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Application is open on rolling basis
The Mathematical Olympiad Program (abbreviated MOP) is a 3-week intensive problem solving camp held at the Carnegie Mellon University to help high school students prepare for math olympiads, especially the International Mathematical Olympiad.
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The Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP) is a mathematically stimulating experience at Carnegie Mellon University designed to broaden the participants’ view of mathematics while fostering their excitement toward further study. MOP also serves as the MAA AMC’s training initiative that focuses on long-term development for students with exceptional mathematical abilities. This academic program is designed to broaden students’ view of mathematics while enhancing their excitement toward further study, with two primary objectives. The first aim is to substantially supplement the mathematical instruction that students typically receive in school, by teaching advanced mathematical theorems and techniques that are typically encountered in the university. The second is to significantly improve students' problem-solving skills.
On-campus, residential. MOP is currently held at the Carnegie Mellon University. While the dates vary from year to year, MOP is generally held in the last three weeks of June.
Structure of the Program
MOP is divided into three groups that roughly correspond with the first three kinds of invitations. Black MOP consists of that year's USAMO winners and contains the IMO team members and alternates. Blue MOP is for the second group of invitees and mostly consists of students who just completed their junior or sophomore year of high school, although in exceptional cases some 7th and 8th graders have participated. Finally, Red MOP consists of all the freshmen who were invited to participate, as well as Girls' Math Olympiad participants. Students and instructors have discretion in selecting which group they're part of and may choose to transfer part way through the program; this generally involves members of Black dropping down to Blue or occasionally members of Red promoting themselves to Blue. The three groups take classes and practice tests separately and are given different levels of material to practice with.
Each Weekday consists of three instructional sessions: 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM, 10:15 AM - 11:45 AM, and 1:15 PM - 2:45 PM. Classes usually consist of a lecture followed by a problem set. Solutions are often presented by students with the supervision of an instructor.
Timed and graded olympiad style tests are an integral part of MOP. Every few days, a 4-hour, 4-question test is administered in place of the afternoon lecture, and is graded with comments within 2-3 days.
Team tests also occur weekly. Students are divided into teams of five, in 2008 consisting of one or two blue MOPpers each, and work on a set of thirty problems for approximately half a week. On the day of the contest, the teams present solutions to problems which have not yet been presented, in arbitrary order. The fun starts when all of the easy problems have been taken, and teams resort to certain creative methods in order to solve a problem.
The combination of these makes MOP an extraordinarily intense experience. One participant at 2007 MOP calculated that by the end of the second week members of Blue MOP had already spent more time in a classroom than most calculus classes do in a year, and by the end of the third week participants had spent 170 hours over 19 days either in class or taking practice test for an average of roughly 9 hours a day of math- and that's before time spent doing problem sets and working on the team contest outside of class is included.
Top finishers on the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) are invited to participate in the summer after the competition. Students receiving invitations can be divided into four groups:
1 - USAMO winners: The Americans among the top 12 finishers on USAMO are invited to MOP regardless of their age. Additionally, they are invited to take the Team Selection Test and are viewed as potential members of the American IMO team for that year.
2 - Top non-senior USAMO finishers: In addition to the winners, the next 15 or so non-senior non-Canadian finishers are invited to attend MOP. This group is viewed as potential IMO team members for future years, although in extreme circumstances (including 2006) IMO team members for that year have been drawn from this pool.
3 - Top 30 freshmen and sophomores: The top 30 freshmen on USAMO and USAJMO are invited to attend MOP with the goal of providing them with a foundation in Olympiad-level mathematics.
4 - In 2008, another group was added. The girls who will be representing the United States at the European Girls Math Olympiad will attend MOP to prepare for that contest. This group is colloquially known as Pink MOP.
Register and pay on amc-reg.maa.org as in previous cycles
In late September, details will be shared on how to register on the competition manager. portal and administer the competition in your classrooms
Proctoring: Proctoring will only be allowed in-person with an approved Competition Manager, not related to the student. Remote proctoring is not allowed. Only school and educational administrators can register students for the AMC.
DIGITAL ADMINISTRATION (Recommended Format)
The digital competition will be available on the competition manager portal to distribute to students by unique CM link
Students will bubble answers on their digital device (PC, laptop, tablet).
Registration Costs*:
Early Bird Registration $53.00
Regular Registration $73.00
Late Registration $113.00
* Registration fees do not include the cost of competition materials.
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Application is open on rolling basis
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