day before competition

[iYOA]

what is the best thing to do on the day before a math competition?

[veezbo]

Preparation, in terms of sleep, begins at least a few days before. If you are like me (average midnight sleeper, or even later), then you probably want to work in the few days before going to sleep a little earlier. The day before, try and go to sleep as early as you can (for me, this would probably be 9, but it depends on your average sleep). However, if you do happen to get less sleep than you wanted, don't stress over it. It probably doesn't even make that much of a deal (just keep telling yourself that).

Let's see...I wouldn't do any math the day before. Maybe just some puzzles, to keep your brain sharp and relax. I would also highly recommend listening to some good music.

[darkdieuguerre]

Definitely have fun, and get a lot of sleep. To tell a quick story, the night before 2009 HMMT, I stayed up until about 1 AM and got practically no sleep. Did not do too well, even though I had tons of fun. In stark comparison, 2009 ARML was also fun, and I managed to get about seven hours of sleep. I almost qualified for tiebreakers. I'm not sure if there's causation there, but there's definitely a correlation.

You definitely shouldn't do too much math. Maybe review a couple of formulas or something, but nothing significant. You don't want to stress yourself out before the competition.

[AwesomeToad]

I think getting sleep is a must, in addition to good breakfast. Eat something that perks you up.

Also don't do too much math the same week.

[limac]

Just stay calm about the competition. Listen to some good music or something that calms you down, as said previously. Get a good night sleep, and also eat a healthy breakfast. Eat like things that give you long hours of energy, like starchy food, eg. potatoes? Also, if the competition is like more of a time bound competition, try practicing same/similar level problems in a lesser time limit than they are supposed to be done in. Finally, just enjoy...

[CountdownKing]

Play basketball...even if you hate basketball. That's what I did the morning of USAMO this year, because I was told I didn't need to go to school in the morning. It really clears your mind.

Also, the night before, listen to some music that makes you feel angry. This has a similar effect.

If you really want, you can also write a haiku about olympiad inequalities so that you can practice using creativity while thinking about inequalities while not thinking too hard, seeing as you'll think hard enough the next day.

[iYOA]

ok, thanks for the advice everyone

lol i wonder what the last line of my haiku should be.....

[Smartguy]

why dont you treat everyday as the day before the competition??

[AIME15USAMO]

because then, the day of the competition would be the most miserable day of your life

[darkdieuguerre]

Also note that, if you treat every day as the day before the competition, whatever you do before the competition no longer becomes special because it is a quotidian activity.

[Hamster1800]

My method of preparing for contests is to work up until two days before the competition. As soon as it is the day before, do absolutely no math. Relax and be well rested. Then the morning of maybe do a bit of cramming if you want, but this is unlikely to help. It might make you feel more confident though.

Same thing for afternoon of USAMO day 1. I would recommend doing no math other than perhaps going over what happened on day 1.

[pythag011]

[not_trig]

[MellowMelon]

That's not an easy question to answer and it might depend on the person how helpful/detrimental it is. (I don't see why anyone should definitely know the answer to that... well maybe someone like Zuming.)

In my opinion it depends on how confident you are in your preparation. If you aren't confident, hearing how to solve the problems you missed might help you figure out why you didn't think of certain steps and reorient your thinking for the next day. If you've prepared well, anything you hear is probably going to be much more distracting than instructive.

Personally, I never discussed the day 1 problems with anyone else (except for people at my school right after the test), although I'd often turn them over in my head over the course of the day - as said above, it's hard not to.

[Maybach]

Maybe try some easyi-ish problems the day before the test to warm up your brain. Such as, say, Mathcounts School Rounds, or Math League competitions....

[PowerOfPi]

If you do practice tests, you should do easy ones. If you do easy ones, you will probably do good and become confident. If you do hard ones, you will get frustrated if you don't do good. You usually do as good as you think you will do.

[AlphaBetaTheta]

Nothing significant should be done. Getting sleep is good. Remember, if you want to prep for a competition do it over a long period of time. In other words, don't cram in the last week. Also, relax and enjoy. Most importantly learn.

[AwesomeToad]

[pianoforte]

If you find it hard to get to sleep, do a physical activity before sleeping.

[Hamster1800]

On the question of USAMO day 1, I think hearing how to do problems can help you get them out of your head quickly and allow you to stop dwelling on the ones you missed. I think this probably helped me on #2 last year, since I knew it was easy, but after not getting it after 4 hours I just had to hear a solution.