NTST 2013 Results

The Singapore IMO 2013 national team selection test (NTST) results are out. The following are the top 6: 

1. Lim Jeck (NUS High Year 6) - 5th time participating (2012: Gold & World 1st, 2011: Gold & World 2nd, 2010: Silver, 2009: Bronze)

2. Liu Yijia (RI Year 3) - 1st time participating 

3. Ling Yan Hao (NUS High Year 5) - 2nd time participating (2012: Silver)

4. Eugene Lee Hua Jun (RI Year 4) - 1st time participating

5. Tan Siah Yong (RI Year 4) - 1st time participating

6. David Lin Kewei (RI Year 4) - 1st time participating

The above 6 students will be representing Singapore in the 54th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which will be hosted by Colombia, to be held in the city of Santa Marta 18 to 28 July 2013. 

NTST 2012 Results

The Singapore IMO 2012 national team selection test (NTST) results are out. The following are the top 6:

1. Lim Jeck (NUS High Year 5) - 4th time participating (2011: Gold and World 2nd, 2010: Silver, 2009: Bronze)

2. Ang Yan Sheng (NUS High Year 6) - 3rd time participating (2011: Silver, 2010: Silver)

3. Ling Yan Hao (NUS High Year 4) - 1st time participating

4. Lawrence Li (RI Year 6) - 1st time participating

5. Ryan Kor (RI Year 6) - 2nd time participating (2011: Bronze)

6. Lee You Jun (RI Year 6) - 1st time participating

The 6 students will be representing Singapore in the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), which will be hosted by Argentina, to be held in the city of Mar del Plata from 4 to 16 July 2012.

All the best to the Singapore IMO Team 2012!

Excuse from Lessons and Exemption from Exams

Last year, I wrote a post that the letters from NUSH were rather impersonal, without names. You can see that the student's name is reflected now :)

Lim Jeck has been excused from 10 days of lessons, 5 days for each selection test. Isn't it a relief (I mean, for me) that there are only 2 selection tests? Imagine if there are 4 selection tests, he may be excused from 20 days of lessons. I haven't mentioned all the IMO prepration intensive training and IMO competition days (another 20 days?), if he gets selected again this year. What about even more days off to prepare for the coming IOI selection tests?

Lim Jeck has also been exempted from the mid year English and Chinese exams, which fall on 25 Apr. His only NUSH exam is Chemistry, on 2 May. There is no Physics exam this semester; Computer Studies only has tests, no exam. He will be taking the MA2108S and MA1104 exams (NUS modules, not under purview of NUSH) though, which are scheduled for 26 Apr and 30 Apr respectively.

Afternote on 17 April - The NTST 2 has been postponed to 29 April and 1 May, hence Lim Jeck is exempted from all NUSH exams.

NTST 2011 Results

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

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

Excused from Lessons

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! :)

SIMO NTST 2010

I took the Singapore IMO National Team Selection Test yesterday and today. It was like the IMO format i.e. 3 questions to be done in 4.5 hrs each day. The type of questions were: 1. Geometry, 2. Algebra, 3. Combinatorics, 4. Combinatorics, 5. Number Theory, 6. Inequalities. They were taken from the IMO 2009 Shortlist questions (in the IMO, there are Longlist questions and Shortlist questions, and the 6 questions for IMO are selected from the Shortlist questions). I am not supposed to reveal the questions as some other countries may also be using some of these Shortlist questions which were not selected for IMO questions, for their own national selection tests.

Too bad there was only 1 Geometry qn, usually in the IMO there are 2, one for each day. Anyway, I could only solve qn 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. I think the ever pro Ivan could solve all 6 questions!

*note: this is in fact the 2nd selection test. The 1st selection test with a lower weightage was held about a month ago.

Excuse from Lessons & Mid Year Exams Coming

The 2010 SIMO National Team Selection test is here again. It will be held on 1 May (Sat, Labour Day where our brains have to labour much) and 2 May (Sun), the day we emo. I can skip as many lessons/test/quiz/exams/lectures as I want and get away with it :-). I think I will still be attending some lessons (e.g. science lectures/lab, computer programming lab which I like).

My school mid year exams will be from 30 April to 7 May. I will also be taking AP Calculus BC exam on 5 May. Yay, my principal gave me permission to be exempted from the English exam on 30 April :D

Training, and More Training!

I think I am in trouble! There is so much training in the coming weeks. From 9 am to 5 pm, Mon to Sat, from 25 May to 11 July. That is about 7 weeks of continuous training, and after that, another 10 days in Germany.

How am I going to catch up with my school work after I return to school on 24 July?

Help!!!!

Regrets?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

SIMO NTST Results

We got the selection test results today, when the 6 persons who will be representing Singapore in the 50th International Maths Olympiad to be held in Germany, Bremen, from 12 - 22 Jul, were revealed. As expected, Ivan (RI JC), Jia-Han (RI JC) and Ryan Chan (NUS High) have been selected. These 3 are definitely too pro to be not selected!

The others are: Barry Tng (RI JC), Daniel Low (RI JC) and most surprisingly, me. That means, 4 from RI JC and 2 from NUS High.

Being selected, it means the 6 of us have to be at NUS or NUS High to undergo more intensive Maths training, from 25 May to 10 Jul. That includes most of the June holidays. I think I will have to skip some, or alot of lessons during the July period.

The good thing is, the whole trip is sponsored, which means I don't have to pay a cent!

SIMO NTST Day 2

We did Q4 to Q6 of the test today. Q4 was on number theory. Q5 was geometry, a lot harder than yesterday's Q1. Q6 was on combinatorics. It took me 3 hours just to solve Q5 and I wrote rubbish for the remaining 2 qns. For Q6, I drew the construction, wrote n=6 and gave a false proof. I wasn't sure what I was writing for Q4. I am sure I FAILED today's test. For the whole 2-day test, I solved 4 out of 6 qns. Ang Yan Sheng (my Year 3 senior) did 1 qn today too, just like me. Ryan Chan (my Year 4 senior) did all 3 today (in total 6 - today's 3 plus yesterday's 3). I think Ryan, Ivan Loh (RI JC1) and Jia Han (RI JC2) should get selected for the final squad. Not sure of the remaining 3.

Some people were complaining that Ivan kept saying 'fail' or 'shi bai' during the test. One thing I like about the NTST is, I am able to skip Chemistry make-up lesson this afternoon at NUS High. Hahahaha.

SIMO National Team Selection Test Day 1

I took the Day 1 of the Singapore International Mathematical Olympiad (SIMO) National Team Selection Test at NUS today, on Labour Day. But I laboured for 4.5 hrs. Ivan Loh from RI-JC laboured for less than 2 hours and everyone was so 'suan' (I think it means, envious or jealous of him). There were 3 questions and I solved 2.9 of them. It was easier than the normal IMO and at least 7 people could solve all of them. Q1 was a geometry qn, Q2 was inequality or algebra and Q3 was number theory. Q2 was a question in the RI's training 2 days ago and it was unfair as the RI students already knew the solution. Q1 was the easiest and I doubt anyone do not know how to solve it. Q3 was a pure whack method, where you used brute force to solve it.

I took 10 minutes to solve Q1, 2 hours to solve Q2 and 1.5 hrs to solve Q3. The rest of the time I did nothing.

Intensive Maths Training

These two weeks (20 - 29 Apr) I will be having intensive Maths Olympiad training from 8 am to 5 pm, at NUS High. I will be excused from lessons and assessments during this period. This is because the selection of the final squad to represent Singapore for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) 2009 will be held on 1 & 2 May. The test will have 6 questions, 3 questions per day and a total of 9 hrs (i.e. 1.5 hrs per question).

However, I have decided to continue attending my normal lessons. Otherwise there may be a lot of catching up to do after the selection test. But since now I have the opportunity to skip lessons, I will be skipping PE, ACE, Da Vinci, CCA, mentoring sessions and Maths.

Last year, 3 of the 6 representatives for IMO Singapore Team were from NUS High. Hopefully, some of my seniors can do NUSH proud by being selected this year!! I am 100% confident I won't be selected, but this is a good opportunity for me to be trained, and be excused from classes : )