How important are Math Competitions?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>How important are math competitions such as AMC10/12, AIME..etc, esp. on college applications?
I'm strong in math, but I can never seem to do well on those type of competition math problems. I took the AMC8 and did MathCounts last year (I'm in 9th gr) but didn't do very well. Should I study for them, or just do my best, even though I won't score high?</p>

2

<p>Try your best and don’t worry about it too much. you’re only in 9th grade so you still have a lot of time to improve and score high. Competitions like these do look nice on college applications, but keep in mind that what matters most is how much you enjoy the competition so don’t just do things because they look good for college. do it because you have a passion for them. Good luck on your competition, I’m sure you’ll be ok. :)</p>

3

<p>If you’re good at other things, they’re an added boost. If you focus on math competitions, you better be REALLY good (and I say this as a hypocrite; I spend a lot of time prepping but I’m not REALLY good).
Can’t wait for a certain someone to comment (his name has the characters 11a9cwo3; not in that order of course)</p>

4

<p>They’re just another EC you can do. ECs are important in general, but you don’t need to specifically do math contests if you’re not good at them.</p>

5

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<p>This is completely accurate. If you want to focus on math competitions, know that you’ll be competing for admission against USAMO qualifiers, people who attended MOP, IMO medalists, etc. I’m also not at all good at competitions. They look nice, but if you want them to be your hook to get you in somewhere, you have to be amazingly good.</p>

6

<p>@flamewire I’m saying exactly what you’re saying. If you make math competitions your “top EC”, then you will be expected to compete with USAMO finalists/MOPpers.</p>