1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
Continuing the pattern of participating in math competitions, I decided to take part in the American Mathematics Olympiads. The competition had some solvable questions relating to algebra and geometry, but most of the time they were extremely difficult. This was because they required the use of pattern recognition and creating proofs or generalizations on the spot, a skill I was not used to. Seeing them made me panic and I ended up not being able to answer many questions on time. I was quite frustrated, so after the competition I took some time to finish solving one of the questions that I only partially solved (it was about finding the formula for the nth hexagonal number; see picture above). I think being under that time pressure while having to think outside the box, plus revisiting my mistakes afterward helped me realize how to deal with more complicated types of math questions, and this is certainly useful for IB math.
Comments