How can I improve my problem solving speed for tests and competitions?

  • Context: High School 
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    Problem solving Speed
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Discussion Overview

The discussion focuses on strategies for improving problem-solving speed in timed settings, such as tests and competitions. Participants share their experiences and suggestions for effective practice techniques.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Homework-related, Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks long-term advice for timed problem solving, indicating a commitment to daily practice.
  • Another suggests careful reading of problems and defining variables, proposing that each sentence can often be translated into an equation.
  • A participant expresses that the initial advice did not meet their expectations and inquires about others' experiences in competitions and their practice methods.
  • One response emphasizes the importance of practicing with sample competitions, identifying unknown problem types, and focusing on learning those areas, noting that the relevance of topics may vary by competition type.
  • Another participant recommends learning algebra tricks, trigonometric identities, and memorizing specific mathematical series and integrals as part of preparation.
  • Several participants reiterate the necessity of practice as a key component of improvement.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the importance of practice but express differing views on specific strategies and types of preparation that may be most effective.

Contextual Notes

Some suggestions depend on the type of competition and the specific subjects involved, which may not be universally applicable.

maze
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Does anyone have long-term advice for becoming better at timed problem solving, such as in a test or competition setting? I can dedicate one hour per day 5 days/week to train.
 
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Read the problem carefully. Clearly define your variables. Typically each sentence can be translated to one equation.
 
Thats not exactly the type of advice I was looking for...

Has anyone here been involved in competitions at some point? How did you practice, and did it work?
 
Practice by... practicing. Do some sample competitions (usually you can get older versions of the test) and see what kind of problems come up. Some you'll know how to do, some you won't. Pick out the ones you don't know how to do, learn how to do them, then find more problems of that type to practice on. It depends on what kind of competition it is, in high school a lot of them were big on geometry so learning obscure theorems involving circles and secants were worthwhile, depending on what kind of test you're taking different subjects will be important to know
 
Learn algebra tricks. Learn your trig identities. Memorize the Taylor series for common functions. Memorize Gaussian integrals.

And practice.
 

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