There was a 4th grader in FCPS who scored over 20 on AMC 8, He does not appear in state top 80 for MathCounts, so perhaps his elementary did not compete, or he is now in a different state.

I am not convinced MathCounts has gotten harder long term. Certainly recently, but I would have to see the early contests especially the one where this kid had a near perfect score and everyone else was nowhere close.

Anonymous wrote:
Well, you didn't compete within the last 20 years. For the 5th place finisher to score 20 points lower than the written champion, the CDR cutoff would need to be <= 26. That has not even come close to happening in the last 20 years.

You picked up on the right detail, but didn't quite get the significance of it. Now that I think more about it, it doesn't really narrow it down completely; I was at the last nationals where this could have realistically happened.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can see on the MathCounts website which schools are registered for the competition series. Likely a small list right now.

Is there a list of schools that competed in recent years?

I don't think you could get last year's list, but if you posted your school, someone could probably identify if they competed.

Anonymous wrote:You can see on the MathCounts website which schools are registered for the competition series. Likely a small list right now.

Is there a list of schools that competed in recent years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

They scored 18 on the AMC 8 a few months later so I guess so.

Again, great score, but you're grossly underestimating just how competitive VA is. In the latest AMC 8, VA had 4 perfect scores and another 25 kids on the DHR (scores >= 22). An 18 would not be competitive against this talent pool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

They scored 18 on the AMC 8 a few months later so I guess so.

PS they had just turned 11...

And completed the AMC 8 class at 10

Congrats! Was this the January 2022 test? Very few kids would absorb enough Algebra and Geometry from the AoPS AMC 8 class alone to earn that high of a score. You didn't mention how your child performed in Mathcounts, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

They scored 18 on the AMC 8 a few months later so I guess so.

PS they had just turned 11...

And completed the AMC 8 class at 10

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

They scored 18 on the AMC 8 a few months later so I guess so.

PS they had just turned 11...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't know where the other thread is... I don't even live in VA.

Must have thought that was me for some reason. Funny thing, wouldn't have known it at the time was writing the post, but I actually am the previous poster. Was wondering if this person had access to server logs.

To respond to that person, you don't know as much about MathCounts as you think, unless you are able to identify the champion when I went based off the details and looking at a list of champs.

Well, you didn't compete within the last 20 years. For the 5th place finisher to score 20 points lower than the written champion, the CDR cutoff would need to be <= 26. That has not even come close to happening in the last 20 years.

Things have changed a lot in that timeframe. I almost qualified for USAMO in 12th grade while merely taking Calc (with Algebra I in 8th). I also almost qualified for Mathcounts Nats with my 8th grade Algebra. That was ages ago. The contests have become so much harder, and the kids are so much more accelerated than they were. It would be absurd to recommend that 8th grade Algebra would suffice for USAMO qualification now, because that simply isn't the case. It is not helpful to spread outdated info.

So many people are giving out bad advice for Mathcounts in the present day. That's why I thought you were the same person. In present day FCPS, a kid who doesn't take Algebra until 7th grade has no real chance of competing with the plethora of kids who are much more advanced.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

They scored 18 on the AMC 8 a few months later so I guess so.

Anonymous wrote: I don't know where the other thread is... I don't even live in VA.

Must have thought that was me for some reason. Funny thing, wouldn't have known it at the time was writing the post, but I actually am the previous poster. Was wondering if this person had access to server logs.

To respond to that person, you don't know as much about MathCounts as you think, unless you are able to identify the champion when I went based off the details and looking at a list of champs.

I'll give the simple recap from an AoPS perspective. If your kid wants to do reasonably well on Mathcounts, they will need at least the information from AoPS Intro to Algebra (which is Algebra I), Intro to Geometry (high school geometry), Intro to Number Theory, and Intro to counting and Probability. The kid will also need a lot of experience with problem solving, but problem solving is covered in the AoPS books and classes. If your kid wants to do well at the National level, the kid will also need the knowledge from Intermediate Algebra, Intermediate counting and probability, intermediate number theory, and trig, as these can lead to shortcuts in some of the otherwise time consuming problems.

The AoPS competition math classes are a great review of materials already learned, and they're a great opportunity to learn new tricks for solving common problems that appear in whatever contest. They're not really a substitute for the Intro series, and they will not be sufficient for a child to do well on contests without the underlying Algebra and Geometry foundations.

VA is very competitive. Kids who don't know Algebra and Geometry have no chance at earning a competitive score.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

And was taking the AMC 8 class without fully learning Algebra or Geometry sufficient for your kid to be competitive in Mathcounts State or National level? Didn't think so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In order to prepare my DC for math count contest what does DC need to know, Algebra 1 or Algebra 2? I am planning to put DC in AOPS and trying to decide what course should I opt for?

AoPS has wonderful courses. Algebra and Geometry are somewhat useful for this but Mathcounts specifically is contest math. You may want to consider something like their AMC 8 class instead if this is what is important to your child.

Mathcounts specifically is contest math that is heavily based on Algebra 1 and Geometry. Both would be quite helpful. The Contest prep classes would be entirely useless if your child does not have a solid background in both Algebra I and Geometry, as they would then be learning concepts in isolation. If your child already has strong mastery of Algebra and Geometry, then they might be useful. AoPS also has Number Theory and Counting & Probability classes, both covering areas common in contest math and not generally covered well in regular school math. At the highest levels of Mathcounts competition, Algebra 2 is quite helpful as well, since many problems can be more easily solved by trig than they can with a geometric approach.

PP, with all due honesty, why are you posting in this thread and the other thread in the other forum? It's painfully obvious that you have no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess: your kid participated last year and qualified for State only because VA took the top half of the competitors, and now you think you're some kind of expert at all things Mathcounts. The big leagues are completely different.

My kid learned Algebra and Geometry basics by taking this class prior to having completed AoPS Algebra and Geometry. They also did those but not until 6th grade.

PS They took AMC 8 class the summer after 5th and started AoPS Algebra Part 1 and 2 and Geometry in parallel during 6th. I don't know where the other thread is... I don't even live in VA.