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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You did move the goalpost there.  The original assertion was that a kid taking Algebra I in 7th and geometry in 8th could be competitive in VA.  They simply can’t be. [/quote]

Looking at the results in VA this year, at least one student who has not completed algebra 1 came pretty close to making nationals, and at least one student who did go to nationals did not have algebra 1 before 6th grade.[/quote]

Even if they're not taking Alg/trig in school, they are learning it somewhere. I believe most of the VA team made USAJMO, which requires a strong AIME showing (which require Alg2+)   [/quote]

This.  They're not reaching AIME/JMO/Mathcounts nationals with nothing more than the algebra I or geometry taught in FCPS/LCPS.  They're taking outside classes somewhere.  The one student who has not completed Algebra I yet came close to making nationals has at least taken an outside geometry class.  Many of the problems in the state round this year required geometry. [/quote]

No outside classes, but they study stuff on their own, or in team practices.[/quote]

Well, then define "pretty close to making nationals."  The VA cutoff for making nationals was like a 35 or 36, and the MD one was like a 40.  It is doubtful that a kid who hasn't completed algebra I and has just done some free self study got a score anywhere near those levels.  [/quote]

VA cutoff was 34. The kid I know scored 29, and I don't rule out for some of the other kids- two 7th graders are going to nationals.  This kid scored over 40 in chapter round.  It's even closer than that, as a few questions he knew how to do at state he messed up that would have put him right in the mix for advancing.
Unfortunately Virginia was way down this year, so to qualify next year he would need to go much higher.  There is a big difference between 35 and 40.
[/quote]

Sorry, but there's no way that a 29 should be viewed as an "almost made nats in a competitive state" score.  It's truly a "made nats only in a very weak state" score.  There's a huge difference between a 29 and 34 (although I think you're wrong on the cutoff.  It was reported as a 35 to make nats with multiple scores over 40).  My noncompetitive state had a nationals cutoff of 34, with a 29 not even making top 10.  Also, at least one of the 7th graders from VA made JMO.  And also, every single kid messed up a few problems that they could have gotten.

Thanks for proving my point, though, that it's pretty much impossible for a kid to come close to qualifying for nats in a competitive state with just school Algebra I and coaching.
[/quote]
As for competitive state vs noncompetitive, this is a Virginia forum, maybe MD, and the original statement was you need to be super advanced to do well.  Well it is clearly not the case in Virginia.[/quote]

VA usually is a competitive state.  They had an anomalously bad year this year.  Generally, kids need to be super advanced in VA to be one of the top 4 kids in the state round.  Most years, all of the VA nationals competitors are AIME qualifiers, and one or two are even JMO qualifiers.

It's pretty rare for kids to pick up so much geometry and Algebra II knowledge just from their middle school math club.  They're clearly wasting their time in school math classes if they can more or less learn all of Geometry and Algebra II through their weekly(?) after school club.  [/quote]

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