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Home » Mathematics » Middle School Contests (MATHCOUNTS, AMC 8, MOEMS, Ages 10-13)
 
How did you deal with MATHCOUNTS disappointments?
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Maybach
Navier-Stokes Equations
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#81
Re: Sprint difficulty levels may contribute to disappointment
Mewto55555 wrote:
mathlearner wrote:
PowerofPi - I think you make an excellent and valid point, and one that is sort of topic related in a way. I think that my own disappointment and the disappointment of the person I'm close to who was really devastated by this year's outcome at Nats had to do with JUST what you had said. In that, they nailed the targets but just couldn't (and still have a hard time) quite comprehending how they can do SO well on Target, USAMO, and even ARML problems, but get about a third of the questions wrong on an "easier" Sprint round - especially a round many people say they felt was relatively easy this year (note - "ease" is largely opinion - though one can argue that, I guess).

I also wonder if making "careless errors" or in some cases, "overcomplicating" the problem, and thus making more mistakes on "easy ones" while acing the more diffficult ones, causes the MATHCOUNTS Competition as a whole to sort of "handicap" or "penalize" the more advanced students and allows some participants to make the top 12 who by more difficult tests would NOT have made it, and results in others NOT making the top 12 (or ranking not as high as their skills would lead one to believe) by virtue of careless errors they wouldn't typically make on more advanced problems. (one only needs to review this year's National rankings to support such a conclusion, which by no means applies to all participants) I guess I agree with Coach Boyd in that I'd prefer more difficult tests (at all levels) to separate "the men from the boys" so to speak. (Note - that's my quote - not Coach Boyd's - but, Coach Boyd, I believe you posted about preferring more difficult questions.)



Yes well the "handicapping" serves a role in real life preparation. Say you are an engineer, designing an easy bridge to build. No matter how easy, you still can't make a stupid mistake.


Well, the "more difficult questions" isn't really my cup of tea. The Sprint round questions are Hard enough! Case in point: 2009 Chapter Sprint Round Problems 28-30, 2009 Chapter State Round Problems23, 28, 29, and 30. Anyways, I'm not too great at math, and I also make tons of careless mistakes! After all, you have to really screw up to get 63rd in sttate for Indiana(To make me feel a bit better, I did get first place in chapter, but you can't really call that a huge accomplishment). Plus, most MC problems ALREADY test hard topics such as Discrete Math, Complex Probability, Combinatrics, Complicated Geometry, as well as those killer algebra problems. In my opinion, the questions should be made EASIER and we should make there be 40 problems in 30 minutes for the Sprint Round instead of vice versa(like before 1990)

PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:35 pm  Back to top 
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AIME15
Birch & Swinnerton Dyer
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#82
However, the dense concentration of high scores near the top calls for a harder test, or less time for the same difficulty.
_________________
GOALS: MC School: 46 | Chapter: 46 | State: 46 | National: 46 | AMC 8: 25 | AMC 10: 150 | AMC 12: 150 | AIME: 15 | USAMO: 42 | TST: 63 | IMO: 42 |

PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:19 pm  Back to top 
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pythag011
Navier-Stokes Equations
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#83
Re: Sprint difficulty levels may contribute to disappointment
maybach wrote:
Mewto55555 wrote:
mathlearner wrote:
PowerofPi - I think you make an excellent and valid point, and one that is sort of topic related in a way. I think that my own disappointment and the disappointment of the person I'm close to who was really devastated by this year's outcome at Nats had to do with JUST what you had said. In that, they nailed the targets but just couldn't (and still have a hard time) quite comprehending how they can do SO well on Target, USAMO, and even ARML problems, but get about a third of the questions wrong on an "easier" Sprint round - especially a round many people say they felt was relatively easy this year (note - "ease" is largely opinion - though one can argue that, I guess).

I also wonder if making "careless errors" or in some cases, "overcomplicating" the problem, and thus making more mistakes on "easy ones" while acing the more diffficult ones, causes the MATHCOUNTS Competition as a whole to sort of "handicap" or "penalize" the more advanced students and allows some participants to make the top 12 who by more difficult tests would NOT have made it, and results in others NOT making the top 12 (or ranking not as high as their skills would lead one to believe) by virtue of careless errors they wouldn't typically make on more advanced problems. (one only needs to review this year's National rankings to support such a conclusion, which by no means applies to all participants) I guess I agree with Coach Boyd in that I'd prefer more difficult tests (at all levels) to separate "the men from the boys" so to speak. (Note - that's my quote - not Coach Boyd's - but, Coach Boyd, I believe you posted about preferring more difficult questions.)



Yes well the "handicapping" serves a role in real life preparation. Say you are an engineer, designing an easy bridge to build. No matter how easy, you still can't make a stupid mistake.


Well, the "more difficult questions" isn't really my cup of tea. The Sprint round questions are Hard enough! Case in point: 2009 Chapter Sprint Round Problems 28-30, 2009 Chapter State Round Problems23, 28, 29, and 30. Anyways, I'm not too great at math, and I also make tons of careless mistakes! After all, you have to really screw up to get 63rd in sttate for Indiana(To make me feel a bit better, I did get first place in chapter, but you can't really call that a huge accomplishment). Plus, most MC problems ALREADY test hard topics such as Discrete Math, Complex Probability, Combinatrics, Complicated Geometry, as well as those killer algebra problems. In my opinion, the questions should be made EASIER and we should make there be 40 problems in 30 minutes for the Sprint Round instead of vice versa(like before 1990)


Well, MATHCOUNTS is designed to seperate the top people from the really good people.

Most the good contests are like this; USACO Gold, USAMO.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 9:31 pm  Back to top 
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MoTheMan
Poincare Conjecture
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#84
I thought I'd get 10th in State as a 6th grader but Got 76th
Thought:5th in state as a 7th grader
Got:33rd

PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:52 pm  Back to top 
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