<p>Sorry if this thread is started in wrong discussion thread thing...</p>
<p>I'm interested in taking the Putnam in college a few times. However, I'm rather intimidated by the brilliant people whom I've met who are hardcore-studying for the exam..i mean, I've participating in high school competitions, but only as far as the AIME, never reaching the USAMO, so there's an indication of my math abilities, I guess. But then again, I never really studied/prepped for those high school competitions. I'd like to experience the Putnam and try to do well on it, so I wonder how unrealistic my chances of "doing well" are? Given my limited high school competition math experience (and basically no proof knowledge), should I spend time on the Putnam exam? I'm a freshman, so I still have some time to prep for future exams, if I do make it a priority, and I'd like to...do you guys know of people who weren't fantastic in high school but do well on the Putnam in college?</p>
<p>I don't think as many people are hardcore studying for this exam than you think. It's certainly less intense than for high school math competitions. You could just take a bit of time to get to know the format of the exam and the type of problems that frequently appear on it, and work out a strategy. This shouldn't really take a hugely long time. </p>
<p>First thing would be to determine a relatively realistic goal (ie, non-zero score, 10 points, or whatever.) Doing well means different things to different people.</p>
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do you guys know of people who weren't fantastic in high school but do well on the Putnam in college?
<p>I am a sophomore in college and the best Putnam prep I have had so far was an advanced combinatorics class - I learned so many different problem-solving strategies that I didn't even know existed. When I took the Putnam last year as a freshman I got 11 points. I tried to practice on my own before the exam but I didn't feel like that helped at all. Now using strategies from combinatorics, I can solve 3-4 problems from previous exams under test conditions. I am eager to know how I'll do on the actual exam in December!</p>
<p>So yes, practice can definitely increase your performance on the exam. But until you are able to solve several problems on each exam on your own without time constraints, you would imo probably benefit more from taking math classes or joining a Putnam prep club than from studying on your own. Yes, technically it's possible to do well on the exam without too much of an advanced math background (say calculus, linear algebra and a statistics/probability class), but knowing advanced math makes it so much easier!</p>