I remember watching this video 2 years ago dreaming of being at the imo , and now i have just received the news that i'm representing my country in England this year ....
PLS TELL THE STORY OF THE GIRL AHEAD OF YOU! that's literally what's happening within me and a partner of mine, and yes, the competition makes you so much better haha
What I believe helped his application to Brown is that he went to an international secondary school. But overall his bronze medals probably contributed the most
I have a really similar story like you. Though, I didn't qualify for the JBMO because I was short 2 points, but now I practically got a schoolarship in the best high school, and there studies the "shef" and the whole team is training there and I am attending those lessons and I am looking forward to improving myself the most by those lessons
Great video! In the interest of time, do you know of any books that cover the bare minimum for Olympiad theory? I'm trying to prep for my upcoming national Olympiad (11 months from now). To give you some context, I know all the theory for high school math contests, but severely lacking on the Olympiad level. The IMO compendium has a chapter on basic facts and concepts. From your exp., do you think that is enough theory for someone to do IMO problems? Such an aspiring video by the way. :)
I would begin by saying that I can't guarantee all the topics which come up for Olympiad theory. Now I've made videos on: " How to prepare for Number Theory for Math Competitions " " How to prepare for Combinatorics for Math Competitions " " How to prepare for Geometry for Math Competitions " Where I list out specific books which cover all the minimal theory. The IMO compendium contains a lot more theory that is the bare minimum in my opinion (the chapter on basic facts and concepts). Furthermore DON'T try to memorize theorems and facts thinking that will help you solve problems. SOLVE PROBLEMS and once you get incredibly stuck (no progress or idea for 20, 45, 90 minutes at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level respectively), then look at the solution and see if it's some new concept you've never seen before. If so, look it up and learn about it. That's my short answer :D
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Honestly, so relieved that there isn't as much theory as I thought. I would much rather solve problems instead. Thank you, Shef, for responding so quickly and thoroughly! I will let you know if I get in to the IMO (I will probably be asking you questions pertaining to pre-IMO prep haha).
Hey, I was reading OTIS excerpts by Evan Chen, and in the intro he talked about how solutions should be written. From my perspective, the idealistic solution is quite rigorous and time consuming (i.e. explaining the methods you used, why they will help with the answer, so forth). In your experience, how thorough does a solution need to be in order to be passable for full marks given your method and answer is basically right? Evan also highlights that handwriting should be legible, ideas should be easy to spot for the grader, ... In which case what degree of legibility and ease of "abstraction" of the contestant's work is passable?
Really depends on the competition you're in. Given we're from different countries I can only comment for the IMO: 1) The most important thing is that you have the ideas somewhere on your paper. How scrambled they are doesn't really matter. 2) The only thing that matters with legibility is that another person can understand what was being conveyed. This doesn't mean every sentence needs to be super clean and nicely written, but the person reading it is looking whether or not you have the gist of it. The only time I was somewhat careful about how I wrote my solutions was at the entry levels where the people making the exams aren't really trained in IMO type problems. There people care a lot more about things like legibility and "ease of abstraction" (whatever that means). In short, the more advanced the level of contest, generally, the less it matters that thorough your solution needs to be. You just need to make sure it's correct and there are no gaps in knowledge. Though a disclaimer: THIS IS HIGHLY COUNTRY DEPENDENT!
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Awesome, thanks again. What I meant by "ease of abstraction" was how likely a grader, once having looked at your paper, can piece together your strategy (whether it be correct or not) and motives for doing whatever you did. Sorry for the confusion, I believe the term is too vague. 👍
@@brookeyang4932 Oh that's what you meant! I mean as someone who graded a bunch of exams, one of the things you look at on the first glance is whether or not there is substance or just a bunch of approaches that are tried. You then see "oh the person has this which leads to the solution" and you grade accordingly.
Hi, I read that you won your first medal at 15. I won my first math medal last year when I was 14, do I have a chance to qualify for the IMO in the next years? I come from a country that doesn't have that much success at the IMO, but I am competing with the best generation we ever had. Do you think I can make it? Also I just found you, and I was really engaged with your videos, because you give time to explain your idea and I will be defenetly following you.
Let me ask you a counter question: Why would you NOT HAVE A CHANCE of qualifying for the IMO in the next years? You’re already ahead by knowing about this channel 😉 I loved the fact I had someone amazing at math in my generation (she finished Oxford afterwards) because every time she beat me at a practice test, I’d be motivated to do better next time. That I’m large part kept me motivated. You can find the same motivation with those in your generation
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Thanks, I will be solving problems and i will be following you. I am not sure if I can qualify because I didn't make JBMO last year, and I am like 3rd/4th only at my age (but after all 6 go). Also I have two more questions: 1) Did you go on another competition while competing in math, like for ex. Physics or ICT 2) Do you know a good book to practise Algebra? Algebra is definitely my hardest theme, especially inequalities (I am training functions now, it's going alright). I am so weak at them, I can't solve a simple one with Cauchy. So yeah if you have a good book in mind, algebra book that helped you please share.
@@ShefsofProblemSolving in my deduction proof - he told in his language shef means boss that mean english is not his first language shef means boss in french that means he id from france pls dhef tell me if i am wrong
@@ishansahasec-broll-1094 Let me hint,The shef said that his first imo was in 2015 where he got a bronze and moreover he claims that he was always 2 points below the silver cutoff in every single imo ie Thailand 2015,hong kong 2016 and rio 2017(last imo) and he is the only person in the world with such scores therefore it now suffices to confirm his identity on the imo website and indeed he is from Bosnia 🇧🇦.
Hehe so you're Zlatan Salko and you're from Bosnia ^_^ (also there's a video of you where you use a pen with the Bosnian flag on it ;P) And wow for an IMO team you guys had more girls than most other teams which is really cool, since they aren't usually representative of math competitive teams.
Do YOU need to be disciplined to study maths ? Or it just comes naturally to you say there's a lot of other world , a world of dance , world of sports , one can wish to be a perfect personality like tom Hiddleston (loki) So do you feel all these extra things less attractive than maths or you are just excessively focused towards anything you do ?
Actually I'm a huge fan of dancing :D Now different people have different views, my thing is you can choose to be focused on things and get better at them. That being said, learning something completely new is hard and takes time. For example, in college I wanted to get better at my writing skills given my education outside of mathematics wasn't that great. So I took a class in philosophy, the contemplative studies, and one in sociology my first year at Brown. Now it was difficult, I had more to read in a month than I got through in my one year of high school (which is to say I didn't read much in high school, not that these Brown's classes were insanely difficult). However, over time I got better at the reading and writing part than I was. When planning what I'll do with my life, the social sciences aren't completely crossed out! Another example is starting this UA-cam channel. The first video took me about a month and a half to shoot and edit. A MONTH AND A HALF. In that amount of time I can probably shoot 100 videos at this point without much difficulty. Again things start out hard and become easier. Math has been something I did start early and had a lot of easy problems I solved in my regular school education. I guess that creates an affinity towards numbers but I'm recalling trying to solve a problem in 7th grade that was asking about the last digit of 2^100. My approach was to multiply stuff out until I get 2^100. (Get 2^20 on a calculator, when get 2^25 and square twice). Finally the whole concept of a good proof is definitely something that needs to be learned! On the discipline side, during my competition days especially in early high school I was not nearly as disciplined as I could've been. Part of that was feeling weird about liking mathematics and the "odd one out" in class, but I did attend some extra lessons and exams (where I would sometimes get destroyed by my best competitor). I think what helped me here was that I had pdfs of problems on my phone and I would read them on my 45 minute ride from school to my home or while I was waiting for someone, or while I was bored. Also I was teaching at the same time (since the Fall of 2013) and I'd need to prepare for those which helped me fill in my gaps in knowledge.
Thanks for your comment i didn't expected a comment this detailed coming out ... And surely i got my answer via this text ... Which was to fill the gaps b/w knowledge, then you'll find it easy to be disciplined towards a particular art.
I remember watching this video 2 years ago dreaming of being at the imo , and now i have just received the news that i'm representing my country in England this year ....
That’s amazing !! Congratulations
Thank you !! 😊❤
congrats orz!
congrats！
Congratulations and best of luck!
I love your stories. They are highly motivating. Looking forward to hear more. Thanks.
More to come! Thank you very much!
PLS TELL THE STORY OF THE GIRL AHEAD OF YOU! that's literally what's happening within me and a partner of mine, and yes, the competition makes you so much better haha
Great story 👏
What I believe helped his application to Brown is that he went to an international secondary school. But overall his bronze medals probably contributed the most
This was very inspirational thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
In my language shef also means Boss, but we write it "szef".
I have a really similar story like you. Though, I didn't qualify for the JBMO because I was short 2 points, but now I practically got a schoolarship in the best high school, and there studies the "shef" and the whole team is training there and I am attending those lessons and I am looking forward to improving myself the most by those lessons
Best of luck !!
@@ShefsofProblemSolving I will share here if I qualify for IMO in the next years.
Great
Thank you!
So how many times have you gone to the IMO, and what age were you in those times?
Congratulations 🎉
The video was really nice
Can you give some tips for a beginner like me to prepare for the imo during a year?
Been 3 months huh ? You got it man !
@@baconguy9717 i'm girl hhh
I wish you had been a youtuber back then when I was still in my competition years...
Thank you for those kind words :D
Great video! In the interest of time, do you know of any books that cover the bare minimum for Olympiad theory? I'm trying to prep for my upcoming national Olympiad (11 months from now). To give you some context, I know all the theory for high school math contests, but severely lacking on the Olympiad level.
The IMO compendium has a chapter on basic facts and concepts. From your exp., do you think that is enough theory for someone to do IMO problems? Such an aspiring video by the way. :)
I would begin by saying that I can't guarantee all the topics which come up for Olympiad theory. Now I've made videos on:
" How to prepare for Number Theory for Math Competitions "
" How to prepare for Combinatorics for Math Competitions "
" How to prepare for Geometry for Math Competitions "
Where I list out specific books which cover all the minimal theory.
The IMO compendium contains a lot more theory that is the bare minimum in my opinion (the chapter on basic facts and concepts). Furthermore DON'T try to memorize theorems and facts thinking that will help you solve problems. SOLVE PROBLEMS and once you get incredibly stuck (no progress or idea for 20, 45, 90 minutes at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level respectively), then look at the solution and see if it's some new concept you've never seen before. If so, look it up and learn about it.
That's my short answer :D
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Honestly, so relieved that there isn't as much theory as I thought. I would much rather solve problems instead. Thank you, Shef, for responding so quickly and thoroughly! I will let you know if I get in to the IMO (I will probably be asking you questions pertaining to pre-IMO prep haha).
@@brookeyang4932Hi! How are you going? Did you succeed?
Hey, I was reading OTIS excerpts by Evan Chen, and in the intro he talked about how solutions should be written. From my perspective, the idealistic solution is quite rigorous and time consuming (i.e. explaining the methods you used, why they will help with the answer, so forth). In your experience, how thorough does a solution need to be in order to be passable for full marks given your method and answer is basically right? Evan also highlights that handwriting should be legible, ideas should be easy to spot for the grader, ... In which case what degree of legibility and ease of "abstraction" of the contestant's work is passable?
Really depends on the competition you're in. Given we're from different countries I can only comment for the IMO:
1) The most important thing is that you have the ideas somewhere on your paper. How scrambled they are doesn't really matter.
2) The only thing that matters with legibility is that another person can understand what was being conveyed. This doesn't mean every sentence needs to be super clean and nicely written, but the person reading it is looking whether or not you have the gist of it.
The only time I was somewhat careful about how I wrote my solutions was at the entry levels where the people making the exams aren't really trained in IMO type problems. There people care a lot more about things like legibility and "ease of abstraction" (whatever that means).
In short, the more advanced the level of contest, generally, the less it matters that thorough your solution needs to be. You just need to make sure it's correct and there are no gaps in knowledge.
Though a disclaimer: THIS IS HIGHLY COUNTRY DEPENDENT!
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Awesome, thanks again. What I meant by "ease of abstraction" was how likely a grader, once having looked at your paper, can piece together your strategy (whether it be correct or not) and motives for doing whatever you did. Sorry for the confusion, I believe the term is too vague. 👍
@@brookeyang4932 Oh that's what you meant! I mean as someone who graded a bunch of exams, one of the things you look at on the first glance is whether or not there is substance or just a bunch of approaches that are tried. You then see "oh the person has this which leads to the solution" and you grade accordingly.
Really nice and funny video!
Thanks! Doubly thanks for the funny part :D
Hi, I read that you won your first medal at 15. I won my first math medal last year when I was 14, do I have a chance to qualify for the IMO in the next years? I come from a country that doesn't have that much success at the IMO, but I am competing with the best generation we ever had. Do you think I can make it? Also I just found you, and I was really engaged with your videos, because you give time to explain your idea and I will be defenetly following you.
Let me ask you a counter question: Why would you NOT HAVE A CHANCE of qualifying for the IMO in the next years? You’re already ahead by knowing about this channel 😉
I loved the fact I had someone amazing at math in my generation (she finished Oxford afterwards) because every time she beat me at a practice test, I’d be motivated to do better next time. That I’m large part kept me motivated. You can find the same motivation with those in your generation
@@ShefsofProblemSolving Thanks, I will be solving problems and i will be following you. I am not sure if I can qualify because I didn't make JBMO last year, and I am like 3rd/4th only at my age (but after all 6 go). Also I have two more questions:
1) Did you go on another competition while competing in math, like for ex. Physics or ICT
2) Do you know a good book to practise Algebra? Algebra is definitely my hardest theme, especially inequalities (I am training functions now, it's going alright). I am so weak at them, I can't solve a simple one with Cauchy. So yeah if you have a good book in mind, algebra book that helped you please share.
Which country?
Interesting story! You talk about the Balkan competition, where are you from?
I'll leave the deduction to you ;P
@@ShefsofProblemSolving I mean which specific country
@@ShefsofProblemSolving in my deduction proof - he told in his language shef means boss that mean english is not his first language shef means boss in french that means he id from france pls dhef tell me if i am wrong
@@ishansahasec-broll-1094 Let me hint,The shef said that his first imo was in 2015 where he got a bronze and moreover he claims that he was always 2 points below the silver cutoff in every single imo ie Thailand 2015,hong kong 2016 and rio 2017(last imo) and he is the only person in the world with such scores therefore it now suffices to confirm his identity on the imo website and indeed he is from Bosnia 🇧🇦.
What Age were you at the First competition?
Hmm I was 13 I believe. Though my first "success" came at 14 (when I passed the first round). At 15 got my first medal.
Hehe just from this story I manged to find you on the IMO site XD (no I had nothing better to do XD)
Did you go to the IMO together with your friend?
where is he from?
Yup I went to the IMO with my friend ;)
Let's see your deduction skills :P
@@ShefsofProblemSolving bosnia hahahhahaa i found you on the imo site
Hehe so you're Zlatan Salko and you're from Bosnia ^_^ (also there's a video of you where you use a pen with the Bosnian flag on it ;P)
And wow for an IMO team you guys had more girls than most other teams which is really cool, since they aren't usually representative of math competitive teams.
Do YOU need to be disciplined to study maths ?
Or it just comes naturally to you
say there's a lot of other world ,
a world of dance , world of sports , one can wish to be a perfect personality like tom Hiddleston (loki)
So do you feel all these extra things less attractive than maths or you are just excessively focused towards anything you do ?
Actually I'm a huge fan of dancing :D
Now different people have different views, my thing is you can choose to be focused on things and get better at them. That being said, learning something completely new is hard and takes time.
For example, in college I wanted to get better at my writing skills given my education outside of mathematics wasn't that great. So I took a class in philosophy, the contemplative studies, and one in sociology my first year at Brown. Now it was difficult, I had more to read in a month than I got through in my one year of high school (which is to say I didn't read much in high school, not that these Brown's classes were insanely difficult). However, over time I got better at the reading and writing part than I was. When planning what I'll do with my life, the social sciences aren't completely crossed out!
Another example is starting this UA-cam channel. The first video took me about a month and a half to shoot and edit. A MONTH AND A HALF. In that amount of time I can probably shoot 100 videos at this point without much difficulty. Again things start out hard and become easier.
Math has been something I did start early and had a lot of easy problems I solved in my regular school education. I guess that creates an affinity towards numbers but I'm recalling trying to solve a problem in 7th grade that was asking about the last digit of 2^100. My approach was to multiply stuff out until I get 2^100. (Get 2^20 on a calculator, when get 2^25 and square twice). Finally the whole concept of a good proof is definitely something that needs to be learned!
On the discipline side, during my competition days especially in early high school I was not nearly as disciplined as I could've been. Part of that was feeling weird about liking mathematics and the "odd one out" in class, but I did attend some extra lessons and exams (where I would sometimes get destroyed by my best competitor).
I think what helped me here was that I had pdfs of problems on my phone and I would read them on my 45 minute ride from school to my home or while I was waiting for someone, or while I was bored. Also I was teaching at the same time (since the Fall of 2013) and I'd need to prepare for those which helped me fill in my gaps in knowledge.
Thanks for your comment i didn't expected a comment this detailed coming out ... And surely i got my answer via this text ... Which was to fill the gaps b/w knowledge, then you'll find it easy to be disciplined towards a particular art.
What country are you from?
Let's see if you can deduce it from the video ;P
@PvP Devil No you're right
He has a Bosnian accent
Probably swiss
Where is the algebra suggestions?
Honestly, probably Tuesday, depending on how much for there is for Shef's Scholars.
You're me hero.
You are Zlatko Salko Lagumbzija from Bosnia, I am sure about it