Today I interviewed Ofer Grossman, a friend of mine with many impressive achievements in mathematics contests. (Honorable Mention at the International Mathematical Olympiad, Honorable Mention at the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad, top 500 in Putnam, and winner of the Rochester Olympiad)
Here is the transcript of the interview:
It has been edited to only the information necessary, no formalities.
I: What contests did you participate in?
O: I participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad, the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympad, Putnam, the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad, and many competitions in Israel, including national olympiads and team selection tests for the IMO.
I: What were your primary training resources for each one?
O: In general, I did practice competitions. I also used Paul Zeitz's book, the Art and Craft of Problem Solving, as well as Yufei Zhao's handouts to the Canadian IMO team.
I: How much did you practice for each competition?
O: About 1000 hours in total.I: Do you have any general advice for me?
O: You should really focus on problems you cannot solve, and I'm not sure how to explain this, don't solve them, but in a satisfying way.
I: What does that even mean?
O: Basically, try to make very significant progress on them, before eventually looking at a solution, don't just give up.
I: In particular, what are the differences between succeeding in the
Putnam exam vs more "traditional" Olympiads such as the USAMO, IMO,
etc?
O: It's pretty similar, Putnam obviously incorporates some calculus and other more advanced topics, but you know all the math necessary, so it's basically the same. I find that Putnam solutions are often less "pretty" than USAMO ones.
I: What other options do I have for math competitions in college other than
Putnam and International Math Contest?
O: There are always some kind of local Olympiads. Also, another good thing you can do is write contest problems for local competitions.
Tomorrow, I will interview another contact of mine, with essentially the same questions, and compare results.
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