In October, 34 CIS students from grades 2-7 competed in the American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) competition at the Singapore International Consortium School. The American Mathematics Olympiad’s goals are to cultivate and stimulate a love for mathematics among students by introducing important concepts, teaching major strategies, strengthening mathematical intuition and fostering creativity and ingenuity.
Students prepared during lunch breaks leading up to the competition under the instruction of our grade 7 math teacher. The results of the competition were announced mid-November online and we are extremely proud to share that two of our CIS students finished on top! Allen finished 6th in Cambodia, while Andy finished first in Cambodia and 103 globally out of 1312 students who competed in his division!
We caught up with Andy for a quick interview about the competition and his love for math.
CIS: First of all, a huge congratulations on your achievement, we are all very proud of you! Can you tell us a little bit about the Olympiad math competition you competed in on October 14th?
Andy: We went to the Singapore International Consortium School where all of the students in my grade who were competing took the same math test.
CIS: So, all students in your division took the test together while the other grades did the same thing then?
Andy: Yes.
CIS: How long was the test?
Andy: We had 90 minutes to complete the 25 questions. Each grade had a different classroom to complete their test for that grade.
CIS: What kind of math questions were you tested on?
Andy: We were tested on a bunch of different types of questions like algebra and geometry. Some of the questions had more than one part to them so they were pretty hard.
CIS: How did you prepare for the test?
Andy: Ms. Rosentreter helped me prepare by giving me sample questions from the year before. I also prepared through school work and practicing at home.
CIS: How did you find out you won? Were you excited when you found out?
Andy: Ms. Rosentreter found the results online and announced it to the class that I won first in Cambodia. Yes, I was excited to find out!
CIS: Is math your favorite subject? If yes, has it always been?
Andy: Yes, math has always been my favorite subject, I’ve found it easy but I also have to practice.
CIS: What other subject(s) do you enjoy?
Andy: I like Social Studies as well.
CIS: What do you do in your spare time/outside of the classroom?
Andy: I like to swim in my spare time.
CIS: Is there anything you’d like to add about the competition?
Andy: The test was hard but it was also fun!
CIS: Will you compete again next year?
Andy: Yes, I’d like to continue to compete.
CIS: Well, again we are very proud of you and look forward to seeing how you do next year in the competition!
Congratulations to all students who continue to represent CIS so well. We wish all of our students the best of luck in any upcoming competitions in 2018!