Reply to How hard is Alcumus for your child?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]1st PP here.  My kids took several years at the AoPS academy and several more online.  For both of these options, the important thing to remember is that AoPS, like math contests, does not run on a 90/80/70 scale.  In school, 80% is a poor grade for a bright kid.  At AoPS, it's a strong score.

They want the classes to be challenging, even for extremely bright kids.  They want the kids to struggle a little, play with the math a bit to see if they can come up with new approaches, ask teachers for help, or even brainstorm with fellow students.  If your child takes the online classes, they hold office hours and the TAs are very responsive on the message board for the class.  Other kids will also ask questions and try to help yours if yours asks.  If your child takes the in person class, the teachers there will be able to answer questions before or after class if your child is confused.  Your child can still post on the general AoPS forums for help.

The biggest issue your child might have is if he freaks out a bit over not finding it easy or not getting almost all of the problems correct.  You'll just need to work with him to adjust expectations a bit.

Also, FWIW, it's not like every Alcumus problem is carefully selected for each section.  Many of them are very tricky math competition problems that were slotted into Alcumus.  It's a great tool for preparing for contests, but it not necessarily representative of the material that your child should have mastered in the class.  [/quote]

Thank you very much. I embrace this philosophy wholeheartedly, my only worry is if my child is ready for it. I believe it's very important to learn to work on harder problems and to try several different approaches. Don't give up just because your first idea didn't work. Even if they don't help solve that particular problem, those ideas might come handy with another problem. You are still learning and reinforcing your knowledge base. I don't like that school problems are too easy for my child and that they got accustomed to expect 100%. Yet, knowing all that, I have still been lulled into complacence by their school grades.

Now we are working on some of the harder problems and there are tantrums almost every day ("I am stupid"). Hopefully AoPS won't be worse than that :cry:. [/quote]

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