In the previous post, we saw about Math Olympiad Exam Self-Preparation vs Math Olympiad online Training. In this post we’ll see about how to practice math olympiad problems well to reach your goal.


“Practicing well “ is generally perceived as doing certain number of problems a day or repeatedly solving problems of certain types in a time bound setup. However the author differs in his
opinion on what “Practice Well” really means. To practice Math Olympiad problems , the most important skill to be developed is to stay with a hard but tricky problem for a long time and keep getting back to solving it
amidst other daily chores and having the patience and perseverence to crack that problem independently.


Although a student might have only solved a very few problems in month following this guideline,
the student would have investigated many techniques and fought with that problem for days together and developed the ability to think about the same problem from different perspectives. This ability to
see a problem from different perspectives is the key ingredient to a successful problem solving strategy. The reader may ask – “Well, i understand all this, but how to identify problems that are worth trying for
days together and what if I get stuck and hit a road block ?”. This is very likely the case as we start to practice math olympiad problems.


Let’s say we are dealing with a geometry problem involving triangle and square. We are asked to find the area of a shaded region.
We start using the basic geometry concepts like sum of angles in a triangle. We figure out more nuances about the shapes that are shaded,
we apply the concept of triangle congruency. We make further progress related the two figures. We still feel the solution is far away.

We think of pythagorus theorem and see if that can be
applied here.. After a while, we run out of ideas. We may even get frustrated, doubt if the question is right or even think we are not “good enough” to solve these type of problems.
Here is a key thing we have to recognize — “Do not give into those thoughts that trick us out of taking up a noble challenge“.
Notice how you tried many different concepts of Triangles as you tried solving this math problem.
This is the muscle we need to build over time to do the heavy lifting in high school math and beyond.


What matters the most is your willingness to try solving a problem for a long time with
patience and perseverence. Sometimes we are lucky (But luck mostly knocks on the door of those who are determined and keep trying) but many times we are not because we have more to learn.
Find out why you were not able to solve the problem by reviewing the solution to the problem. Is there an idea that was familiar to you that is used to solve it ?. If so, recollect that known
idea or technique and make sure you see the problem from that perspective when you try another problem later.


If there is a new idea that was used, that is a great learning for you. Know more about
that and appreciate how that new idea helped solve the problem and why that is more powerful than the tools and techniques you already knew. This is what I mean by “Practice Well” / “Practice Math Olympiad Problems“.
Over a period of time, even as less as a couple of months, you would start noticing the same ideas repeatedly getting used to crack interesting problems.
You would then want to search for more challenging problems and you may even consider taking some sort of Training from an expert so you get access to more challenging problems.