Winchester Thurston MathCounts 2011-2012

Last updated 29 Jan 2012.

Book

Online resources

• Art of Problem Solving (AoPS)
• "FTW" on AoPS.
• Last season's planning page.

Philosophy

• The focus below is on individual, as opposed to team performance. This is because (1) it would be nice to encourage our whole group to learn together as a "team", as opposed to just a subset of four, and (2) National qualification is purely determined by individual scores.

• Self-study at home is optional, although as we saw last year, it is very beneficial. I purposely made my study list so long that it can suit the student who wants to spend an extra hour per day on math, plus some more time on weekends. I will not judge anyone on the basis of their choice. Please do not be scared away by the list.

• If you elect to work extra at home, I suggest the following priority order for your limited time:
  1. Problems from the sections of the book covered at the meeting earlier that week. This will ensure that you have a solid foundation to build upon.
  2. Finish working through the actual competition rounds which we started at our meeting, and make sure you understand the solution to every problem.
  3. New MathCounts competition rounds which are distributed.
  4. AIME problems for extreme challenge. These are very difficult, but be proud if you solve any of them, even if it takes you a few hours for a single problem. (When you solve a really hard problem after attacking it for a long time, it feels very good.)

• We apply tighter time limits when we practice together, to discover that it is actually possible to work more intensely. When practicing competition rounds at home, you can complement this by using a stopwatch instead of time limits (but work as fast as you did when we were together). Compete against yourself, and try to beat your record times. Really try to solve every problem, in order, unless it is clear that you will not be able to solve it because you have not learned the technique. Don't worry, that is not your fault.

• Ask each other in school for hints on problems that you were unable to solve. It is fun to consider the whole group as a big team!

Proposed schedule

Date	Book	Together	Extra	Challenge
Sun May 1	Algebra 1.1	99 Chap Indiv	00 Chap Indiv	00 AIME-I, 1-8
Sun May 8	Counting 2.1	97 Chap Indiv	01 Chap Indiv
Sun May 15	Probability 3.1	95 Chap Indiv	96 Chap Indiv
Sun May 22	No practice
Sun May 29	Number theory 4.1	92 Chap Indiv	93 Chap Indiv
Sun Jun 5	Geometry 5.1	90 Chap Indiv	91 Chap Indiv
Mon Jun 6	Last day of school
Sun Jun 12	Algebra 1.2	88 Chap Indiv	89 Chap Indiv
Sun Jun 19	Counting 2.2	86 Chap Indiv	87 Chap Indiv
Sun Jun 26	Probability 3.2	84 Chap Indiv	85 Chap Indiv
Sun Jul 3	Number theory 4.2	02 Chap Indiv	98 Chap Indiv
Sun Jul 10	Geometry 5.2	04 Chap Indiv	03 Chap Indiv
Sun Jul 17	Algebra 1.3	06 Chap Indiv	05 Chap Indiv
Sun Jul 24	Counting 2.3	08 Chap Indiv	07 Chap Indiv
Sun Jul 31	Probability 3.3	99 State Indiv	00 State Indiv
Sun Aug 7	No practice
Sat Aug 13		97 State Indiv	98 State Indiv
Sun Aug 21		95 State Indiv	96 State Indiv	00 AIME-II, 1-8
Thu Aug 25	School begins
Sun Aug 28		93 State Indiv	94 State Indiv
Sun Sep 4		91 State Indiv	92 State Indiv
Sun Sep 11		89 State Indiv	90 State Indiv
Sun Sep 18	Number theory 4.3	02 State Indiv	01 State Indiv
Sun Sep 25	Geometry 5.3	04 State Sprint	03 State Sprint
Sun Oct 2	Algebra 1.4	06 State Sprint	05 State Sprint
Sun Oct 9	Counting 2.4	08 State Sprint-	07 State Sprint
Sun Oct 16	Probability 3.4	09 State Sprint-
Sun Oct 23	Number theory 4.4	04 State Target	03 State Target
Sun Oct 30	Geometry 5.4	06 State Target	05 State Target
Sun Nov 6	Algebra 1.5	08 State Target	07 State Target
Sun Nov 13	Counting 2.5	88 State Sprint-	88 State Target
Sun Nov 20	Probability 3.5	87 State Target	87 State Sprint	87 State Countdown
Sun Nov 27	Number theory 4.5	86 State Sprint-	86 State Target	86 State Countdown
Sun Dec 4		00 Nat Sprint
Sun Dec 11	Geometry 5.5	00 Nat Target		99 State Countdown
Sat Dec 17	Winter break
Sun Dec 18	Algebra 1.6	01 Nat Sprint	01 Nat Target	01 AIME-I, 1-8
Sun Dec 25	No practice
Thu Dec 29	Counting 2.6	02 Nat Sprint	02 Nat Target
Sun Jan 1	No practice
Mon Jan 2	Probability 3.6	03 Nat Sprint	03 Nat Target
Tue Jan 3	School resumes
Sun Jan 8	Number theory 4.6	00 Chap Indiv	99 Chap Indiv	99 Nat Indiv
Sun Jan 15	Geometry 5.6	04 Nat Target	04 Nat Sprint	98 Chap Indiv
Sun Jan 22	Algebra 1.7	01 Chap Indiv	97 Chap Indiv	98 Nat Indiv
Sun Jan 29	Counting 2.7	03 Chap Indiv	04 Chap Indiv	95 Chap Countdown, 97 Nat Indiv
Sat Feb 4	City competition (confirmed)
Sun Feb 5	Probability 3.7	05 Nat Sprint	05 Nat Target
Sun Feb 12	Number theory 4.7	06 Nat Target	06 Nat Sprint
Sun Feb 19	Algebra 1.8	07 Nat Sprint	07 Nat Target
Sun Feb 26	Counting 2.8	08 Nat Target	08 Nat Sprint
Sun Mar 4	Algebra 1.9	09 Nat Sprint	09 Nat Target
Sun Mar 11	Counting 2.9	00 State Indiv	99 State Indiv
Sun Mar 18	Algebra 1.10	98 State Indiv	97 State Indiv
Sat Mar 24	State competition (confirmed)