For young math students on their educational journey, there are few stops along the way more exciting than taking part in math competitions. The overwhelming hope of doing well, the thrill of competing with and against friends and peers, and the enjoyment of seeing your hard work and dedication pay off.
As well as being one of the most fun activities for students each year, math competitions offer plenty of benefits, too. Children who excel at math are offered the opportunity to compete, boosting their future prospects.
Let’s take a closer look at just how impactful math competitions can be on students’ lives, how you can make sure your child is ready to compete, and check out some of the biggest student math competitions of 2023.
Part of a Well-Rounded Math Learning Experience
At their heart, math competitions introduce students to a new way of learning a subject that splits opinion. Some students hate math with a burning passion. Others find it significantly easier and more enjoyable than any other subject. This can be said of most subjects, but math has always been particularly divisive.
When students don’t like a subject, they are more resistant to traditional teaching methods in that class. Math competitions offer an alternate approach, and therefore, an alternate learning experience.
Most students will enjoy some friendly competition more than another regular algebra class where the teacher monologues endlessly and very few students are paying attention fully. On top of this, competitions also play an important role in teaching younger students valuable lessons about competing, winning, losing, and overcoming seemingly costly mistakes.
Math competitions can play an important role in your child’s learning experience. By combining this activity with regular school lessons and personalized tutoring, you can make sure your child has a well-rounded math education throughout their time at school.
A Chance To Stand Out From The Crowd
For students that thrive in math class, competitions open up a whole new world of possibilities. Whether they know they are capable and are focused on winning, or they tried the competition because they thought it would be fun and they turned out to be a math superstar, students who win – or even perform well at – math competitions can turn their gifts for math into real-life benefits.
Performing well at math competitions is a great indicator, to college enrollment offices, of a student’s ability and interest in pursuing extracurricular, academic activities. This gives an automatic boost to a student’s college prospects.
For many students, getting ahead of their competitors means dedicating plenty of time to preparing specifically for these competitions. Students engaged in individual, competition-focused tutoring give themselves the best chance of winning the competitions. This experience also gives students a chance to test out the tutoring environment, so that they can be ready to thrive in SAT-focused tutoring sessions in the future.
Upcoming Math Competitions in 2023
Over the coming months, some of the largest math competitions in the US and the entire world will take place. While some of the application periods are closed it is worth taking a look at some of these events, to get an idea of what to expect.
Math Kangaroo USA
One of the country’s oldest and most famous math competitions, Math Kangaroo will be back this March, to build on its near three decades of experience running successful competitions for math students.
MOEMS
The MOEMS is an education organization that runs the math olympiad for elementary and middle school students. They have math competitions running between March and June.
International Youth Math Challenge
The IYMC is an online, international competition for high school and university students. Students must solve a set number of problems to qualify and the competition runs in a tournament-like format.
AMC
The American Mathematics Competitions kick off with the first of its middle school contest (the AMC 8) in mid-January. There will be competitions for high school learners later in the year. The USA Mathematical and Junior Mathematical Olympiad are also part of the AMC, and will also be taking place this year.
Keep yourself in the loop and head over to our blog and check out our regularly updated 2022-2023 Math Competitions Calendar to see more events as they are announced.
Competition Coaching At OMC
At OMC, know how important a well-rounded education is for your child. Fortunately for you, we have everything your child needs to excel in math competitions. As well as the competition-focused classes run by our highly-qualified team of experts, we offer students the opportunity to test out 1-1 classes, SAT preparation classes, and specific classes tailored to each student’s needs, regardless of age, grade, or ability.
Contact OMC today and enroll your child in a math tutoring class for competitions. They’ll be thanking you on the way home with that first-place trophy.
