Students Compete in American Invitational Mathematics Exam

Fifteen questions sit before you. Two and a half hours have passed, yet you’ve only completed five. The clock continues to tick. For a normal Exonian, eight math problems regularly take about 50 minutes. But for some math enthusiasts at Exeter, just six problems can take three hours to solve.Forty Exonians experienced the rigors of problem solving Wednesday at the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). The AIME is a 15 question, three-hour long exam that the top 2.5 percent scorers on the AMC (American Mathematics Competitions) 10 and the top 5 percent scorers on the AMC 12 qualify to take. Scores from the AIME are then used to determine qualification for the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO). Then, the top 12 scorers on the USAMO are invited to participate in the MOSP, or Math Olympiad Summer Program, where the top six performers are chosen to represent the United States at the International Math Olympiad (IMO).Exonians have historically performed exceptionally well at these competitions, many of them eventually medaling at the IMO. Current students Ravi Jagadeesan and Alex Song have both medaled at previous IMOs. One of the reasons why Exonians tend to perform so well on these exams can be credited to Exeter’s well-known Math Club.The Math Club, run by math instructor Zuming Feng who also coaches the USA team at the IMO, meets three times a week to discuss topics such as number theory, geometry and many others. The club is broken up into three groups, the groups varying in skill and experience. When competition dates approach, the club members begin to prepare for the contests by solving problems or discussing relevant concepts.Upper Yuree Kim commented on the club’s math competition preparation. “We do practice tests in the club. It depends what group you’re in, but usually Ravi brings us practice tests and they’re either mock AIMEs or past AIME problems that we regularly review. Whenever we get close to a competition, we do practice problems, and even in regular sessions, we’ll do topics, but in the topics there will be AIME problems,” she said.Many students who took the AIME believed that Math Club helped them to prepare effectively.“I feel like I was as well prepared as I could have been. This is the first time I had been eligible for the AIME so [the practice tests] gave me a sense of what I could expect,” lower Pranay Vemulamada commented.“I think I improved from last year, but all I can do now is wait for scores to come out and hope for the best,” Kim said.Lower Angela Song spoke about the long-term preparation for the AIME that many Exonians undergofor successful results. “If you want to do well for the AIME, it’s definitely not a short term preparation. It takes a lot of continuous preparation to be able to do well,” she said. Despite the pressures of competitions, Math Club members continue to be a mo- tivated and hard working team on campus. “I think that we have a pretty strong mathteam and many motivated students in Math Club,” lower Meena Jagadeesan stated. Lower Jeffrey Qiao said that it was the drive of students in Math Club that allowed them to perform consistently well in competitions. “It really depends on the level of Math Club and your commitment. If you are really into math, you are going to be there a lot because a lot of people really love math and it is just their thing,” he said. “We might not be the most talented, but we try to make sure we are the hardest working,” Feng said. “We focus on interests, rather than results, and results come naturally.”