However the NMOS sample questions doesn't read like Olympiad math, much easier than those of SMOPS. care to share why (apart from SMOPS only for P6)[/quote]NMOS wants to cater to pre-p6s, to give younger kids a chance to participate in maths competitions sooner, so their syllabus is reduced and questions more reader-friendly so as not to frighten them.

[kiasiparent]

life butter well:

She's not sure of the exact wording, but one of the questions was...


A goat has a rope attached to its neck. The string, which is 14m long, is attached to a ring, which is attached to a 20m rail. Not including the diameter of the ring, how many square meters of grass can the goat eat?

I would assume the rail is fixed and pi = 22/7

So total area includes a rectangle and a circle.

rect = 28 x 20 = 560
circle = 22/7 x 14 x 14 =616
560 + 616 = 1176

[mathsparks]

haha more free food for students and their parents at the invitation round n prize presentation ceremony on 29May.


At last year's event, HCI also gave a dsa presentation to this group of students followed by a tour of the school.

This was more like a buay-ko-yo session but one of the seniors told a story about that auditorium n the \"presence\" associated with it which scared the wits out of ds. :siam: So the session which was supposed to encourage the kids to choose hci sort of backfire. I hope they stop sharing this tale.

[mathsparks]

HyperKiasu:

If the kids are self-motivated+smart+parents' guidance, still need to go training? I thought the benefit from course for this kind of kids is practice, more practice, more and more practice.....then if practice can be done at home, then why still need to go the training course? :? sorry really duno what the training centre can offer....

Your eqn is absolutely correct! So, most kids who had MO training do so as their parents are unable to coach them.

[BusyB]

kiasiparent:

life butter well:

She's not sure of the exact wording, but one of the questions was...


A goat has a rope attached to its neck. The string, which is 14m long, is attached to a ring, which is attached to a 20m rail. Not including the diameter of the ring, how many square meters of grass can the goat eat?

I would assume the rail is fixed and pi = 22/7

So total area includes a rectangle and a circle.

rect = 28 x 20 = 560
circle = 22/7 x 14 x 14 =616
560 + 616 = 1176

Wow so fast. Now I see the answer

[CoffeeCat]

BusyB:

I think the concept is there, but the exact computation is more complicated than this. There should be 2 circles - as the goat can eat at both end of the rail. I think the circles will overlap with the rectangle - in fact, based on a 14cm rope and 20cm fence, the 2 circles will overlap with each other as well (4cm overlap of the 2 circles). Well, I've not figure out how to compute the overlap / not overlap part yet to get the answer. Anyone can enlighten me? Thanks

if the question meant it as that the ring can slide along the rail then the diagram of area will look like a school running track, 2 semicircles by the side and a rectangle. Good point in noticing the overlap but it is under the area of the rectangle anyway.

[BusyB]

CoffeeCat:

if the question meant it as that the ring can slide along the rail then the diagram of area will look like a school running track, 2 semicircles by the side and a rectangle. Good point in noticing the overlap but it is under the area of the rectangle anyway.

Pai sei, I slow and see diagram only later. So amended my reply

[MdmKS]

mathsparks:

haha more free food for students and their parents at the invitation round n prize presentation ceremony on 29May.


At last year's event, HCI also gave a dsa presentation to this group of students followed by a tour of the school.

This was more like a buay-ko-yo session but one of the seniors told a story about that auditorium n the \"presence\" associated with it which scared the wits out of ds. :siam: So the session which was supposed to encourage the kids to choose hci sort of backfire. I hope they stop sharing this tale.

Then I heard there exist mainstreamer who got plantinium, applied, went for tests but still did not get selected leh.