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本地顶尖学生数学程度高

2012-02-12T07:24:00.008+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

联合早报三年前的报道。

获学校家长重视数学奥林匹克赛培训班受欢迎
王珏琪　(11-02-2009)

新加坡数学学会提供的数据显示，该会举办的新加坡中学低年级数学奥林匹克比赛，参加学生在去年达4775人，比2005年增加了966人；中学高年级奥林匹克比赛的参赛者也增加，去年达3348人，比2005年时增加了167人。

数学奥林匹克赛带动商机

　　这股数学奥林匹克比赛风，也吹到了学校。国大数理中学每年为小学生举行数学奥林匹克竞赛，参加人数从2006年的2558人，增至去年的4172人，增幅约六成。补习中心和出版商都看准了这样的商机。

Simply Smart Education Centre补习中心开办的数学奥林匹克班，报读的小学生2003年仅有三四名，去年增加到约有20名，去年则有约10名中学生修读这课程。该补习中心的合伙人兼教师陈可鸣（35岁）指出，有的家长因为孩子没有被选入数学奥林匹克赛培训校队，把孩子送到补习中心上培训班，一旦孩子的数学能力提高了，就请补习中心写推荐信给学校，让孩子进入校队。

　　泛太平洋出版社在2007年中到2008年中为小学生出版了五本数学奥林匹克课外书，目前售出了约9000套。总裁杨家敏答复本报询问时说，他们计划推出至少多两个相关系列的课外书。这些课外书基本上是培养学生对数学奥林匹克赛的兴趣，以及给学生尝试具挑战性的数学题目。
　　陈可鸣说：“有的家长要孩子参加奥林匹克培训班，也是为了帮助孩子通过中学直接收生计划，希望学校在小六会考放榜前录取孩子。”
　　该补习中心也到中小学开办培训班，陈可鸣发现，有的学校的目的不是为了让学生参加比赛，而是改善数学成绩，希望学生的小六会考数学成绩能从A提升到A*。

杨永耀（28岁）也看准商机，投资了5万元，去年底在宏茂桥开设了状元村补习中心。除了一般补习课程，他也开办数理奥林匹克培训班，培训班收费每1个半小时149元。
　　他和负责策划奥林匹克培训班的导师蔡伟康（28岁）都曾经代表新加坡参加国际化学奥林匹克赛，蔡伟康去年还是国际科学奥林匹克中学组国家队的教练之一，新加坡去年在该比赛排名第二。
　　杨永耀指出，他设立状元村的原因之一，也是希望从小培养学生作答数理问题的能力，例如中国学生从小学开始就进行很严谨的数理奥林匹克培训，也出版了不少有关奥林匹克的书籍，我国学生如果从小就有这方面的训练，有助于他们在国际赛中与中国、美国等强国竞争。
　　其中一名导师周益德（20岁）毕业自邻里学校，在高一代表本地参加国际数学奥林匹克赛的他就希望，更多不同背景的学生能有机会参加这类培训班，并获得平等参赛机会。

本地顶尖学生数学程度高

　　我国土生土长的顶尖学生，数学程度并不比前来本地求学的外国学生差。
　　新加坡数学学会副会长王金富博士受访时说，只有公民或永久居民才能代表新加坡参赛。而从中国到本地求学的学生确立的高标准，成了本地学生一种追求的目标。
　　我国去年在国际数学奥林匹克数学赛中排名32，2007年是第36，2006年是第27，而2005年获得历来参赛成绩最好的第14名。
　　也是国大数理中学校长的王金富博士受访时说，新加坡小国寡民，“我觉得我们的表现还算不错，因为这些比赛的竞争很强，有90多个国家参赛。”
　　他发现，近三四年，本地数学奥林匹克赛前五名的学生通常是本地人，“我可以说过了这么多年，我们最好的学生虽然不比外籍学生好，但是已经能与他们相比了”。他指出，这与10年前的情况相比，已经是很大的进步。
　　至于为什么参加数学学会举办的数学奥林匹克赛学生人数会增加，王金富认为，除了只颁发奖项给前面30名学生，奥林匹克赛也会颁金、银、铜牌和荣誉奖状，有助于鼓励学生继续培养他们对数学的兴趣。
　　他说：“在本地，我们对数学有这样的共识：就是数学很重要。家长们都希望孩子在校时就能在数学上取得很好的表现。而且，很久以来，数学和科学在小学和中学里都是必修科目，家长知道孩子需要有很稳固的数学和科学基础。”

通过比赛发掘有天赋学生

　　新加坡中学低年级奥林匹克比赛近来还吸引了小学生参加。王博士指出有一名学生在小学六年级的时候就参加了该竞赛，还获得第八名，最后被国大数理中学发掘，目前在该校就读。他中一就加入了国家队，相信是有史以来年级最轻的数学奥林匹克国家队成员。
　　王金富说：“他在小学并没有接受正统的（数学奥林匹克）训练。通过这种比赛，你就能不时发掘有天赋的学生。因此我们举办的奥林匹克赛培养了学生的兴趣，也帮助我们寻找有天赋的学生。”
　　不过，他强调：“在比赛中获得好成绩，并不是终点。给学生参加比赛的目的应该是培养对数学的兴趣，和栽培这些数学天才。”例如，有不少参加数学学会奥林匹克赛的学生，虽然没有获得金牌，但是仍然继续到大学修读数学科。
　　“每个国家必须在不同领域有一定数量的人才。让我们感到庆幸的是，还有这批人对数学保持兴趣，追求到他们可以达到的最高点。当他们回国服务时，无论是当数学家或教育家，都是国家的栋梁。”
　　王博士劝请家长，对于孩子的要求不应该过高，不应该一味要求孩子在比赛中获得奖牌，重要的是让孩子自然发展数学能力和对数学的兴趣。

国大数理中学校长：中国数学课本有助提升水准

　　王金富博士希望本地学生能够参考中国出版的中学和高中数学课本。
　　国大数理中学校长王金富博士说：“这些课本都是由很有经验的数学教师撰写，把数学的精华都浓缩在课本里。中国有很多人在做这样的工作，他们课本里的题目有助于学生达到学习目标。”　　
　　王博士虽然是英校生，但是热爱华族文化，也爱拉二胡，为了更深入了解华族文化，他努力提高华文程度。他相信，学生如果有学习华文的原因和动力，他们一定会学习或提升他们的华文程度。
　　王博士的不少中学数学课本由曾任上海复旦大学数学教授的徐家鹄推荐，他的长子王皓权十五六岁的时候就在徐家鹄教授的指导下学习数学，并认识了中国数学课本。

教育部奖学金得主：纯粹为成绩做数学会反感

　　王皓权（19岁）指出，他从这些课本学习到的知识，大部分能运用在奥林匹克赛，也帮助他提高数学解题的能力，但是由于课本的内容超出了他在学校上课的内容，他还是需要徐教授从旁协助。
　　王皓权参加了几届本地数学奥林匹克赛，中二和中四的时候获得第一名。他说，他对数学的兴趣是受父亲的影响。他是教育部奖学金得主，华侨中学校友，目前在服役，明年将到外国大学修读数学。
　　他说：“我从小到大都喜欢做思考题目，数学本身就非常考个人的思考能力。起初会有点困难，因为你的知识不多，但是当你越读越多，有了知识，就会上瘾、越做越多（数学题）。因为每个题目都是一个挑战，每征服一个挑战就有满足感。”
　　在学习数学的过程中，王皓权也曾为了准备比赛而感到不愉快。他说：“最重要的是，从学习中取得乐趣，因为当你纯粹为了成绩而做数学题时，会很反感。”

家长学生看数理奥林匹克培训班

　　校外奥林匹克培训班学费价格不菲，还是有学生上门。
　　两名来自邻里中学的好朋友沈洋和许实锐（15岁）今年一起转到直通车学校，两人都说他们是因为对科学的兴趣，想通过补习中心的物理奥林匹克培训班，获得不同科学视角，并相信既然在培训班学习较高程度的内容，校内的考试也会显得较容易应付。
　　两人曾代表学校参加科学比赛，沈洋说：“将来有机会，希望代表学校参加科学奥林匹克比赛，因为我觉得参加比赛对我有益，可认识更多人和学习课本外的知识。”

妈妈要孩子提升数学成绩

　　林淑美（35岁，家庭主妇）的长子今年小学五年级，她去年就为他报读了一家西部补习中心的数学奥林匹克培训班，学费是每10堂课440元。儿子去年的数学成绩80多分。不过，她认为儿子在数学方面有天赋，并希望儿子能够通过培训班提高数学成绩，参加全国数学奥林匹克赛，以提高通过中学直接收生计划预先被名校录取的机会。
　　“我嫌他太迟参加培训班，因为其他家长很早就为孩子报读了这个培训班。”
　　她说，她原本计划为二年级的幼子也报读这个数学奥林匹克培训班，但是学生人数太多，只能把名字登记在等候名单上。

subjects in NUSHS

2012-02-06T18:02:00.005+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺

These are the subjects/modules I am taking in NUSH, from most like to least like (or, hate).

1. Lunch/recess/break. Obviously, who doesn't like breaks?
2. Violin for Beginners (enrichment module). Dr Wong (not Ms Wong) is funny and interesting.
3. Advanced Maths Olympiad Training II (elective module on Saturday). Less boring than normal Math but so far I noticed the SMO J questions were taken from 19xx competitions and most are trivial and would not come out in the SMO J now.
4. Basic Math Olympiad Training. I took this enrichment module to pass time as it is just before my CCA which is Gamelan (got nothing to do with gaming). Even though it is very basic, I can still learn some stuff from there.
5. Physics. More interesting than Math.
6. Math. It is easy and boring but requires common sense, so sad that I did not clear the math diagnostic test and cannot accelerate to Year 2 :(
7. Chemistry. It is science.
8. Biology. It is also science.
9. Chemical potpourri (enrichment module). It is Chemistry.
10. PE. I hate running but better than studying weird things.
11. Chinese. The teacher is loud, I think I learnt a lot more from my primary school Chinese teacher, Ms Chai.
12. English. It is hard.
13. IH. It is integrated humanities, where we are learning history and culture, which I am not interested in.

I don't think Lim Jeck is going to blog anymore although this is his blog. My mother has been trying to maintain this blog for him :( He used to blog last time.

IOI Workshop 2012

2012-01-26T16:47:00.006+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Every Wednesday 6 - 9.30 pm, both Lim Jeck and Lim Min attend the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) Workshop 2012 at the School of Computing (SoC), NUS. About 50 students are attending the workshop - 30 of them are NUS undergraduate students who are taking the 3rd Year SoC elective module (Competitive Programming), the remaining 20 are secondary and JC students who are vying for the final top 4 positions, to represent Singapore in this year's IOI.

Unlike the other International Mathematics and Science Olympiads (IMO, IPhO, IChO and IBO) which will be held in July this year, the IOI 2012 is held from 23 to 30 September, at Lake Garda, Italy.

The IOI selection comprises 10 mini contests (each contest constitutes 1% of the overall score) and 3 selection tests (each constitutes 30% of the overall score). After 2 mini contests in the last 2 weeks, Lim Jeck is currently ranked 3rd and Lim Min is ranked 11th. The current rankings clearly do not give a good indication of the final 4 contestants to be selected for IOI 2012, as they are but based on only 2% of the overall score. The details of the workshop and current rankings can be found here. The trainer, Dr Steven Halim, is very prompt in updating the website - he uploads the results almost immediately after each contest, updates the scores and re-ranks the students by the following morning.

In 2011, all 4 IOI representatives were from RI. Up till now, NUS High students have taken part in IMO, IPhO, IChO and IBO, but not IOI. I think NUS High is keeping her hopes up, to send at least one of her students for IOI 2012.

9gag

2012-01-12T21:48:00.009+08:00

This is posted by LL☺

9gag is funny unless you are old. Here are some images from 9gag.

Boarding at NUS High

2012-01-02T22:09:00.010+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Lim Jeck started his boarding stay today. The NUS High Boarding programme is compulsory for all Year 5 students. Breakfast and dinner will be provided from Mondays to Fridays, 3 meals are provided on other days. Laundry service is provided. Lim Jeck will be going home on Fridays and then returning to the Boarding School on Sundays. The Boarding fee is $937.50 (after MOE subsidy, for Singapore Citizen/PR) per term, which is about 10 weeks. I find this rather expensive. I heard that the previous batches paid much lesser, last year it was $7xx per term and before that, it was $3xx. But we can't do anything about it, can't possibly opt out of hostel stay :( . The school explained that the fee has always been the same; it is the MOE subsidy that has been cut year after year :((

The hostel's twin-sharing room (Lim Jeck's side is on the right).

Lim Jeck's bed.
Lim Jeck's wardrobe.
Common bathrooms, shared by 4 persons (room on both sides).

Kendrick and Lim Jeck are room mates, good friends as well as classmates in M12506.

Another Busy Year Ahead, in 2012 ...

2012-01-01T08:03:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

2011 was a busy year for the kids. I think 2012 is also going to be as busy.

Lim Min is taking GCE 'A' levels at the end of this year. She is also taking a H3 subject in the first semester (Jan to May) - Numbers and Matrices module offered by NTU. She has the choice to take a H3 Math module by NUS, NTU and MOE but eventually selected the NTU module. According to her, there is a higher chance for her to get Distinction in the NTU module, as too many RI's pro-in-Math people had selected the NUS' Linear Algebra I module, and there is a quota on how many Distinctions and Merits that can be awarded for each H3 subject. The twice weekly 2-hr lectures will be conducted at NJC (1st half of semester) and HCI (2nd half of semester).

Lim Jeck is taking two NUS Math modules - MA1104 Multivariable Calculus and MA2108S Mathematical Analysis I from the NUS Faculty of Science, and Competitive Programming (for selection of IOI participants) from the NUS School of Computing. He also has SIMO National Team Training at NUS Math Dept on Saturday mornings. I think he has to make 8 trips to NUS every week, for the lectures, tutorials and training. Luckily NUS is just 1 bus stop away from NUS High, otherwise I can't imagine how he is going to manage. At NUS High, besides his core modules, he has to attend SIMC (Singapore International Mathematics Challenge) training and Physics Olympiad training.

Lim Li will begin her secondary school life at NUS High. I think she should have no problem doing well for Maths and Science subjects, but I do hope she can cope with the integrated humanities, music/art and languages subjects. Good thing about being in NUS High is, she does not have to take stressful national exams such as GCE 'O' and 'A' levels!

Have a wonderful 2012!

Random Thoughts on Math Olympiad Journey

2011-12-25T08:27:00.005+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Contrary to what some people believe, I do not think it is necessary to start Math Olympiad (MO) training very early. Lim Min started to do MO in P6 when preparing for MO competitions (namely RIPWMC and SMOPS) that her primary school sent her to. Lim Jeck started in P5 when he was tasked to help solve some of the MO problems that Lim Min could not handle, and Lim Li started in P4 when she first took part in NMOS. I think it is important to have a strong foundation in Math basics before embarking on this MO journey, hence P4 or P5 might be a good starting point.

All three of my children did not attend any formal MO training when they were in primary school. They simply learnt from solving problems found in the competition solution books, with me and my husband providing occasional guidance on Math topics which are new to them. For Lim Min and Lim Jeck, formal olympiad training is mainly provided by their schools (RGS & RI and NUS High, respectively) and also by the SIMO trainers at NUS Math Dept (students are selected into SIMO Junior/Senior/National training teams based on SMO results).

Among my children, Lim Jeck is the most passionate and talented in Math/MO, and he can spend much of his free time creating original MO problems and solving them. In my opinion, NUS High, which specialises in Math and Science subjects, is a perfect fit for him. If he were to join a mainstream school, he might not have achieved what he had achieved so far or be able to reach his full potential, amid all the "distractions" like heavy humanities subjects, ‘O’ levels, JC project work, contrasting subject, General Paper and ‘A’ levels that he would have to grapple with. For Lim Min and Lim Li, I would reckon they are good but not exceptional at MO, and though their passion in Math/MO is there, it pales in comparison with Lim Jeck’s.

The MO journey is definitely an arduous one. Besides talent, I think one needs to have lots of passion, determination, perseverance and hard work to continue with the journey. Throughout the years, I have observed many top primary school MO winners fading from the MO scene once they go to secondary schools. I believe high school competitions are too competitive and the interest of these past winners diminish after they fail to clinch good awards. The MO journey also requires sacrifices. For instance, intensive IMO preparation will take away 4-6 weeks of school lessons (meaning, lots of catching up to do after any major competition). School holidays are also burnt, with training, and more training. But I guess if the child enjoys it, he/she will not resent it - this is akin to the working life: we would not dread going to work if our job happens to be our hobby! For Lim Jeck, it becomes a habit for him to frequent Mathlinks (Art of Problem Solving website), and as I mentioned before, he enjoys creating problems for others to solve, and solving problems posted by other Mathlinkers. That's why I feel we should never push our kids to pursue something they have no passion in, it won't work and both parents and children will suffer. But I strongly believe that as parents, it is our responsibility to carve out their niche areas or discover where their passions lie, and to encourage/support them by providing the necessary guidance and resources. In my case, it could be getting the relevant competition solution books and advanced level Math text/guide books, and encouraging my children to work on the questions prior to any competition. Once the child is on track, we can take a back seat (less prodding needed) and just let him/her cruise at a comfortable pace.

To excel in MO, I think being years ahead of your peers helps a lot. For Lim Jeck, the fact that he took part in SMO (Junior), AMC10 and AIME in P6 gave him an edge over those who came on board in Secondary 1. After being exposed to tough questions in AIME, it was natural that he would find the primary school level RIPWMC questions a piece of cake! Being exposed to challenging questions much above your level helps to build self-esteem and confidence to tackle challenging questions at your level. You know, in any competition or exam, the mindset is very important. If you think that you should be able to solve the questions, there is a high chance that you can solve them (like a self-fulfilling prophecy). As a MO competitor, Lim Li is very confident that there is no PSLE Math questions that she cannot tackle; if she did not get full marks for any school Math exam papers, it can only be due to carelessness or misreading of questions. Hence for Lim Li, just after her PSLE, she has started to work on many SMO (Junior) and SMO (Senior) questions. However, she is not in the same league as Lim Jeck, who had already worked on many SMO (Open) questions during his post-PSLE period.

About expectations on IMO, I think Lim Jeck was extremely fortunate to be able to secure a World #2 in this year's IMO (the Geometry Question 6 helped to seal his fate). I really do not expect him to repeat the same remarkable feat next year. Nevertheless it would be great if he could win another two Golds in 2012 and 2013, as a total of 3 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze would likely secure him a place in the World Top 10 positions, in the IMO Hall of Fame.

NUS 2011/2012 Semester 1 Exam Results

2011-12-20T18:47:00.003+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.
Lim Jeck's NUS 2011/2012 Semester 1 (Aug to Dec 2011) exam results was released today. He got an A+ for Linear Algebra II (Year 2 Math module).

His NUS 2010/2011 exam results are here.

3rd WengsWorld Jigsaw Puzzle Competition

2011-12-18T07:18:00.008+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum

We took part in the 3rd WengsWorld Jigsaw Puzzle Competition held at Tiong Bahru Community Centre yesterday, from 3.30 - 6 pm.

There were 18 teams taking part. Each team was given 2 hrs to complete a 500-pc jigsaw puzzle.

Saw Hean and Sor Khim in 1 team. Their puzzle was almost completed at the end of 2 hrs.

Lim Min and Lim Jeck in the progress of fixng their puzzle.

Completed!

Lim Min and Lim Jeck emerged champion and won a puzzle each!

Results:
1st: Lim Jeck and Lim Min (1 hr 7 mins)
2nd: Dorothy and Roger (1 hr 39 mins)
3rd: Min Yu and Yang San (1 hr 41 mins)
4th: Stella and Yuwen (1 hr 50 mins)

Heye and Kitty puzzles

2011-12-14T16:17:00.004+08:00

Heye 750-pc puzzle (Opera Bavaria) done in 1 day.

Down Town Kitty 1000-pc puzzle done in 2 days.

Acer Aspire i7 Notebook

2011-12-12T08:06:00.002+08:00

2 days ago, I bought a new Acer Aspire notebook with 2nd gen Intel Core i7-2670QM processor, nVidia GeForce GT 540M 1 GB VRAM, 4GB DDR RAM and 15.6" monitor. The detailed configurations are as follows:

This Acer notebook computer cost $999 and was bought at the Gain City Show @ Suntec. I have used my SMO 2011 prize money (total about $2500) to pay for it. I have given the HP notebook computer ($799) which I bought in Sep to Lim Min. After deducting $1800 for both notebook computers, I still have about $700 left for my savings.

Another Puzzle done

2011-12-05T18:42:00.005+08:00

2500-pc puzzle - took about 1 week to fix it.

It is a good quality MB brand puzzle, the interlocking is so secure that Lim Li can lift up the entire puzzle (without glue).

2011 PSLE Results Release

2011-11-24T14:24:00.005+08:00

This is posted by LL

My mother's prediction of my PSLE results in this post - P6 Prelim Results and Expected PSLE Aggregate Score that is currently the most popular post in this blog (overtakes the SMO 2011 Junior Answers post) is very accurate. But why would anyone search that? It's not like the PSLE results will be online, or that post will teach someone to predict his/her PSLE aggregate score.

Anyway, if anyone is interested, which I doubt, my PSLE aggregrate score is 253, with A* for Mathematics and Science, and A for English and Chinese. The score doesn't matter because I have been admitted to NUS High under the DSA-Sec exercise ☺.

In my school (Queenstown Primary), 28 students (11.3%) scored 250 and above. The top scores are: 273, 268, 265, 265, 265, 265.

QtPS students getting aggregate score >= 250 for PSLE 2011

Singapore's highest scorer is from Rulang Primary School, and her score is 283.

Semestral Progress Report

2011-11-18T22:45:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Lim Jeck received his Year 4 Semester 2 progress report this morning. As expected, he did well for Math, Physics and Chemistry modules, and not so well for Fine Art and languages (but still exceeded my expectations, haha). His results are as follows:

BL4105 Evolutionary Biology A-
BL4108 Advanced Cell Biology A-
CL4102 Chinese 4B B
CM4106 Chemical Equilibria and Thermodynamics A+
EL4104 Language in Society I B
FA4102 Art Advanced II B-
MA6102 Complex Numbers A+
MA6405 An Introduction to Graph Theory A+
PC4111 Advanced Physics II A+
PC4203 Physics Olympiad III A+

Though he has been doing very well for Chemistry (his overall Subject CAP for Chemistry is a perfect 5.0), he has decided to take Chemistry (major) instead of Chemistry (honours) in Year 5 and 6. This will allow him to focus more on Physics (honours), Computing Studies, Advanced Research Project and to take more NUS modules in the next 2 years.

Impossible Puzzle

2011-11-14T09:40:00.003+08:00

We bought the below impossibles puzzle from Borders Wheelock Place in July this year, before Borders was closed down. We only fixed it yesterday as we enjoy fixing puzzles after the exams or during the school holidays. As described on the box, the puzzle has no edge and has 5 extra pieces.

The completed puzzle:

As you can see, instead of 5 extra pieces, we found 6 extra pieces and 1 piece is missing! This is literally an "impossible" puzzle.

Promos Results

2011-11-12T09:46:00.011+08:00

This is posted by LM's mum

Lim Min's overall results for JC1. Heard that in RI, 'C' and above grades for school results usually translate to 'A' in the A-levels. Hope this is true :)

Juxtaposed with her RGS Year 4 overall results last year, where she had scored A+ in all the Math and Science subjects, it is quite clear where her strength lies. If there is no need for a contrasting subject in the Junior College, she should have done Biology instead of Economics!

Lim Min is self-motivated and manages her own studies without any tuition. Lim Jeck has no tuition too, but needs "pushing" when it comes to studying before tests/exams. Luckily, his subjects next year do not require much studying (no more Biology), in addition he will be staying in the hostel for the whole of next year (except weekends and holidays), so I probably can relax more (i.e. less nagging from me). Lim Li attended English enrichment class for about 1.5 years, prior to the PSLE but it does not seem to help much :( I am quite reluctant to sign her up for external English class when she goes to secondary school next year.

Trip to US

2011-11-11T18:21:00.009+08:00

This is posted by LL.
We went to USS (Universal Studios Singapore) two days ago. As it was neither a public holiday nor a school holiday, there was a 20% discount when we paid by Mastercard. We paid a total of about $250 for 4 adult and 1 child tickets.

For some reasons, the word 'CASINO' is bigger than the word 'Universal Studios', and the former is in capital letters. I wonder why?

Some high tech robots in Madagascar: A Crate Adventure.

Outside Ancient Egypt. The indoor roller coaster at Revenge of The Mummy is dark, which makes it less scary.

The WaterWorld show at The Lost World. There were stunts and explosions at the live show.

My father pretending to be an ogre, after we have watched the Donkey LIVE show at Far Far Away.

At Sci-Fi City, we took the Battelstar Galactica: Human roller coaster (Red Track). My classmates in school told me that they took the Cylon roller coaster (Blue Track) which went up-side-down 5 times. Now that I think about it, we should have taken the Cylon because my friends dared to take it, so it could not be that frightening.

After we left USS, we bought popcorn at Garret (near the USS exit). It was very nice and sweet but expensive ($8 for a small-size packet, which was actually not that small).

Weekly Gym Sessions

2011-11-06T16:38:00.006+08:00

AMC Annual Awards Presentation 2011

2011-10-27T22:18:00.005+08:00

The Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC) Annual Awards Presentation was held at the Novotel Clarke Quay Hotel this evening.

The medal winners: from left to right (Junior) Song Somin, Liu Tianyi, Liu Yijia, Sheldon Tan, Xavier Lim, (Intermediate) Zeng Yi, Lim Jeck, (Senior) Ding Yue.

Playing Piano

2011-10-18T16:57:00.008+08:00

This is posted by LL ™ (press ctrl and 0153 to get the ™)

Hi. This is the 2nd song I learnt. It is called Hokage's Funeral from Naruto. I am in piano grade zero because I have never learnt piano from any teacher. There were some mistakes I made, but I was too lazy to retake after so many NGs. Other songs that I have learnt to play include: Itsumo Nando Demo from Spirited Away, Sadness and Sorrow from Naruto, Super Mario Brothers: Underwater Theme, 月亮代表我的心 and Tsuna Awakens from Hitman Reborn.

Mistakes in Olympiad Maths Trainer 6 Book

2011-10-11T16:31:00.009+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li ☺☻

My mother bought this book from Popular Bookstore for me to practise last year. I found many mistakes. Now that I am so free (PSLE is over!), I will type out some of the mistakes. My comments are in Red.

Week 2 Qn 5.
(a) Choose any three letters from a, b, c and d. In how many ways can we arrange these letters?
(b) A teacher wants to choose a captain and a vice-captain among 12 volleyball players. In how many ways can he do so?
Answer: (a) 4A3 = 4 x 3 x 2 = 24
(b)12C2 = (12 x 11 )/(2 x 1 ) = 66
(a) Should be 4P3
(b) Captain and vice-captain is different person, should be 12P2

Week 5 Qn 2. In a mathematics quiz, Fredric answered 1/9 of the questions wrongly. Paul answered 7 questions correctly. The number of questions that both of them answered correctly was 1/6 of the total number of questions. How many questions were there in the quiz?
Answer. 18
First of all, from the 3rd statement, 1/6 of the total number of questions, one would naturally assume that it is the total number of questions in the mathematics quiz rather than the total number of questions both answered together, which is twice the amount. We also have to assume that all questions are answered correctly or wrongly. Logical interpretation of the question would lead to 36 as the answer.

Week 5 Qn 5. In the figure below, how many triangles can be formed using any three points as the vertice?
. . .
. . .
. . .
Answer. 64
The correct solution is 9C3=84, 84-8=76 Answer: 76

Week 6 Qn 3: For 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + ... + n^2, we can compute n(n + 1) (n + 2) /6. Find the value of 1^2 + 2^2 + 3^2 + ... + 15.^2
The formula in the question is wrong. It should be n (n + 1) (2n + 1) /6

Week 7 Qn 1. Don and Andy have some marbles. If Don gives some marbles to Andy, the number of marbles that Don has is twice the number of marbles what Andy has. If Andy gives the same number of marbles to Don, the number of marbles that Don has is 4 times of what Andy has. How many marbles does each of them have at first?
If the question does not provide any number, how are we supposed to find the number of marbles each of them has? I think the question should be: "What is the least possible number of marbles each of them has at first?"

Week 10 Qn 6. An athlete ran up the staircase of a building as part of his training programme. If he ran up the building at first and then walked up the last 24 steps, it would take him 28 seconds. If he ran up the building at first and then walked the last 36 steps, it would take him 30 seconds. How many steps were there on the staircases?
It is an impossible question, which cannot be solved. Too little information is given. Assuming speed is integer, there will be 3 solutions, 72, 288, 720 steps. If speed is not integer, the number of steps can be any integer above something, 36 I think. Anyway, if you see the solution given, the first statement totally didn't make any sense, and the 2nd statement is even worse.

Other questions with mistakes that I am too lazy to type. Sorry, only people who have purchased the book will understand what I am typing.

Week 7 Qn 2:either the question should be unshaded or the answer should add a 200-85=115

Week 9 Qn 2: should write "only" for the 2 subjects e.g. 6 students like both mathematics and English only, instead of, 6 students liked both mathematics and English.

Week 10 Qn 1: the question says the number formed by the first 5 digits and the number formed by the last 3 digits is 68427 but the answer says 68247.

Week 13 Qn 5a: it says + but should be x

Week 14 Qn 2: firstly, the answer says 320/(64/48)=20. It should be 320/(64-48)=20. Secondly, you are assuming there is the same amount of chairs and tables, which is not stated in the question.

There are (a lot) more questions with mistakes, which I am even lazier to type.

PSLE Over!!!

2011-10-04T16:11:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LL☺☻

PSLE is over!!!!( ! x a very big number) Now I can start to recycle all the stuff (no burning as it causes global warming). However, there is still HCL for those taking HCL, too bad for you :P.

How do I find each paper? Why am I asking myself? Because I am weird :)
[*very easy, ** easy, *** ok, **** hard, ***** very hard]
English [***] - easier than my school prelim exam but my English is VERY poor so I obviously did badly even if the paper is not difficult :(
Math [*] - too easy, I managed to check more than 3 times but unfortunately I did not spot a careless mistake in one of the questions - Paper 1 reading book question, I put 26 days when the correct answer should be 24 days :(
Chinese [***] - my teacher said it was considered a difficult paper as some questions were rather tricky :( I think I have made a few mistakes, they are not careless mistakes as I really am dumb
Science [**.5] - I completed the paper in about 1 hr 5 mins and have 40 minutes to check. As expected, I managed to find a few mistakes (since I am such a careless person) during checking.

Things to do after the PSLE:
1. hibernate
2. sleep
3. eat
4. sleep more
5. laugh at people who take HCL
6. play
7. tell everyone that 1+1=2
8. (same as 1)
9. do random things
10. go US before I'm 13 years old (note that US is not united states, hint: it is in Sentosa)

Invitation to the Faculty of Science, NUS

2011-09-29T08:14:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

After Lim Jeck has won an IMO gold medal, a number of well-meaning people suggested that he should consider pursuing his higher education in a top-ranking overseas university such as one of the Ivy League or Oxbridge universities. Personally, I am not in awe of overseas branded universities and I also do not think that our local universities are inferior to the overseas ones. As long as one works hard for his passion and has a positive attitude, he can shine in whichever university he goes, and in whatever vocation he undertakes after graduation. Since Lim Jeck is still about 4+ years away from enrolling in an university, there is still much time for him to think about where he wants to pursue his undergraduate studies.

He has recently received an invitation to apply for the Faculty of Science, NUS, when he is in his final year at NUS High (2 years later). The offer is quite attractive as he will be guaranteed at least a Kent Ridge Undergraduate Scholarship (bond-free) which provides full coverage of the annual tuition fees (which is about $5360 x 4 years, based on current year's fees for the Faculty of Science).

In my opinion, it is a good choice for Lim Jeck to join NUS after his studies at NUS High and after National Service. He has already completed two Year 1 NUS Math modules and is currently doing a Year 2 NUS Math module. By end this year he would have completed all his Math modules at NUS High, so next year onwards he would have more time to take additional NUS modules - either from the Faculty of Science or from the School of Computing. In NUS, there is a suitable double degree programme for him - Bachelor of Computing (Computer Science) and Bachelor of Science (Mathematics/Applied Mathematics). I think if he joins this programme, he should be able to get his double degrees (with honours) in less than 4 years.

Of course, ultimately the choice is his to make!

Subject Specialisation

2011-09-23T17:22:00.004+08:00

My subject specialisation in Year 5 (2012)

Combination :
Mathematics (honours) [done by end this semester]
Physics (honours)
Chemistry (honours)
Computing Studies (major)

No more Biology. No more Art!!!!

Update on 14 Nov: I have decided to do Chemistry (major) instead of Chemistry (honours).

P6 Prelim Results and Expected PSLE Aggregate Score

2011-09-19T09:14:00.009+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li's mum.

In the PSLE, the T-Score for each subject is calculated as T = 50 + 10 (raw mark of student - average mark of the whole cohort)/(standard deviation or spread of marks around the average mark). The PSLE Aggregate Score is the sum of the T-score of all 4 subjects. Clearly, at this juncture the average mark of the whole cohort for each subject and also the standard deviation are not known. Hence, I can only hazard a guess Lim Li's likely PSLE aggregate score. My estimation of the aggregate score is based on what Lim Min and Lim Jeck had scored in their Prelim Exams and their PSLE aggregate scores, and what Lim Li has scored in her recent Prelim Exam.

Lim Min's P6 Prelim Exam Results in 2006:
English 84
Chinese 91
Higher Chinese 75 (not included in Total score)
Mathematics 100
Science 94
Total score 369/400
PSLE aggregate score: 265, A* for Chinese, Mathematics and Science, A for English, Distinction for Higher Chinese.
Highest score in Singapore: 281

Lim Jeck's P6 Prelim Exam Results in 2007:
English 79
Chinese 82
Mathematics 99
Science 94
Total score 354/400
PSLE aggregate score: 263, A* for Mathematics and Science, A for English and Chinese
Highest score in Singapore: 294

Lim Li's P6 Prelim Exam Results in 2011:
English 72
Chinese 87
Mathematics 98
Science 88
Total score 345/400

My estimation for Lim Li's PSLE aggregate score is in the range 250-255. She is likely to score A* for Mathematics and Science, A for English and Chinese.

If this year's PSLE Mathematics paper is very tough, her aggregate score will probably be higher since Mathematics is her pet subject. However, if the Mathematics paper is very easy and English is very tough, then her aggregate score will likely be pulled down.

2011 PSLE Listening Comprehension

2011-09-16T14:49:00.006+08:00

This is posted by LL 
(note: I am writing from the iPad so there are some stuff that only those using apple things like iPhone, iPad and iPod can see)

PSLE Listening is over! Now I can throw away all my listening stuff or give them to my cousins. The English listening compre is okay but the Chinese one has one difficult question (question 5 which is about the main purpose of the retiring principal's speech). I put 2 but I think the answer should be 3 - to thank the students for organizing the previous day's concert. I think I should score full marks for English listening (20/20), but I got one wrong for Chinese listening (should score 18/20).







 ⓈⓉⓊⒹⓎ
ⒽⒶⓇⒹ


小学会考最后冲刺

2011-09-10T10:45:00.005+08:00

蔡老师，我们会加油的。谢谢您！

Chinese Newspaper on Singapore Mathematical Olympiad 2011

2011-09-04T10:57:00.007+08:00

林捷（左）横扫新加坡数学比赛的高中组和公开组冠军，获得教育部兼国防部政务部长黄循财的赞赏。（周柏荣摄）

新加坡数学奥林匹克赛，国大数理中学学生称王
来源：联合早报2011年9月4日

国大数理中学的林捷独占鳌头，在新加坡数学奥林匹克比赛中，击败了1万多名参赛学生，横扫高中组和公开组冠军。

　　林捷（16岁）的数学知识不但在本地的学生之上，他也刚在7月摘下国际数学奥林匹克比赛亚军荣衔，昨天三度上台领奖，成为我国耀眼的数学明日之星。

　　而林捷对数学的兴趣早在他小学五年级时就培养起来。他的父母毕业自国大电脑科学系，相信在潜移默化中儿子也喜欢上数学，从小就玩拼图游戏、迷宫和魔幻方块（Rubik's Cube）。现在，林捷在温习数学功课时，也上数学网站，向网友发问数学题目，互相切磋。

　　他的母亲黄美蓉（46岁）受访时说：“有些孩子空闲时就拿故事书来读，林捷则会拿起iPad，玩数学游戏，上数学网站交朋友。”

　　教育部兼国防部政务部长黄循财昨天为百多名学生颁发奖状，肯定他们在新加坡数学奥林匹克比赛、新加坡数学研究计划比赛和国际数学奥林匹克比赛这三项比赛的表现。

　　今年，共有来自138所学校的1万零665名学生参加的新加坡数学奥林匹克比赛，是历来参与人数最多的一次。

　　真金不怕火炼，数理学科一直是国大数理中学、华侨中学和莱佛士书院的强项，这三所中学更在今年的比赛中，独占初中组、高中组和公开组的前三甲宝座。

　　而新加坡数学研究计划比赛今年则吸引了来自20所中学的55项研究计划，让学生在课堂外，通过新颖、有创意的方式接触数学。

　　颁奖礼上，得奖团队的学生讲解他们的研究计划，他们不仅通过斐波那契数列（Fibonacci Sequence）来解决电影售票员零钱不足的问题，也用量子物理学来确保自己能在井字棋（Tic-tac-toe）中取胜。

　　黄循财接受本报访问时说，新加坡的数学教育景观日益多样化。“所以我们才能够不断寻求突破，因为数学的教育方式不单是公式化的，也可以灵活运用。”

　　他解释，我国教育系统有类似国大数理中学的教育学府，专研数理学科，同时也有多项比赛和活动，让学生了解数学的乐趣。此外，数学比赛也越来越多样化，学校举办国际数学比赛，更推出新颖的数独（Sudoku）比赛。

　　新加坡数理学会副主席林杉认为，我国数理成果突出的其中一个原因是参与数理教学工作的人员的热情投入。他以协会的成员为例说，成员多数为数学老师和教授，他们都是出自于对数学的热忱，在工余时间志愿参加学会的各项活动。

SMO 2011 Prize Presentation Ceremony

2011-09-03T22:12:00.008+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum

Lim Jeck with Guest of Honour Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister of State for Education and Defence

Singapore Team to the 52nd International Mathematical Olympiad

Clarence Chew (from Tao Nan Primary, who is ranked 28th in SMO Junior) and Lim Li

Lim Jeck has requested to use the SMO prize money to buy a notebook PC. So how much did he win?

SMO Senior Individual 1st - $500
SMO Senior Team 2nd - $600/3 = $200
SMO Open Individual 1st - $600
SMO Open Team 2nd - $700/3 = $233.33
IMO Gold = $1000
Total = $2533.33 (budget)

We will be going to COMEX 2011 (IT Show/PC Show) tomorrow ...

Afternote: Bought the following HP notebook PC at COMEX for $799 :)

CGMO 2011 News on Tamil Murasu

2011-08-29T14:28:00.005+08:00

This is posted by Lim Min's mum.

The girl in the picture is Surya Mathialagan, a Year 2 student from NUS High. She was interviewed by Tamil Murasu (the Tamil newspaper under SPH) on her CGMO achievements.

An English translation of the above article can be found in Edvantage website - Surya scores at maths Olympiad
EIGHT students - from Raffles Institution, NUS High and Raffles Girls' School - did Singapore proud at the recent China Girls Mathematical Olympiad.

They won one gold, two silver and four bronze medals at the event held in Shenzhen from July 30 to Aug 3... a vast improvement from last year's tally of one silver and four bronze medals.

NUS High School of Mathematics and Science Year 2 student Surya Mathialagan was the only Indian in the group. And she came home with a bronze medal.

A veteran of such maths Olympiads - she has been taking part in such competitions since she was in Primary 5 - this is Miss Mathialagan's first international medal. And the joy was evident when she told Tamil Murasu: "It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I solve tough mathematical problems."

The China Girls Mathematical Olympiad was introduced in 2002 as a domestic event but various countries have been invited to take part since. It comprises four questions that have to be completed in four hours. In Singapore, students undergo tests to qualify for the team representing the nation at the Olympiad.

Miss Mathialagan, who prepared for this Olympiad by tackling various mathematical questions for a minimum of six hours in the week leading up to the event, is now setting her sights higher. "I want to work harder and take part in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Once I do that, I want to win a medal and make Singapore proud," she said.

2011 PSLE Orals

2011-08-19T12:11:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LL
Orals are finally over ☺. Now we can throw away all our oral stuff.

I know my drawings fail. This is the picture of the Chinese oral (1st day) stickman version:

I said that it was a classroom （课室）, but my mother said that it was a students' corner （学生园地/学习角落） . The thing at the top right is a notice board （布告栏/布告版）and the paper is torn. The girl on the left is hitting the other girl with a bundle of papers. Conversation topic is about small group discussion （小组讨论/小组活动）(I am not sure), and "what have you learnt?"

This is the picture of the English oral (2nd day) stickman version.

This is a clinic. The man at the left is giving a $50 note to the cashier. The girl in the middle is sobbing uncontrollably and her hand is bandaged; the door says the doctor's name but I forgot. The two boys at the bottom right are fighting over a toy car. Conversation topic is "Have you been to the clinic? Tell me about your experience."

Mediacorp News - IMO 2011 Singapore Team

2011-08-14T12:25:00.002+08:00

Sorry, the sound is rather soft so please increase the volume on your PC.

Some Photos

2011-08-06T09:52:00.013+08:00

CGMO 2011:

IMO 2011:

CGMO 2011 Singapore Team Results

2011-08-03T07:43:00.009+08:00

This is posted by Lim Min's mum.

The CGMO Day 1 competition was on Monday, Day 2 yesterday, the marks were released at 11.30 pm last night (that is fast marking!) and the medal results revealed at about 11 am this morning.

Singapore's Results:

Aidi - 87 marks (Gold)
Pin Lin - 63 marks (Silver)
Lim Min - 60 marks (Silver)
Surya - 42 marks (Bronze)
Lydia - 36 marks (Bronze)
Si Ying - 33 marks (Bronze)
Belinda - 30 marks (Bronze)
Dorette - 18 marks (no medal, 加油for next year!)
Note: each day 4 qns, each qn carries 15 marks, total 120 marks. All marks awarded are in multiples of 3.

Cut-off marks for Gold, Silver and Bronze are 72, 48 and 21 respectively. It seems that this year the organiser decided to give out more medals (I heard, about 140 out of about 200 participants won medals), probably to make more people happy :)

Singapore has won a total of 1 Gold, 2 Silvers and 4 Bronzes. This is a commendable improvement over last year's haul of 1 Silver and 4 Bronzes :)

Off to Shen Zhen, China

2011-07-30T23:06:00.004+08:00

back left to right: Si Ying, Belinda, Dorette, Aidi, Lim Min
front left to right: Pin Lin, Surya, Mrs Ng (RGS teacher), Lydia, Mr Wang (NUSH teacher)

Lim Min left for Shen Zhen this morning. She is part of the Singapore Team participating in the China Girls Math Olympiad. She will be back on Wednesday night.

Media Reports

2011-07-27T14:45:00.006+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

It's strange that the media only went to NUS High to take pictures ... I thought it would be better to get the whole Singapore IMO Team together and for the reporters to interview the entire group. And how come none of the RI people was interviewed?

I also find the title for The Straits Times article not catchy enough, and a tad deprecating ...

IMO 2011 Question 6

2011-07-25T09:11:00.011+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Lim Jeck has returned home safely this morning - this certainly beats all the accolades that he has won in the IMO :) After an exhausting 12.5-hr flight, he is now sleeping soundly. After all these euphoria at the IMO, the next few weeks he will have rough sledding playing catch-up with all the missed school lessons. :(

I think it is going to be a challenging task for Singapore to maintain her top positions (country rank 3rd and individual ranks 2nd, 4th and 6th) next year. Out of the 5 team members who should qualify for next year's IMO again, 2 are likely to move to other Science Olympiads. This year's questions are favourable to the team, next year's questions might not be.

Anyway, back to my main topic, the Question 6 which stumped many contestants except for the 6 (Lim Jeck being one of them) out of a total of 564 contestants, who could solve it completely.

The IMO 2011 questions.

Lim Jeck's solution for Question 6.

IMO 2011 Results Out!

2011-07-22T16:31:00.010+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Wow ... This is Singapore's best showing in 24 years (after participating in IMO since 1988). Singapore is ranked 3rd, just after China and USA, and we have won 4 Gold 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals. :O

Full Details of Country Ranking
Not only that, our contestants are ranked among the best in the world! Lim Jeck is ranked Individual 2nd, Joseph joint-Individual 4th and Jie Jun joint-Individual 6th.

Full Details of Individual Ranking
Speechless :D If the same team (minus Jie Jun who is in JC2 this year) goes again next year, do you think we can beat China to be the top ranking country in IMO 2012 (Argentina)? :P

Afterparty:
You can see the Singapore team, about 19-22 seconds into the video:

IMO 2011 Excursion The Hague / Games

2011-07-21T14:43:00.002+08:00

Wow .. you can see the Singapore Team in this video. 13-15 secs into the video, you can see Lim Jeck, Joseph, Yan Sheng, Ryan and Jie Jun.

IMO 2011 - Coordination Day 1

2011-07-21T05:55:00.010+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

3 questions each day are scheduled to be coordinated. However, Team Singapore's coordination was done so efficiently that they managed to complete 5 questions (P1, P2, P3, P4, P6) in Day 1 of coordination. Left with P5 (or Question 5).

Update: All partial scores are removed ... full results to be released soon, likely tomorrow late night. Sorry to keep you all in suspense :P

Déjà vu

2011-07-16T09:01:00.006+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

IMO 2011 Team Singapore (photo taken last night at Changi Airport Terminal 3)

IMO 2010 Team Singapore (photo taken at Terminal 3, almost the same location). Notice Lim Jeck was shorter than Ang Yan Sheng then.

IMO 2009 Team Singapore (photo taken at same terminal, same location?). Notice how short Lim Jeck was then.

Can you find who else has appeared in all 3 photos, besides Lim Jeck?

Off to Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2011-07-15T17:30:00.005+08:00

Tonight at 2355 hrs we will be flying on Singapore Airlines SQ324 to Amsterdam for the 52nd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). A/Prof Wong and A/Prof Tay had flown there earlier for the jury meeting.

THe programme is as follows:
13 July - Arrival Day for Team Leader & Observer A
14 to 16 July - Jury Meeting
16 July - Arrival Day for Deputy Leaders, Contestants and Observers B
17 July - Opening Ceremony
18 to 19 July - Competition Day 1 and 2
20 to 22 July - Coordinatin/Final Jury Meeting/Excursion
23 July - Closing Ceremony
24 July - Departure Day
25 July - Reach Singapore (0545 hr)

During the IMO, we will be staying at Novotel Amsterdam City. The temperature is about 12 to 22 degree celsius.

A total of 574 participants from 102 countries (check here) are taking part in the 52nd IMO.

Official results of the IMO should be out by 23 July. Past and present IMO results can be checked here.

2011 River Valley Maths Challenge

2011-07-09T21:43:00.007+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li.

This morning, my teacher brought us (Wei Wei, Ji Xuan, Jia Ning, Stephen, Wei Jue and I) to the River Valley Maths Challenge (RVMC). 363 students from 62 schools took part in the RVMC. The participants were given free water and ruler. The individual round was easy, many people commented that they could do all the questions but I made a number of careless mistakes. The competition was held in the RVHS auditorium. We had to write our answers on the a separate sheet, there was no shading on OAS form. The team round was harder than the individual round, my team could not do one question and did not multiply correctly the last question, which was 59x59x59.

The food was nice, but I was just a tad disappointed that it was not buffet kind as each one of us had paid $5. There was mango pudding and packet lunch. I thought that the sauce was ketchup and was wondering why it was so spicy, until Step told me it was chilli.

At the prize presentation, there was an audience Math quiz where vouchers could be won by anyone who gave the correct answers. It was based on luck and quick calculation and we were not supposed to use calculator but I think I was not the only one who cheated as someone could compute 1000000000/50/60/24/365. They must call you before you could answer so an element of luck was involved here.

There were 10 individual prizes, 3 team prizes and 10 individual + team prizes. I won the 10th individual prize, which was a trophy. Sadly, my school did not get any team prize and my teacher was utterly disappointed as he could not brag now :P

NMOS 2011 Round 1 Answers

2011-07-09T11:35:00.004+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li
(Note: I did not take part in this competition as I am P6!)

NMOS 2011 R1 Answers
1. 220
2. 8
3. 30
4. 1006
5. 8
6. 4
7. 46
8. 46
9. 1003
10. 67
11. 210
12. 490
13. 30
14. 52 (answer given by someone from the c-box)
15. 20
16. 84
17. 125
18. 5
19. 80
20. 60
21. 21
22. 233
23. 2008
24. 19
25. 7
26. 3
27. 50
28. 15
29. 81
30. 72

Guys or Gals: Who's better at Maths Olympiad?

2011-07-01T14:43:00.010+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Generally speaking, guys perform much better than gals in Maths Olympiad. Some evidences are below:
- Annual International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) total participation: typically, 90% male and 10% female
- Top 10 winners of Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO) - SMO Junior 2010 (9 boys, 1 girl), SMO Senior 2010 (9 boys, 1 girl), SMO Open 2010 (10 boys)
- Singapore's participation in IMO from 2006-2011: all-boys team
- Out of about 24 members in the 2010/2011 National Team, there is only 1 girl
- No girl has ever topped the SMO Junior/Senior/Open
- No girl has ever topped the following primary-level Math Olympiad competitions: NMOS/SMOPS/APMOPS/RIPWMC

Nevertheless, as in most things in life, there are exceptions. Lisa Sauermann from Germany has been one of the top winners in the IMO. To-date, she has garnered 3 Gold and 1 Silver IMO medals. She was ranked individual 4th in 2010 and 3rd in 2009.

Best of all, Lisa (age 18 this year) is taking part in IMO 2011, and she looks set to take over the throne from Christian Reiher, as the Champion in the IMO Hall of Fame. Those ranked above her in the current Hall of Fame are all past (or long past) 19 years old and are not eligible to take part in the IMO anymore.

I wonder if Lisa is taking part again next year ....

To all girls out there who aspire to shine in the Mathematical Olympiad arena: if Lisa can do it, you can do it too!

NUS High Selection Test

2011-06-25T13:33:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LL ♥♦♣♠

Today I took the NUS High Selection Test. The 1 1/2 hr Math paper was okay (easier than NMOS) but the 1 1/4 hr Science paper was slightly hard. The Math paper had 7 pages (1st page was the cover page, last page was a blank page) and 23 non-MCQ questions where you have to shade the integer answer, and the Science paper had 30 MCQ questions and 24 pages (1st page was cover page, last page was a periodic table which I do not know how to use - I think there was 1 question about it which I guessed the answer).

The first few Math questions are easy, like P6 Math questions. One of the easiest Math questions is, the average of 3 numbers is given, you add another 2 numbers and you get another given average, you have to find the sum of the 2 numbers added. There are varying marks for different questions. I think the harder questions carry 4 marks.

One of the Science questions which I can remember is, there are two containers filled with hot water: one is a metal container with wooden casing, the other is a complete metal container. Both containers have a thermometer inside. Choose the correct line graph for the temperature, from the 4 or 5 choices given.

2011 China Girls Math Olympiad

2011-06-21T09:11:00.007+08:00

This is posted by Lim Min's mum.

Singapore will be sending 8 girls to the 2011 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO), to be held in ShenZhen (China) from 30 July to 3 August. The CGMO was originally established as a regional competition for female high school students from China. Several years ago China expanded the competition to countries from around the world, with the USA, Russia, United Kingdom and Singapore among the invitees.

After 2 days of selection tests (comprising 4-hr papers of 4 questions each) last Saturday and Sunday, the following girls are selected:

Raffles Institution: Zhang Aidi, Lydia Liu, Lim Min and Lee Si Ying (all Year 5s)
NUS High: Surya Mathialagan (Year 2) and Tan Pin Lin (Year 4)
Raffles Girls' School (Sec): Belinda Ding (Year 4) and Dorette Ong (Year 3)

All the best to Team Singapore, and hope the girls can better last year's results of 1 Silver and 4 Bronzes.

Mistakes in onSponge P5 Conquer Problem Sums

2011-06-19T10:26:00.012+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li ☺☻

After I had practised the SMO Junior questions and after my teacher asked us to complete the P5 thinkingMath@onSponge Conquer Problem Sums, I realised that something was wrong ...

Page 149.
Based on Pythagoras' theorem, AB is 8sqrt(10). But without knowing Pythagoras' theorem, a student will calculate AB = (28 x 18)/12 = 42???

Page 148.
Based on Pythagoras' theorem again, how can the three lengths of a triangle be 15, 20 and 30???

Page 146.
If the lengths of the triangle are 8, 10 and 14, the area should be sqrt(s(s-8)(s-10)(s-14)) where s = (8+10+14)/2. Hence, area = 16sqrt(6). But then, how can the height be 7 if the base is 14???

Page 145.
How can the hypotenuse be 8, which is shorter than the base length of 20???

There are more mistakes in the book, which I am too lazy to scan and highlight in this post.

IMO 2011 Singapore Team

2011-06-15T12:00:00.018+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

This year's Singapore IMO team comprises 1 JC2, 4 JC1s and 1 Sec 4. There is a high chance that IMO participants will get selected again the following year, as long as they qualify to take part again. Besides the obvious fact that they are among the top in the National Team (consisting of typically 20-25 students), they have also undergone intensive training in preparation for the IMO, and hence, are more well prepared for the selection tests. This means that, for 2012, it is likely that 5 places will be taken up by the current team members (unless, some of them also qualify for other International Science Olympiads and decide to partake in another competition).

The younger National Team members (current Year 3s and 4s) who aspire to be part of the IMO Team will probably have to work extremely hard, to secure a place in IMO Team 2012! I think Lim Jeck is very fortunate that he was first selected into the IMO Team in Sec 2. The competition to earn a coveted place in the IMO Team was probably less stiff then. As more Maths Olympiad competitions are organised for the primary level, kids get exposed to Maths Olympiad at an early age, and with more primary school kids taking part in the SMO (for secondary and JC levels), the quality of the Junior/Senior/National Team members will just get better. This cannot be a bad thing, it means the quality of our IMO Team will only improve, and we are likely to clinch more Golds in the future (special note: Singapore has won ONLY a single Gold medal in 1996, after taking part in IMO for 23 times so far).

The above are the leaders and observers accompanying the team to the 52nd IMO held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 12 to 25 July. The Leader and Observer A will be there earlier, as they are involved in the jury meeting to select 6 questions from the shortlisted IMO questions. After which, they are barred from any contact with the participants and Observer Bs since they will have prior knowledge to the selected IMO questions. Before the competition begins, the Deputy Leader and Observer Bs are allowed to spend some time with the participants, it could be to give more training, encouragement or pep talk (I think the last part is crucial, as you normally watch on TV, the sports coaches give pep talk to players, during important competitions).

To ensure fairness in marking, the Leader and Deputy Leader (and sometimes one Observer B) are permitted to participate in the marks coordination session, with two Coordinators assigned by IMO Foundation. This will ensure that the participants' solutions have been fairly assessed (meaning, you don't have to worry that your solutions are not clearly understood by uninitiated markers, or that marks are unfairly deducted).

Some countries even send Observer Cs, who are allowed to stay at the same site as the participants.

To know what typically happens throughout the IMO, you can read an interesting account of the 51st IMO by a UK student here, and by a UK leader, here. These diaries mentioned the disqualification of the North Korea team.

More Training .. Even More Training

2011-06-13T06:48:00.003+08:00

Off to 12-day residential camp, from 13 to 24 June, at NUS High, for IMO training.

After that, another 2 weeks' training from 27 June to 12 July, before flying to Amsterdam (Netherlands), where the IMO is held from 15 to 25 July.

Letter from NUSH

2011-06-10T21:34:00.009+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Just want to comment on the letters from NUS High. We have received a number of letters (this year and last 2 years) from NUS High, informing us of Lim Jeck going for National Team Selection Test or IMO National Team Training (see letter below) or some other overseas competitions. I always find the letters rather impersonal - there is no name mentioned. It is as if the letter is a generic one to be sent to the entire cohort, when in actual fact it was sent to only a few selected students. Why don't they add more personal touch, by naming 'Lim Jeck' in the letter instead of 'your child', addressing the letter to 'Dear Parent/Guardian of Lim Jeck' instead of 'Dear Parent/Guardian'? Sometimes I look at the letters and I wonder if they are indeed addressed to me, or to some other parents?

In contrast, the letter below from MOE seems more personalised.

NUS Module Exam Results

2011-06-09T06:22:00.007+08:00

Yay! I got another A+ for my NUS modules.
2010/2011 semester 2 (Jan to May 2011) exam result.

2010/2011 semester 1 (Aug to Dec 2010) exam result.

Teachers' Comments

2011-06-04T09:54:00.002+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Lim Jeck's various subject/mentor teachers have given their comments on him, in the progress report of Semester 1, 2011. It is apparent from the comments that Lim Jeck has shown aptitude for Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computing. However, he tends to be less proactive in the other subjects that he has less passion in. He is also too reserved and quiet.

Besides putting more efforts in his weaker subjects, I think he should also learn to be more articulate, as one may have the best technical knowledge but it would be in vain if one is not able to express one's thoughts, ideas and views clearly to others.

5Day 4Night SIMO Camp

2011-06-02T07:11:00.000+08:00

Off to SIMO camp from 2 to 6 June, held at NUS High.

SMO 2011 (Open Section) Answers

2011-06-01T13:23:00.008+08:00

SMO 2011 Open Special Round Participants List
1. 1080
2. 300
3. 8
4. 10
5. 1
6. 8748
7. 27
8. 504
9. 71
10. 8
11. 38
12. 1936
13. 10
14. 50
15. 34220
16. 32
17. 6029
18. 2112
19. 6034
20. 95004
21. 48
22. 8
23. 38
24. 30
25. 2

National Average Statistics

SMO (Open) Previous Years' Cut-off Points (Inclusive of Round 2 scores)
2010 Gold (28-30), Silver (9), Bronze (6), HM (5)
2009 Gold (27-29), Silver (9), Bronze (6), HM (5)
2008 Gold (27), Silver (11), Bronze (10), HM (6)
2007 Gold (19-20), Silver (9), Bronze (6), HM (5)

Update:
2011 Gold (18), Silver (9), Bronze (6), HM (5)
My Score: 23+50

SMO 2011 (Junior Section) Answers

2011-05-31T14:20:00.030+08:00

SMO 2011 Junior Special Round Participants List
##Click here for errors in SMO 2011 Solution Book's Junior Rd 1 Q16, 19, 26 and 28. Document is prepared by wmdsg.
1. D
2. C
3. C
4. B
5. B
6. A
7. B
8. E
9. C
10. E
11. 2
12. 5
13. 3
14. 129
15. 0
16. 7981 (3 Sep: answer in solution book is 9241 - refer to ## above)
17. 224
18. 1001
19. 256 (3 Sep: answer in solution book is 16 - refer to ##)
20. 4022
21. 101
22. 19
23. 169
24. 288
25. 14
26. 3 (3 Sep: answer in solution book is 350 - refer to ##)
27. 19
28. 10301(? see ** below and ##)
29. 15
30. 109
31. 4
32. 98
33. 30
34. 4022
35. 10
*Answers for Qn 14 and Qn 19 are provided by sz and wmdsg, respectively. Thanks.
** Lim Li: as pointed out by GeNiUs in comments, there may be something wrong with Qn 28. The answer is unknown at the moment.

National Average Statistics

SMO (Junior) Previous Years' Cut-off Points (Inclusive of Round 2 scores)
2010 Gold (24), Silver (9), Bronze (8), HM (5)
2009 Gold (11), Silver (7), Bronze (6), HM (5)
2008 Gold (23), Silver (14), Bronze (11), HM (10)
2007 Gold (20), Silver (14), Bronze (11), HM (10)

Update:
2011 Gold (12), Silver (9), Bronze (7), HM (6)

SMO 2011 (Senior Section) Answers

2011-05-31T13:28:00.018+08:00

SMO 2011 Senior Special Round Participants List
1. B
2. A
3. D
4. C
5. E
6. A
7. E
8. B
9. A
10. C
11. 400
12. 12
13. 14
14. 300
15. 8001
16. 1006
17. 54
18. 1005
19. 1011
20. 1
21. 40
22. 3
23. 93
24. 1120
25. 1
26. 180
27. 9
28. 28
29. 168
30. 276
31. 20
32. 5
33. 61
34. 45 (correct answer is 16, as in solution book)
35. 12
*Correct answers to Qn. 29 and Qn. 35 are provided by goran.

National Average Statistics

SMO (Senior) Previous Years' Cut-off Points (Inclusive of Round 2 scores)
2010 Gold (23-26), Silver (10), Bronze (7), HM (6)
2009 Gold (19-23), Silver (10), Bronze (7), HM (6)
2008 Gold (27-28), Silver (15), Bronze (10), HM (9)
2007 Gold (29-30), Silver (16), Bronze (12), HM (10)

Update:
2011 Gold (21), Silver (15), Bronze (10), HM (9)
My Score: 28+50

APMOPS 2011

2011-05-28T17:42:00.005+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li☺
From left: Mrs Chua (our principal), Zheng Han, me, Wei Jue, Step, Mr Ng.

Today we took the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (APMOPS which is the 2nd Round of SMOPS) in the morning and also attended the prize giving ceremony held in the afternoon.

Zheng Han and I were in group 2, and there were only 2 girls (out of 30 people in my group). The other girl won a SPSO Top 30, and is also in NUS High's Einstein Club, just like me. I also met another boy called Eugene, who told me that he visited this blog before.

The school, Hwa Chong Institution, provided us packet lunch after the competition, which they did not give the teachers (too bad). There were rice, brocoli, tofu, fish and meat. Zheng Han spilled the food on the table and then he ate it (so unhygienic and disgusting). Some time later, they gave each of us a McDonald french fries and apple pie. Zheng Han dropped a french fry on the grass and he ate it (more disgusting). After the prize giving ceremony, there was a buffet (bee hoon, bao, cream puff, very spicy carrot cake, cheese tarts, hot dog pastry, chicken wing, fruit punch etc.) for all students and guests. I forgot to bring lunch boxes to "da-bao".

We have won the following awards:
SMOPS Platinum Award - Zheng Han, me
SMOPS Gold Award - Stephen, Wei Jue
Honourable Mention Team Award - Queenstown Primary School: Zheng Han, Wei Jue, me
APMOPS 11th to 40th Position (Gold Medal) - me

The top in SMOPS is Clarence Chew from Tao Nan. The top few in APMOPS are from Shanghai.

Maths Talent Quest

2011-05-20T18:40:00.005+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺

Hello. ☺☻. This afternoon, I played truant with Step, Wei Jue, Wei Wei and Ji Xuan. This time, we played truant for 15 min more than last time (30 mins). During that time, we had our lunch in our school canteen. We then took the school bus to Clementi Town Secondary School for the Maths Talent Quest competition.

We played some games while waiting for our turns to take the competition, which was on the computer. First, we played the Rubik's Cube and I totally failed. After that, we played Sudoku. Then, we went to play some games on the stage (without audience) - each person from each school can play one kind of game. I played sliding blocks. I had 5 mins to complete the puzzle but there was something wrong with the computer, I had only 1 min instead of 5 mins so I did not manage to complete it. Then I played another game that I could remember the name. At the end of the games, I only accumulated 4 points and could exchange the points for an 8-point star puzzle (see below).

Then, it was our turn to take the competition. It was challenging and I got 12 marks out of a total of 25 marks (1/2 more mark to pass!). During the competition, there was someone from another school hollering very loudly at the invigilator. Step got 11 marks, Wei Jue got 10 marks, Wei Wei got 9 and I do not know how many marks Ji Xuan got.

Following that, we went for our refreshments. There were some black thingy (carrot cake?), yellow stuff, cream puff, sandwiches, chicken wings ... The food was scrumptious and mouthwatering, especially the cream puff, which was luscious and cooling. The lemon drink was also very refreshing.

Next, we proceeded to the hall for the prize presentation ceremony. Step, Wei Jue and Wei Wei got Silver awards. I got Individual 5th (a trophy) and Gold award (another trophy). Step needed 1 more mark to get Gold. The Individual 2nd and 3rd got something like a tablet, but the Individual 1st won an iPad 2 (so lucky!!). My school also won 2nd for Team Award (a medal), same as last time (St Andrews Maths & Science Competition).

SNGMC

2011-05-14T22:05:00.006+08:00

This is posted by Lim Li.

Today, more than 12 hours but less than 15 hours ago, I took part in a math competition called Singapore National Girls' Mathematics Competition (SNGMC). It is organized by RGS. When I reached my school at 7:30 am, I was the latest as usual. Then, we waited what seemed like eternity for Mr Ng to come, who gave the excuse that he bought a toy transformer at 12 midnight the day before and went home at 3 am. The 6 of us girls and Mr Ng took school bus to RGS.

When we reached RGS, they gave us a nice bag with Rubik's cube keychain, sliding puzzle keychain and 2 small metal puzzles inside. They also gave us a bottle of mineral water with RGS logo. I think there were 60 schools and about 400 girls taking part in SNGMC. We were divided into groups, mine was group E2. After that, we took the competition comprising about 25 questions. I left 4 blanks because I forgot to guess their answers. I found a mistake about 5 mins before time was up but I did not have time to change it. After that, we went for the Amazing Race Competition and someone commented that I must be Lim Jeck's sister (strangely, she did not remark that I am Lim Min's sister since I was in RGS compound). I hated the Amazing Race because I am very (very) unfit.

After the Amazing Race, we went for free food which was chicken rice with nuggets and chicken wings. It was delectable. The queue was very (very) long. After the refreshment we went to the hall for the results announcement. I got the 11th to 20th position (the individual prizes were: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th to 10th and 11th to 20th) and won $50 (the prize money will be sent to my school).

NTST 2011 Results

2011-05-07T22:11:00.007+08:00

The results are out - 3 from RI (Ding Yue, Ryan Kor and Joseph Kuan), 1 from ACSI (Ang Jie Jun) and 2 from NUS High (Ang Yan Sheng and I) will be representing Singapore in the 52nd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which will be held from 18 to 25 July in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Training will start next Saturday. I think just like previous years, we will be training every day during the June holidays and I am going to miss 4.5 weeks of classes when school reopens.

Hope we can better last year's results of 4 Silvers, 1 Bronze and 1 Honourable Mention!

NTST 2011

2011-05-01T14:21:00.004+08:00

We took the NTST yesterday and today. It was ok. I managed to do 5.9 questions.

Yet Another iPad

2011-04-28T17:58:00.006+08:00

It is unbelievable. We have just won for ourselves another iPad (the one in the centre)! This time, it is won by Lim Min, who took part in the DSO Quiz which was open to current students of Raffles Institution (RI JC) during the career fair.

Again, it is not iPad2 .. it is a 32G with 3G.

Excused from Lessons

2011-04-25T09:32:00.010+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum
In preparation for the SIMO National Team Selection Test (NTST) on 30 Apr and 1 May (4.5 hrs each day, 9 am to 1.30 pm), Lim Jeck has been excused from lessons and CCA commitments this week (25 Apr to 1 May).

As stated in the letter, the arrangement is to allow students from the National Team to fully concentrate on a 5-day intensive training, to increase the chance of qualifying for the IMO National Team 2011. Alternative arrangements will be made for lessons missed.

I appreciate NUS High's support of her students in their aspirations to become part of the 6-member Singapore IMO team.

In my opinion, it is not really necessary for students to be pulled out from all classes to fully focus on either the selection tests or (if selected) the intensive preparation for the competition itself (which could last 6-7 weeks). Consistent, on-going work (for instance, doing a few IMO question(s) on a daily/weekly basis) is probably more important. Unless you are really competent in the subjects missed, taking a long leave may be detrimental to your studies, and you are bound to have a tough time catching up. It won't be easy to make alternative arrangements for most lessons missed, since you are probably busy attending classes. Extension for assessment deadlines may not help much, since you will be overwhelmed with new homework and assessment for current classes. For group projects, it may not be fair for your group members to cover your area in your absence.

I think it is good that students are given the flexibility to attend any particular lessons. They can decide on missing those lessons which have the least impact on them. These may include subjects that they are already strong at (e.g. Maths), lessons that are inconsequential (e.g. PE, CCA).

If Lim Jeck is selected again, it would be the 3rd time that he is representing Singapore in IMO. If he is not selected, it is okay as he has 2 more chances, in 2012 and 2013.

May the most deserving students (from whichever schools) from the national team get selected into the IMO Singapore Team 2011! :)

Direct School Admission

2011-04-18T14:01:00.011+08:00

This is posted by LL's mum. The Direct School Admission – Secondary Exercise (DSA-Sec) for Primary 6 students has started. Lim Li has applied for the NUS High DSA. The selection test will be held on 25 June, which is about 2 months away. I do not think it is necessary to prepare for the selection test – it is hard to prepare anyway, since there are no past year questions for reference. Both Lim Jeck and Lim Min took the NUS High selection tests some 4 or 5 years ago, respectively. According to them, the Maths questions were easy (as they had been exposed to Maths Olympiad competitions like SMOPS, RI World Maths Contests) but the Science questions comprising Physics, Chemistry and Biology components were more challenging, though they could not remember what kind of questions were being asked.
While both Lim Min and Lim Jeck attempted two DSAs each during their times, Lim Li is going to try only NUS High. In my opinion, it is not advisable to try more than 3 DSAs. It may be emotionally draining for the kids as there will be a series of selection tests and camps (and possibly interviews too) - this could happen from June to August, which coincides with the all important preliminary exam and PSLE preparation period. I would think that students should only attempt DSA for schools of their first-choice (i.e. their dream school(s)), and not their second-choice or even third-choice schools. Why? There is a flip side to the DSA exercise – if you are successful in your second/third-choice school but not the first-choice school, are you going to accept the school? Once you accept the school, you will not be allowed to participate in the S1-posting exercise. What if your PSLE results turn out quite well, qualifying you for the first choice school? Yes, it is possible to appeal to your dream school after the PSLE results are out. However, there is no guarantee that a place will be offered. Your dream school may request you to sit for tests, or call you up for an interview, and there may be a long agonizing wait for the appeal results (which could be soon after the appeal, or as late as end December, or even early January, after the school sorts out all the acceptances and rejections). There will be emotional upheavals while waiting for and receiving that important call.
Some top secondary schools will give priority to students from the MOE primary gifted education programme (GEP), and these students will apply under a GEP track. Mainstream students may apply under sports/art/music/performing arts, or academic track (math/science/english/mother tongue). For mainstream students, they have to prove that they are very outstanding in sports/art/music/etc., or way above their peers in the academic subject that they are applying. Some other schools like NUS High do not give preference to GEP students, but students who did very well in Maths and Science competitions (e.g. Platinum in SMOPS, Gold in SPSO) will have a higher chance of being selected. I have heard many parents lamenting that their above-average children who are non-GEP and do not have any special talent (in sports/art/academic area) do not stand a good chance in DSAs. I kind of agree with them. I think it is fine to try 1 or 2 DSAs, but don't take it to heart if the DSA is unsuccessful, and parents should encourage their child to focus on the PSLE and do well enough to qualify for his/her dream school.

Good luck to all the P6s who are applying for DSAs this year!

My Second iPad

2011-04-09T22:03:00.003+08:00

I took part in the Cryptography Quiz jointly organised by DSO and Temasek Laboratories @ NUS, on 18 March. This afternoon was the prize presentation. Yay, I have won a 64G iPad with 3G. I think they should have given us iPad2, instead of iPad. I heard that the organiser had wanted to get iPad2 as prizes but unfortunately it has not been launched in Singapore yet. I already have a 16G iPad, but with this 64G iPad, we can download more games :)

Math Qn on Black and White hexagonal tiles

2011-03-30T18:37:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LL♪♫. The following is a question from cbox: A very large floor is tiled with black and white regular hexagonal tiles. Each black tile is surrounded by 6 white tiles and each white tile is surrounded by 3 white tiles and 3 black tiles. Find the approximate ratio of the number of black tiles to the number of white tiles. Solution is below: The picture above is self-explanatory. The approx. ratio of the number of black tiles to the number of white tiles is 1:2.

2011 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Online Tournament

2011-03-28T09:40:00.013+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum. The Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament (HMMT) is an annual math tournament for high school students, held at MIT and at Harvard in alternate years. It is held in February and November of each year. With about 900 local participants, HMMT is one of the largest math contests in the United States. Six individual tests (each participant is to pick 2 out of 4 Subject Tests: Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, and Combinatorics) and two team events (the Team Round and the Guts Round) are the major events of the Tournament.

As the HMMT is restricted to teams within 75 miles of Cambridge, there are many high school students within US but outside the 75 miles radius, and outside of US, who are unable to attend the competitions to share in the challenge and excitement of the contest. Hence, the informal and unofficial Harvard-MIT Online Tournament is created. For the online tournament, no prizes are awarded, but top-performing teams and individuals are recognised on the HMMT website.

A group of 8 NUS High School students were among 81 high school students from all around the world who participated in the 2011 HMMT Online Competition held on 13 February (Sunday) from 1 - 7 am, Singapore time. The NUS High students did well, emerging tops in a number of categories, as seen below:

Individual (Overall)
1st - Lim Jeck
5th - Wayne Lin
6th - Ryan Chan
8th - Ang Yan Sheng

Algebra/Calculus
3rd - Ang Yan Sheng

Algebra/Combinatorics
10th - Ling Yan Hao

Algebra/Geometry
1st - Ryan Chan

Calculus/Geometry
2nd - Shen Dai
3rd - Yuan Chenyang
6th - Cheng Herng Yi

Combinatorics/Geometry
1st - Lim Jeck
3rd - Wayne Lin

Team Round
1st - NUS High

For full results, check here.

Inter-Primary Maths and Science Competition

2011-03-26T11:21:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺☻

Yesterday, Wei Jue, Stephen and I went to St. Andrew's Secondary School to take part in the Inter-Primary Mathematics and Science Competition.

There were 40 MCQ questions, 20 of which were Math questions and 20 Science questions. We were given 40 minutes. The Maths questions were do-able but I could not answer most of the Science questions (I put 'C' for those which I had no inking of the answers). After the competition, we proceeded to the refreshments, comprising beehoon, fishballs, hard-boiled egg halves, nuggets and fruit punch. I did not have much time to eat as the special event was slated to commence 30 minutes later. The special event was more like a running event where we were given questions and had to find the answers (about God?!) from the walls and flooring in the school hall.

Before the prize presentation, we were elated to be informed that our school was one of the top 3 schools (out of 32 participating schools) which got into the grand finals, the buzzer round. It was held on the stage. There were 6 tables separated into 3 groups, with one computer for each group. The mouse of the computer was the buzzer but it had no sound; the word 'Team A/B/C' would appear on the display depending on which team pressed the buzzer first. Then, the team members would use the microphone on the table to say the answer. The 1st team to answer would get 5 points if the answer was correct, and 2 points would be deducted for a wrong answers. For wrong answer, the remaining 2 teams could answer - if they answered correctly, they would get 3 points, if answered wrongly, they would lose 1 point. My team could only do the Math questions but we were usually too slow with our answer. Whenever any Science question was posed, we would wait for the other teams to answer hoping they would get marks deducted for giving incorrect answers. At the end of the buzzer round, Team A had 23 points, Team B (my team) had 10 points and Team C had -2 points. We emerged Team 2nd and won a trophy each! Wei Jue also won another trophy for being the Individual 3rd. Haha, now our teacher Mr Ng could brag about our achievements again ☺ :P

Math Qn on White, Black and Red Marbles

2011-03-20T00:31:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺

Qn on cbox: There are two containers A and B. Each of them contains 9 white marbles, 9 black marbles and 9 red marbles. If 10 marbles are removed from A and placed into B. how many marbles must be returned from B to A to make sure that there are at least 8 marbles of each colour in A?

Solution:
A: 9W, 9B, 9R
B: 9W, 9B, 9R

10 marbles are removed from A and placed into B. Assume 9W and 1B (any combination will do).
A: 0W, 8B, 9R
B: 18W, 10B, 9R

Now, return marbles from B to A to make sure that there are at least 8 marbles of each colour in A.
The most unlucky picks from B would be: 9R and 10B (A: 0W, 18B, 18R) followed by 8W (A: 8W, 18B, 18R)
Hence for worst case, number of marbles returned is 9+10+8 = 27 marbles.

High School Olympiads

2011-03-14T10:08:00.005+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum

At primary level, the more prestigious local Maths and Science competitions/olympiads include:
- NMOS (National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore) and SPSO (Singapore Primary Science Olympiad) for P5, organised by NUS High
- SMOPS/APMOPS (Singapore - Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary School) for P6, organised by HCI
- RIPMWC (RI Primary Mathematics World Contest) for P6, organised by RI

At secondary/JC level, there are many more Maths and Science competitions/olympiads available. These include: Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO Junior/Senior/Open), American Maths Contest (AMC 10/12), Australian Maths Competition (AMC Westpac), Singapore Junior Physics Olympiad (SJPhO), Singapore Physics Olympiad (SPhO), Singapore Junior Chemistry Olympiad (SJChO), Singapore Chemistry Olympiad (SChO), Singapore Biology Olympiad (SBO), National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) etc. The ultimate of the olympiads would be to represent Singapore in the following prestigious international Maths and Science olympiads for high school students (Singapore's medal tally in 2010 are given):
- International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) (4 Silver, 1 Bronze)
- International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) (1 Gold, 4 Silver)
- International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) (2 Gold, 2 Silver)
- International Biology Olympiad (IBO) (1 Gold, 3 Silver)
- International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze)

The selection of Singapore representatives (only citizens and PRs are eligible) for the above competitions is through rigorous selection processes. Typically, high-potential students are selected from the local competitions (SMO, SChO, SPhO, SBO, NOI, etc.) and they will go through weekly training by NUS lecturers/professors/trainers and then sit for a series of selection tests, before the final national teams to represent Singapore are selected. The national teams then go through more intensive training sessions (could be daily, starting from June holidays up till international olympiads in early/mid July).

The International olympiads are usually held in July of each year (with the exception of IOI, which may be held in August). It is not impossible for a student to represent Singapore in more than 1 Olympiad. However, it is evident that with all the intensive trainings and the international olympiads being held closely together (in June/July), a student may have to make the difficult choice of giving up one olympiad for another. Or the student could try again, to gain a coveted place in the "dropped" olympiad's national team, in the following year.

I think if one is going to pursue the ultimate in Olympiads (i.e. represent Singapore in IMO/IPhO/IChO/IBO/IOI), one will need to put his/her heart and soul into it. One should probably be involved in not more than 2, or at most 3 types of national-level olympiads. If you get involved in too many, you could become "Jack of all trades, master of none". It is also not practical to be involved in too many, as the competitions, training sessions and selection tests are bound to clash with one another, not forgetting that in the midst you will have heavy school workload to juggle, so the balancing act is going to be extremely challenging.

For Lim Jeck, he is focussing more on IMO, but he is also involved in Physics Olympiad Training (school elective module) and NOI/IOI training. He is taking part in the Maths/Physics/Informatics olympiads. So far he has represented Singapore in IMO twice, in 2009 and 2010. Hopefully he has the chance to represent Singapore in IMO again in 2011 - 2013 (and clinches a Gold eventually), and also in IOI, in 2012 or 2013.

APMO 2011

2011-03-08T19:52:00.008+08:00

This morning I took the Asian Pacific Maths Olympiad at NUS High. There were 5 questions, we were given 4 hrs. Question 3 is on Geometry. I took 1.5 hours to do the first 4 questions. For the next 2.5 hours I tried to solve question 5, but I think I only managed to solve it partially.

So I think I solve a total of 4.5 questions, which is better than how I did the previous 2 years :)

Afternote: I got about 31 or 32 marks for APMO 2011. Past year APMO test papers, solutions and results can be found in http://www.mmjp.or.jp/competitions/APMO/

无聊的造句

2011-03-06T12:29:00.003+08:00

马上 — 我很开心地骑在马上。（老师评语：我很不开心。）

难过 — 前面这条水沟很难过。（老师评语：老师更难过。）

又。。又 — 我的妈妈又矮又高又胖又瘦。（老师评语：你妈妈是百变金刚吗？）

其中 — 我的其中一只左脚受伤了。（老师评语：你是蜈蚣吗？）

天真 — 今天真热。（老师评语：你好天真。）

Inspirational Conversation between Pencil and Eraser

2011-02-25T16:25:00.004+08:00

Pencil: I'm sorry....

Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil: I'm sorry 'cause you get hurt because of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)

Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on). Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

This is for all parents out there.....

~ Author Unknown ~

SIMO Hiking

2011-02-20T09:16:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, after our regular SIMO training, we hiked from NUS to Vivo City. The group photos below are with courtesy of Ding Yue.

Competitions

2011-02-10T21:42:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺☻♪ ♫ ☼

In the coming months, I am taking part in the following competitions:
- HCI's Singapore-Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (SMOPS)
- RI's Primary Maths World Contest (RIPMWC)
- St Andrew's Maths and Science Competition
- Clementi Town Sec's Mathematical Talent Quest
- Singapore and Asean Schools Maths Olympiad (SASMO)
- RGS' Maths Competition
- Little Red Dot Young Professor Challenge
- Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO Junior)
- UNSW ICAS (Maths)
- UNSW ICAS (Science)
- Australian Maths Competition
- AMC8

I think there may be 1 or 2 more, which I cannot remember.

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

2011-02-03T07:51:00.002+08:00

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Math Qn

2011-01-27T18:05:00.003+08:00

Someone needed help with the following question:
The digits 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 can form 120 five-digit numbers, each without any repeating digit. What is the sum of these 120 numbers?

Solution by Lim Li:
Each of the digits 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 appears 24 (i.e. 120/5) times in the Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands and 10 Thousands place.
1+2+3+4+5 = 15
24 x 15 = 360
Hence,
+++++360
++++360
+++360
++360
+360
------------
=3999960 (sum of all 120 numbers)
------------

Mathlinks aka Art of Problem Solving

2011-01-25T09:13:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Mathlinks is a website/forum that Lim Jeck frequents, on an almost daily basis. It is where he hones his Maths Olympiad problem solving skills. Since joining Mathlinks on 10 March 2010, he has contributed 760 posts (as at 25 January 2011) which works out to an average of 2.73 posts per day. Out of a total of 78,927 members, Lim Jeck aka oneplusone is currently ranked the 455th most active user. The most active user has to-date made 12,301 posts in the various forums!

He also participates in an unofficial Olympiad Marathon initiated by a fellow forum user. Currently, he is ranked 1st, after some 14 rounds of questions.

Cut the Rope HD (iPad game)

2011-01-23T13:45:00.002+08:00

We are currently the top in national and local for the Cut the Rope game in Cardboard, Fabric and Foil box leaderboard categories, with scores of 140240, 137120 and 132890 respectively.

Cut the Rope is a strategic game that tests your puzzle solving skills. There is this cute fat round green monster, Om Nom, who has a penchant for candy. The objective of the game is to bring the candy to Om Nom's mouth which is almost as big as him. If the candy is attached to a rope, you can "Cut the Rope" with your finger. To complete a level, you need to decide which ropes and when to cut, to swing/drop/float/etc the candy into his mouth, collecting as many stars as possible in the process.

We have aready completed the game and have nothing much to do as I am too "sian" to achieve national tops for the gift and cosmic box.

Funny Photos from Newspapers

2011-01-16T21:16:00.006+08:00

Professional Photography?!

From The Straits Times - Feng Tianwei, who rescued Singapore from quarter-final exit during the Asian Games 2010.

From My Paper - Monaco's Princess Stephanie was in Singapore to support her daughter, who participated in the inaugural YOG 2010.

2000th 7-digit Math Question

2011-01-08T12:06:00.005+08:00

Someone posted the following question:
All the 7-digit numbers containing each of the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 exactly once, and not divisible by 5, are arranged in the increasing order. Find the 2000th number in this list.

Solved by Lim Li ☺☻:
Since the 7-digit number cannot be divisible by 5, the last digit cannot be 5.
If the 1st digit is fixed, there are 1x2x3x4x5x5 = 600 numbers
[1]765432 => 600th number
[2]765431 => 1200th
[3]765421 => 1800th
If the 1st and 2nd digits are fixed, there are 1x2x3x4x4 = 96 numbers
[41]76532 => 1896th
[42]76531 => 1992nd
:
[4312]756 => 1996th
[4315]267 => 1997th
[4315]276 => 1998th
[4315]627 => 1999th
[4315]672 => 2000th
Hence the 2000th number is 4315672

A Busy Year for 2011 ...

2010-12-31T08:09:00.003+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

2011 is going to be a very busy year for the kids.

For Lim Min, she is going to RI. While she takes about 20 mins to travel by MRT & bus to RGS, she will now need to spend about 40 mins to travel to RI (Queenstown MRT to Marymount MRT). I heard from ex-RGS now-RI parents that students are much busier in RI and they have to take 2 CCAs, which means they work harder and play harder as compared to when they are in secondary school! Lim Min will be taking GP and 4 H2s - Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Economics. She has done very well for her Maths (scoring 98 & 100 for the Maths 1 & Maths 2) and 3 Sciences (scoring 90 or close) while in RGS so it's a pity that she has to drop Biology to take the contrasting subject, Economics. But I heard Economics is an interesting subject so I guess, you lose some and you gain some.

For Lim Jeck, he is going to have an incredibly busy schedule! He is taking two NUS modules - Linear Algebra from NUS Faculty of Science and Competitive Programming (this module is free and ungraded) from the School of Computing. On top of that, he has the usual National Team Training at NUS Math Dept on Saturday mornings. Including the NUS modules, I think his timetable will have 2 days that end at 6 pm, 2 days end at 7 pm (Linear Algebra, 4-7 pm) and 1 day ends at 9 pm (Competitive Programming, 6-9 pm). He did well for his previous NUS module - Calculus and got an A+, which means he is able to claim the bulk of the course fee from NUS High. I think NUS High really suits him to a T, as he can enjoy working on his passion while maximising his potential in his strong areas - maths, physics, chemistry and programming.

For Lim Li, next year is PSLE year. Needless to say, she will have to stay back in school most of the days and her school teachers are going to give her tonnes of homework in preparation for the PSLE. She should have no problem doing well for Maths and Science, but I think she has to put in more effort for English and Chinese, her weaker subjects. I am sure her Chinese teacher, Ms Chai, will do the necessary to prepare the class well, so Lim Li should do all right (hopefully, get a high A) as long as she does all the work assigned by Ms Chai, diligently. I am more worried for her English. Maybe I would work out a schedule to revise English with her.

Hope everyone can have a fruitful year ahead!

Hikaru No Go

2010-12-30T19:07:00.006+08:00

"Hikaru No Go" is a Japanese comic manga series as well as anime. It is our family favourite, as even my parents also read the comic books and watched the DVDs which we borrowed from the libraries. It also piques our interest in the Go game, which we are playing now :)

Hikaru No Go is the story of a 6-grader, Shindo Hikaru (left on above picture: boy with yellow hair), who by chance meets a 1000-year old ghost, Fujiwarano Sai (right on above picture: man with almost lady-like features) , who was trapped in a Go Board before his release. Together, Hikaru Shindo and Sai make a great go-playing team and they follow the path that leads them to the divine move or "Hand of God"; along the way they meet many memorable characters, such as Waya, Isumi, Ochi and Hikaru's and Sai's respective destined rivals, Touya Akira and Touya Kouyo.

There are many touching scenes such as those depicting the close friendship ties fostered between Hikaru and Sai, as well as among the the group of friends as they graduate from Insei to become Pro, or professional Go players, the integrity conflict and how a depressed Hikaru goes searching for Sai when he leaves suddenly. This is definitely a manga which I would recommend to anyone, even if you don't play Go.

3N Royal Caribbean Cruise

2010-12-23T11:24:00.015+08:00

My family went for a 4 Days 3 Nights Best of Malaysia on Royal Caribbean Cruise (Legend of The Seas) from 20 Dec to 23 Dec. We stayed in 2 rooms, Oceanview stateroom, Deck 2. It was a relaxing and enjoyable trip, with lots of fun games, rock climbing and delectable food. We also joined the shore excursion to Penang - visit to butterfly farm, SEA's longest bridge, kampongs.

Playing table soccer.

Playing wii.

Endless supply of twist ice cream.

Lobster and elephant made by our stateroom attendant.

Towel folding class where we learnt how to fold tortoise, dog, elephant and monkey.

We enjoyed rock climbing.

Fine Dining at Romeo and Juliet restaurant, with starter, main course and desserts (which we shared).

Our favourite hang-out place - the Optix (Deck 10), where we played table soccer, wii and card games.

My Cousin's Wedding

2010-12-20T05:45:00.004+08:00

Extended family group photo taken after my cousin (Han Kee)'s wedding banquet at Ritz-Calton, on 12 Dec 2010.

Top in Singapore for Froggy Jump

2010-12-16T18:10:00.006+08:00

Lim Li is now officially the top scorer in Singapore for Froggy Jump, with a score of 2,071,984. The 2nd highest score in Singapore is 1,152,708. The world's highest score is 67,116,504 (by someone in USA), and Lim Li is ranked 223rd in the world.

The above shows the locations of the top 6 scorers in Singapore.

And of course, the top scorer lives in Queens!

Comic Books

2010-12-16T08:32:00.004+08:00

Comic books which we devour during the school holidays. Every week, we read 20-30 books. All were borrowed from the Central Public Library and Jurong Regional Library.

My Favourite Comic Books

2010-12-08T12:35:00.008+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺☻ 1st - Case Closed

2nd - Fullmetal Alchemist

3rd - Skip Beat

4th - Shaman King

5th - Hunter x Hunter

QPS 6A'06 Gathering on 29 Nov

2010-11-30T19:51:00.005+08:00

Gathering for Lim Min's primary school classmates, at Queens function room.

No one is supposed to know how this game is played.

With Mr Tan looking on. Both Mr Ng and Ms Chai could not make it for the gathering :(

Playing card game with twisties as bets?

Lim Li joining the current Sec 4s for a card game.

NUS High 1-Day Math Camp

2010-11-26T20:30:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LL ☺ ☻

Yesterday I attended a Logic and Games Math camp at NUS High. At the camp, there were only 3 girls out of 18 students, so sad.

We played the frog puzzle, the one where the frog can only walk 1 step or jump over another frog. We must find the formula for the number of moves depending on n number of frogs, which is n^2+2n. Other games we played include: Nim, Cross the River, Quadrant tic-tac-toe, etc. The student helper Ananya Kumar said that Lim Jeck had been blabbering about minecraft for the past 3 days and Lim Jeck said that the graphics was great (the sun, moon, stars, clouds and hands are squares and everything is pixelated ☺).

At lunch, the food was not buffet kind, but a packet of bee hoon with egg, fish, otah, fish cake and ikan billis (see picture). For tea breaks, we had packets and biscuits. So pathetic right ... actually, not so bad, I am just exaggerating and I brought home 4 packets of drink and a lot of biscuits until my bag was so full that I could not put my pencil case inside and I had to put it in my pocket.

I think the camp is quite fun.

QtPS Year End Prize Giving Ceremony

2010-11-19T21:45:00.003+08:00

This is posted by LL's mum.
This year the EOY Prize Giving Ceremony is held at night (7.30 pm) instead of in the morning (as in previous years). There is also a cultural night performance after the prize giving ceremony. Lim Li gets two awards - Top in Maths and Top in Science. She wants to apply to only NUS High for DSA next year, and has no intention to try other schools like RGS and NJC. I think NUS High is probably suitable for her :). Like her two older siblings, she is stronger in Maths and Science and weaker in the languages.

Froggy Jump - ranked 3rd in Singapore

2010-11-16T18:50:00.002+08:00

This is posted by LL.
My score for Froggy Jump is 1,070,532. I am ranked 3rd in Singapore and 592th in the world. Aren't I pro? The current highest score in the world is 67,116,504.

The top score in Singapore is 1,152,708. I think I could have easily beaten this record if I had not given up after playing for more than 1 hr and getting very "xian". I thought the top score is 500k+, otherwise I would have perservere to earn the top spot. So wasted!!!! My feeling now is opposite of this ☺

Bakegyamon

2010-11-15T18:18:00.004+08:00

This is posted by LL.

School holidays are around the corner, it means we can read comic books to our hearts' content. Recently, we borrowed this Bakegyamon book from the Jurong Libary. There is only 1 of this English comic title in the Jurong and Central Libary and it is only until volume 3. However the Chinese version has all 5 volumes.

The story is about Sanshiro (the red-cap boy), whose father is an adventurer and he wants to follow his father's footsteps. So a guy called Fue (beside Sanshiro in the picture) brought him to play Bakegyamon, a game that comes every 44 years for thousands of children to play and the winner will get 1 wish granted. Demons are turned into cards (Sanshiro is holding it in the picture) for the players to use to fight. Many players think that the demons are items but they are not. Being a kind and considerate boy, Sanshiro decides that his wish is to free the demons, if he wins the game.

Exams .. not over yet!

2010-11-08T19:06:00.002+08:00

Today I have taken the make-up paper for English.

The last exam paper is on 22 Nov - Calculus.

Spinning Table

2010-11-01T15:42:00.002+08:00

CWMO Photos

2010-11-01T15:19:00.010+08:00

Wayne, Wei Liang, Zhan Xiong, Mr Teo, me, Ding Yue, Ryan Kor, Joseph Kuan

Two burly "bodyguards" protecting Ryan and me.

Yema Rallygraf watch (branded??) for Gold medalists. Why didn't they give computer notebooks, like what Kazahstan did in this year's IMO, for the Gold medalists?

Remember Lim Min's CGMO photos? Déjà vu

Singapore won 2 Gold medals and 6 Silver medals, same as last year.

We were compensated S$100 each :) for the 6 hours' delay in the flight from Singapore to Shanghai

Off to Shanxi, China

2010-10-26T09:16:00.007+08:00

This is posted by LJ's mum.

Part of the team from the Singapore delegation to the China Western Mathematical Olympiad (CWMO) left this morning in the wee hours for Shanghai Pudong airport. Mr Thomas Teo accompanied the 7 students - Wei Liang, Wayne Lin, Zhan Xiong, Ding Yue, Ryan Kor, Joseph Kuan and Lim Jeck. Everyone gathered at about 11 pm. However, the flight information display system showed that there would be a 3-hr delay to the China Eastern Airlines flight, which was originally scheduled for 12.55 am. Later, there was another delay and eventually the group left at about 6.25 am. The picture is taken from Mr Teo's Facebook, and it shows the students catching 40 winks while waiting for their flight.

From Shanghai Pudong airport, they will be taking a coach to Shanghai Hongqiao airport to catch a flight to Taiyuan, where the CWMO competition is held.

Another teacher, Mr Derrick Wong, will accompany the 8th student, Zhang Aidi, and they are taking tomorrow morning's flight.

The Programme for the CWMO is as follows:
26 Oct (Tue) - Arrival
27 Oct (Wed) - Opening Ceremony
28 Oct (Thu) - Day 1 of Competition
29 Oct (Fri) - Day 2 of Competition
30 Oct (Sat) - Excusion
31 Oct (Sun) - Closing Ceremony & Departure
1 Nov (Mon) - Reach Changi Airport at 5 am.

On the day of his return, Lim Jeck will be taking his Chemistry exam at 2 pm. The next day, he has Physics in the morning. Both are "non-study" subjects so he should not have problem handling them without doing any revision during the trip. It is fortunate that he has been exempted from the Chinese & Biology papers on 29 Oct, and there is no need for any make-up (otherwise he may have to bring his Biology notes for the trip). There will be a make-up (date not known yet) for the English paper that he will miss.

This trip does not have much impact on Lim Jeck's schedule at NUS High - he will only miss 2 days of revision and 2 reading days since it is exam period. I think he will miss 2 lectures and 1 tutorial at NUS, where he is taking the Calculus module. I was more worried for him when he participated in the last two IMOs as there was a long stretch of absence (3-4 weeks) from school. Next year, the IMO will be held in the later part of July, which means that if Lim Jeck is selected for IMO again, he would probably miss more than 5 weeks of lessons. The intensive daily training (except Sunday) usually starts before the June holidays and ends on the day before the competition (about 2 months). I wish that the trainers would allow the students to attend class and only train them during weekends, so that there is less catch-up on lessons missed and tonnes of tutorials/assignments/projects not done, after the IMO competition. I think I am probably more stressed than Lim Jeck, whenever he has missed a long period of lessons. He, on the other hand, is quite cool and unperturbed by such things.

Math Question on ABCDEF

2010-10-22T21:20:00.002+08:00

Someone posted the following question on the cbox:

Find the 6-digit number ABCDEF such that 7 x ABCDEF = 6 x DEFABC where DEFABC is another 6-digit number. Different letters stand for different single-digit whole numbers.

Solution:
Let
___
ABC = x
___
DEF = y

7 * (1000x + y) = 6 * (1000y + x)
6994x = 5993y
538x = 461y
Clearly, x = 461 and y = 538
Hence the 6-digit number is 461538.

Trophies and Medals

2010-10-22T10:50:00.003+08:00

Posted by Lim Li.
Someone asked if I kept my medals in an album. No, the medals were dumped somewhere in the display cabinet below. My NMOS medal is in the second picture below, centre row, with the bright red ribbon.