Needing advice for winning/doing well in a Math Counts competition

[QuantamMaster]

Hello! I am a passionate math student wanting advice on how to succeed and go far in a math competition called Math Counts, a mostly word problem-based competition for grades 6-8. Anything helps! Thank you!

 

[fresh_42]

If anything helps then
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/10-math-tips-save-time-avoid-mistakes/
or
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/how-most-proofs-are-structured-and-how-to-write-them/
might help.

I always told my students:

• read it once to get an overview
• read it twice to translate the text into information:
  "three men were building a log cabin in 5 weeks" translates to "$3\, m \text{ in } 5\, w$, probably reverse proportional, i.e. $3\cdot 5 =15 \,[mw]$" where $mw$ are menweeks. Do not forget the units!
• read it a third time to check your translation and elaborate on the question, i.e. separate unknowns and known parameters

 

[Frabjous]

Do practice problems, but solve them multiple ways with the goal of finding simplest way.

 

[QuantamMaster]

If anything helps then
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/10-math-tips-save-time-avoid-mistakes/
or
https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/how-most-proofs-are-structured-and-how-to-write-them/
might help.

I always told my students:

• read it once to get an overview
• read it twice to translate the text into information:
  "three men were building a log cabin in 5 weeks" translates to "$3\, m \text{ in } 5\, w$, probably reverse proportional, i.e. $3\cdot 5 =15 \,[mw]$" where $mw$ are menweeks. Do not forget the units!
• read it a third time to check your translation and elaborate on the question, i.e. separate unknowns and known parameters

Thank you so much, I have read the articles and they are very insightful!

 

[QuantamMaster]

Do practice problems, but solve them multiple ways with the goal of finding simplest way.

Thank you, I will implement this when I am studying!