<p>I'm currently a freshman in high school and, if you couldn't already tell by that, I'm lost. While attempting to plan out my academic future, I stumbled across this class and was very intrigued. Me, being very goal orientated and mathematically inclined, decided that my goal is to become as prepared as possible for this class, which I feel will keep me focused on my education. </p>
<p>First off, I understand the difficulty of Math 55, and even getting into Harvard. There's a high possibility I won't experience either of those, but that's not that point. Where I currently need help is in how to prepare for this course. As already stated, I'm a freshman whose taking Honors Advanced Algebra currently. I have a wide variety of resources around me, such as summer programs at Northwestern, COD, etc. And I have the money to fund any of these. Any advice on where and what to study will be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Obviously take ap calc bc. Multivariable calc and linear algebra are also extremely helpful, but above all I would say from what I’ve read you’ll need a profound love for math. You’d be in there with former usamo and IMO champs. I’m a math prodigy and I would think twice before signing on to math 55.</p>
<p>^Sometimes even IMO champs can’t handle it. I remember reading a math 55 horror story about this guy who was on team USA or something, but had to drop out of the course 1-2 weeks in. These were his exact words, “I knew I was good at math, but I realized this just wasn’t going to work out.”</p>
<p>Wow never even heard about this course till this topic. Did a little google search and holy jesus christ I am not sure why anyone would want to even torture themselves with something like this. The homeworks and worksheets for the class are up if you search on google hard enough and I almost crapped myself after a skimmed through some of this stuff. I honestly have no idea why any person would willingly put themselves through that. My lord that is ridiculous. Good luck preparing, I’d say if you’re not already in calc BC by freshman year or 8th grade I wouldn’t know how you’d ever be able to get anywhere near that class. My head hurts simply looking at some of the problems mainly because I had to look up what half the question even meant let alone try to visualize what in the world was going on. </p>
<p>Anyway merry christmas, and give yourself the best christmas present and don’t do that to yourself and stay away from that class.</p>
<p>Just for the record, not everyone finds Math 55 difficult. Eric Larson is a Harvard student in my year who won Intel STS in 2009 for his work on fusion categories. He tried 55 at the beginning of the semester but the psets were too easy, so he skipped it and went straight into graduate level courses.</p>
<p>^Ye, but he’s an exception. Larson’s a freakin genius who won multiple medals on the IMO, published research on a good journal, and of course winning Intel STS… I hope he’ll do well for Harvard Putnam
Anyway, if you want to handle Math 55, you basically need a to be one of the best math minds in the nation. Ppl who take this course, I heard, are usually IMO, USAMO ppl, so u know who ur going against…</p>
<p>Can anyone who knows where I could find some links to psets post them/pm them to me… I have some time before (possibly) attending Harvard and would be interested in studying 55 if I can. See what I can teach myself in the next few months and if I could then be good enough for 55.</p>
<p>nah dont even bother. i knew like half the people in the class this semester and i was in math 25, and the impression that i get is that its hit or miss, that you either can handle it or you cant (in which case people tend to drop down to 25, and they also do that if they just dont wanna spend their lives doing math). so it probably just isnt worth your time to prepare for it.</p>
<p>that said, it seems like none of the psets are online or anything from what i can see.</p>