So you want to go to the IMO?
One of the most common questions I get as an instructor is how do you qualify to represent Canada at the IMO?
In short, it comes down to three contests - the Canadian Math Olympiad, the Asian Pacific Math Olympiad, and the USA Math Olympiad.
However, it's not as easy as registering to write these exams and then studying up. Each of these competitions are invite-only, so you will need to qualify for them in the following way:
Canadian Math Olympiad (CMO):
The main qualification for the CMO is through the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/2017/#). This is a mixed short answer / full solution style competition.
- the top 50 competitors from this competition will be invited to participate in the CMO
- the next ~100 students will be invited to write the CMO Repechage (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/REP/), where the top 15 - 20 students will move onto the CMO
Alternatively, for students that are in Alberta, you can qualify by placing top 3 in the Alberta High School Mathematics Competition. Similarly for Quebec students, by placing top 3 in the le Concours de l'Association Mathematique du Quebec.
Asian Pacific Math Olympiad (APMO):
The only qualifier to the APMO is through the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/2017/#).
This time, only the top 20 -30 students will be invited to participate in this olympiad.
USA Math Olympiad (USAMO):
The path to the USAMO is a bit longer. It starts with the American Math Competition 12 (https://www.maa.org/math-competitions/amc-1012), held twice a year in February. This is a 25 question multiple choice exam.
Next, the top 5% of AMC12 scorers are invited to participate in the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME) https://www.maa.org/math-competitions/invitational-competitions#AIME. This is a 15 question exam where the answer to every single question is a nonnegative integer less than 1000.
To determine invitation for the USAMO, they next use an index = AMC 12 score + 10 * AIME. Approximately the 250 students with the highest indices will then be invited to write the USAMO.
All three Olympiads are full solution problems. I find that students do tend to struggle a bit when making the transition from multiple choice to full solution problems, so don't skip on practicing solution writing to even the easy problems!!
In short, it comes down to three contests - the Canadian Math Olympiad, the Asian Pacific Math Olympiad, and the USA Math Olympiad.
However, it's not as easy as registering to write these exams and then studying up. Each of these competitions are invite-only, so you will need to qualify for them in the following way:
Canadian Math Olympiad (CMO):
The main qualification for the CMO is through the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/2017/#). This is a mixed short answer / full solution style competition.
- the top 50 competitors from this competition will be invited to participate in the CMO
- the next ~100 students will be invited to write the CMO Repechage (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/REP/), where the top 15 - 20 students will move onto the CMO
Alternatively, for students that are in Alberta, you can qualify by placing top 3 in the Alberta High School Mathematics Competition. Similarly for Quebec students, by placing top 3 in the le Concours de l'Association Mathematique du Quebec.
Asian Pacific Math Olympiad (APMO):
The only qualifier to the APMO is through the Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge (https://cms.math.ca/Competitions/COMC/2017/#).
This time, only the top 20 -30 students will be invited to participate in this olympiad.
USA Math Olympiad (USAMO):
The path to the USAMO is a bit longer. It starts with the American Math Competition 12 (https://www.maa.org/math-competitions/amc-1012), held twice a year in February. This is a 25 question multiple choice exam.
Next, the top 5% of AMC12 scorers are invited to participate in the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME) https://www.maa.org/math-competitions/invitational-competitions#AIME. This is a 15 question exam where the answer to every single question is a nonnegative integer less than 1000.
To determine invitation for the USAMO, they next use an index = AMC 12 score + 10 * AIME. Approximately the 250 students with the highest indices will then be invited to write the USAMO.
All three Olympiads are full solution problems. I find that students do tend to struggle a bit when making the transition from multiple choice to full solution problems, so don't skip on practicing solution writing to even the easy problems!!
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