IMO DAY TWO
In some senses, Day Two was even worse.
After the difficulty of Day One, now many of the students were feeling the pressure of needing to solve more problems on Day Two to make up for Day One. Not only that, but after all the rumours on the first day, it was clear that problem 1 was such that many many students solved it, meaning more progress on this day was needed to secure a medal.
On this day, our leader James came to join us to wait for the kids. It was amazing, as the first wave of kids came off the escalators, everyone waiting broke into applause. Our students were staggered coming out of the exam room, and it was clear from their expressions how they did. Lucky for James, the students took this opportunity to snack him for the difficulty of Day One. :)
Now, repeat the activities from the previous day - talking to other teams, figuring out who solved what, trying to guess on the medal cutoffs, and reading AoPS for more wild (and funny) speculation. At this point, it isn't over. The students work is done, but problem coordination with the team leaders is actually where all the points are determined. The gist of this is simple - every team gets an assigned time to defend their points against the coordinators for each problem. Once you agree, the points are determined. You'd think the students would be able to unwind at this point, but until the final points are out, the students are worried about their solutions and what the medal cutoffs will be. Despite this, it was great to see the students relax a bit and be more social.
With the students settled, it was time for Matt, James, and I to get et to work in earnest.
After the difficulty of Day One, now many of the students were feeling the pressure of needing to solve more problems on Day Two to make up for Day One. Not only that, but after all the rumours on the first day, it was clear that problem 1 was such that many many students solved it, meaning more progress on this day was needed to secure a medal.
On this day, our leader James came to join us to wait for the kids. It was amazing, as the first wave of kids came off the escalators, everyone waiting broke into applause. Our students were staggered coming out of the exam room, and it was clear from their expressions how they did. Lucky for James, the students took this opportunity to snack him for the difficulty of Day One. :)
Now, repeat the activities from the previous day - talking to other teams, figuring out who solved what, trying to guess on the medal cutoffs, and reading AoPS for more wild (and funny) speculation. At this point, it isn't over. The students work is done, but problem coordination with the team leaders is actually where all the points are determined. The gist of this is simple - every team gets an assigned time to defend their points against the coordinators for each problem. Once you agree, the points are determined. You'd think the students would be able to unwind at this point, but until the final points are out, the students are worried about their solutions and what the medal cutoffs will be. Despite this, it was great to see the students relax a bit and be more social.
With the students settled, it was time for Matt, James, and I to get et to work in earnest.
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