International Mathematical Olympiadselection processThis article describes theselectionprocess,by coun-try, for entrance into theInternationalMathematicalOlympiad.The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is anannual mathematics olympiad for students younger than20 who have not started at university.Each year, participating countries send at most 6 students.The selection process varies between countries, but typ-ically involves several rounds of competition, each pro-gressively more dicult, after which the number of can-didates is repeatedly reduced until the nal 6 are chosen.Many countries also run training events for IMO poten-tials, with the aim of improving performance as well asassisting with team selection.1 IMOSelectionprocessbycoun-try1.1 ArgentinaIn Argentina, the Olimpada Matemtica Argentina is or-ganized each year by Fundacin Olimpada MatemticaArgentina. All students that took and passed the NationalFinals (fth and last round of the competition) exams,usually held in November; and were born before July 121 years ago, are allowed to take two new written tests tobe selected for IMO, usually in May. From the results ofthat tests, six titular students and a number of substitutesare selected to represent Argentina at the InternationalMathematical Olympiad.1.2 AustraliaIn Australia, selection into the IMO team is determinedby the Australian Mathematics Trust and is based on theresults from four exams:The Australian Mathematics OlympiadThe Asian Pacic Mathematics Olympiadtwo IMO selection examsThe Australian Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) is heldannually in the second week of February. It is composedof two four-hour papers held over two consecutive days.There are four questions in each exam for a total of eightquestions. Entry is by invitation only with approximately100 candidates per year.A month after the AMO, the Asian Pacic MathematicsOlympiad is held (APMO) and the top 25 from the AMOare invited to sit the exam. It is a four and a half hourexam with ve questions.The top 12 students from the AMO and APMO (alongwith another 12 or so junior students) are then invited toa ten-day camp held in Sydney in the April school holi-days. During this camp, two four-and-a-half hour selec-tion exams are held, each with four questions. The topsix candidates along with a reserve are then announced aspart of the team based on their results in the four exams.In 2011, there were three selection exams, each with threequestions in four-and-a-half hours to better simulate theconditions of the IMO.1.3 BangladeshThe selection process is organised by Bangladesh Math-ematical Olympiad. There are three levels of selectionin Bangladesh. In rst two levels the students participatein four academic categories: primary, junior, secondaryand higher secondary.Divisional: Currently(2011) the country is dividedin 13 regions for divisional Olympiad. The numberof divisions may increase later. Except Dhaka divi-sion, roughly 1000 students participate each of thedivisional Olympiads and 60 are selected for the nextlevel. In Dhaka division, where number of studentsare more than the others, 1600 students participateand 100 to 120 students are selected.Allproblems in the divisionaltest are To ndproblems. The students need not to write down thesolution, only the answer is necessary. The test isusually one hour long.National: The national Olympiad is 3-4 our testdepending on the category. In this test the stu-dents must write down the solutions of the prob-lems.Some of the winners from junior, secondaryand higher secondary categories of this level are se-lected for the next level.12 1 IMO SELECTION PROCESS BY COUNTRYThe camps:More than one camps are arranged toselect students for IMO. The selection process inthe camps are not so straight forward as it is in theOlympiads. The students in the camps are closelymonitored by the previous campers and coaches andfour to six students are selected for IMO.1.4 BrazilThe Brazilian participants are selected in a two phaseprocess: 1st. The contestants that are awardedmedals or honorable mentions in the Brazilian Math-ematical Olympiad(OBM) (Olimpada Brasileira deMatemtica)of the year before the IMO are selected toparticipate in a training process to the IMO. 2nd. Thecontestants take a series of tests, which have IMO-likelevel, and the top students are invited to join the Brazil-ian team that goes to IMO.1.5 BelgiumThe Belgian team is bilingual. The Dutch-speaking com-munityselectsthreeparticipantsduringtheVlaamseWiskunde Olympiade. The French-speaking communityselects their three participants through the OlympiadeMathmatique Belge andadditional tests at trainingweekends.1.6 CanadaHigh school students must rst write the CanadianOpen Mathematics Challenge, which takes place aroundNovember. Shouldthey score highenoughin theCOMC(normally 70+), they will be invited to write theCanadian Mathematics Olympiad (CMO), Asian PacicMathematics Olympiad (APMO), and unocially writethe USAMO.The students with the top scores (conditions permitting)will make the Canadian team and travel to the locationof the IMO in that year. Although the team is made upof students from all over Canada, Toronto and its sub-urbs have produced the most people for the team due toits high population density. The Canadian MathematicalSociety is the organization which selects teamleaders andmembers for the IMO team.1.7 ChinaIn mainland China, high school students have the annualNational Highschool Mathematics Competitions, held onthe second Sunday of October. A few competitors ofeach province with best scores, usually the top 3 to 5,will be invited to participate in the China MathematicsOlympiads. Approximately the top 20 competitors ofCMO will have a training campus; and then, the 6 stu-dents with top scores will form the Chinese team. Chinahas been very successful in recent years at the IMO.1.8 ColombiaIn Colombia the selection and preparation of students formath competitions is organized by Olimpiadas Colom-bianas de Matemticas. The process begins with theregional competitionswhichareheldinOctoberandNovember. The best students of these competitions areinvited to the January Training Session. In early Marchthe National Competition or Olimpiada Colombiana deMatemticas begins. It consists of a sequence of four ex-aminations: the classicatoria, the selectiva, the semi-nal and the ronda nal. The latter contains a (prior)training session and then two days of IMO-style papers.Every Colombian high school student can take part in therst classifying examination but afterwards students areinvited to compete according to their results on the pre-vious examination. The three best students of the threedierent high school levels of the nal round examina-tion are the winners of the Colombian Math Olympiad.Although in principle students of the lower levels may beselected to go to the IMO, it generally takes many yearsbefore they can compete with students of the highest levelornivelsuperior. After the National Competition thetwenty best students of each level are invited to the JuneTraining Session where students undergo the IMO selec-tion process.1.9 CubaIn Cuba the selection process consists (depending on re-gional conditions of availability of resources, participantsand organizers) six levels. Competitions are held to selectthe best candidates fromeach school, then fromeach mu-nicipality, then from each province who then are allowedto take part in the National Competition (Concurso Na-cional in Spanish). The gold and silver medals (around20 participants) take a number of further exams closer tothe level of International competitions. Thirteen of theseare selected to form the National Pre-Selection that trainsfor up to three months taking also exams out of which thebest 6 are selected to form the National team. In a num-ber of years the lack of nancial support has allowed onlythe rst member of the team to actually travel and com-pete in the International mathematical Olympiad.1.10 CyprusMainarticles: Cyprus_Mathematical_SocietyHighSchool (Lyceum) Competitions and High School(Lyceum) Maths Competitions in Cyprus1.15 Greece 3In Cyprus Four provincial competitions and a National(Pancyprian) competition are held every year. Duringthis procedure 30 students are selected and Four TeamSelection Tests are held to determine who will be the sixmember of national team for IMOIn every competition or test there are four problemusually covering geometry, number theory, algebra,and combinatorics (elementary level) and last fourhours each.1.11 Czech RepublicAfter successfully completing the schooland regionalrounds, roughly 50 best participants are invited to the na-tional round, where 10 best students are selected to par-ticipate in a week-long selection campus. Each day theysolve a set of 3-4 problems, taken mainly from the pastnational olympiads of various countries. On the last daythey have to nd the answers (this time in form of a num-ber) to rather large set of shorter problems under signif-icant time-pressure. After that the team is selected andbefore the actual IMO, it competes in traditional Czech-Slovak-Polish Mathematical Contest where the partici-pants can practise their skill under almost identical con-ditions to IMO.1.12 DenmarkIn Denmark a national contest open to all high schoolstudents is held every year called Georg Mohr-Konkurrencen (the Georg Mohr Contest) named aftera Danish mathematician. The top 20 of this contest arethen invited to another contest where the nal team is se-lected.1.13 FranceThe Association Animath, and more precisely theOlympiade Franaise de Mathmatiques prepares and se-lects the French IMO team. Students who succeed at apreselection test can get from Animath a year-long train-ing, after which the team is selected by an IMO-like test.1.14 GermanyIMOteamselection in Germany is based on themain national mathematical competitions: TheBundeswettbewerb Mathematik (BWM, the formerwest German olympiad), the Deutsche Mathematik-Olympiade (DeMO, the former east German olympiad),and Jugend forscht (a research competition). Studentssuccessful in any of these competitions (e. g. a prizeinthesecondroundoftheBWM)writetwo3-hourexams at their schools, and the 16 best scorers of theseexams are invited to a training program consisting ofve seminars, where lectures are given and seven teamselection tests are written - 4-hour exams determiningthe actual IMO contestants (additional tests are possibleif the team is not uniquely determined after the sevenexams).1.15 Greece (Thalis) - rst round (Euklidis) - second round (Archimidis) - third round1.16 Hong KongHong Kong rst joined IMO in 1988.In Hong Kong, the International Mathematical OlympiadPreliminary Selection Contest is held every year. Around60 students are selected to receive further training, afterthree phases of which six students will be selected as theHong Kong team members, and six will be selected asreserve members. The further training is also known asphase four training.1.17 IndiaThe Indian National Mathematics Olympiad (or INMO)is held every year. This is an invitational exam, andonlystudents whoqualifytheRegional MathematicsOlympiad (or RMO) are invited to appear for it. Stu-dents qualifying the INMO get to attend the IMO Train-ing Camp at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Ed-ucation at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,where further selection tests are used to identify the topsix students who will represent the country. The studentsare also trained by some of the top mathematicians ofIndia. The camp usually runs throughout the month ofMay. There are two batches of students in the camp, theseniors and juniors. If a student has come to the campfor the rst time, he/she is a junior. There can be atmost6 juniors from class 12. For those who have been to thecamp at least once, the INMO is not necessarily required,and they are selected based on their performance in cer-tain postal problem sets.1.18 IndonesiaIn Indonesia, National Mathematical Olympiad is held asa part of National Science Olympiad (Olimpiade SainsNasional), and has been held annually since 2002. About100-120 students who pass the province-level test willbeeligibletoparticipateintheNational Mathemati-cal Olympiad, which is held at August or September.4 1 IMO SELECTION PROCESS BY COUNTRYAbout thirty students are chosen to get into the rst train-ing camp, which is held at October through November.About half of them will go to second training camp andparticipate in the Asian Pacic Mathematics Olympiad.At the end, six students are selected to represent the coun-try. The selection depends on the results of regular testsheld every week in every training camp, IMO simulationtest and APMO.1.19 IrelandIn Ireland, the top scorers in the Junior Certicate (a stateexam taken around the age of 15-16) are invited by thevarious universities to take part in the Irish MathematicalOlympiad. The IrMO is held simultaneously in May ineach of these universities. The test consists of two three-hour papers, each containing ve questions, run on thesame day. The top six students are selected for the na-tional team.1.20 ItalyIn Italy, the Mathematical Olympiad is held every year;the full selection process is made up of four stages:the so-called Archimedean games, held as amultiple-choice test in all participating high schoolsin Novemberthe regional stage,held as a mixed test (multiplechoice, numerical answers and proof-writing) in ca.100 sites in Februarythe national stage, held in Cesenatico at the begin-ning of May, composed of six problems requiring afull proofthe teamselection test, held in Pisa at the end of Mayafter a ve-day stage, composed of two sessions eachcontaining three problems requiring a full proof.The six-person teamcompeting in the IMOis determinedby summing up the scores of four dierent competitions:the senior national stage, held each September in Pisa, theBalkan selection test held each February in Pisa (also se-lecting the teamcompeting in the BMOand in the RMM)composed by two papers with three problems, four and ahalf hours each, and then the national stage and the Maystage held in Pisa.1.21 JapanIn Japan, Japan Mathematical Olympiad(JMO) is heldevery year. JMO has two rounds: the rst one in Jan-uary and the second one in February. The best 20 scorersin JMO are invited to the spring training camp in March.The top six students in several tests at this camp are se-lected for the national team.1.22 LatviaIn Latvia a national contest open to all high school stu-dents takes place each year. The best participants of re-gional contests are allowed to participate in the nationalolympiad held in Riga. The top students are further testedto select the national team.1.23 MalaysiaThe selection is based on the Olimpiad Matematik Ke-bangsaan, OMK (National Mathematical Olympiad) andthe subsequent training camps. Top OMKperformers areselected to attend the training camps, and the nal IMOrepresentatives are selected based on the students perfor-mance in the camps and race.1.24 MexicoThe selecting process in Mexico has 3 stages and is or-ganized by the Mexican Mathematical Olimpiad. At rststage, each of the 31 states and the Distrito Federal se-lect a team of up to 6 students (10 in the case of the Dis-trito Federal) which will represent the state in the nationalcontest. The contest is hold once at year, in the month ofNovember. According to the results of this contest, atleast 16 students are selected, who will continue to thesecond stage of the selecting process, the national train-ings, which are hold from November to April in whichthe group of 16 students gets reduced to approximately10. In May the third stage of the contest is hold, in whichthe six students that will represent Mexico in the nextIMO. In similar process the teams for the Centroamer-icanandCaribbeanMathematical Olimpiad(OMCC)and Iberoamerican Mathematical Olimpiad (OIM) areselected. In March the test for the APMO is solved.1.25 NetherlandsIn the Netherlands the selecting process consists of threerounds.The rst round takes place on high schools. It con-tains 8 multiple-choice questions, and 4 open ques-tions.The second round takes place at the Eindhoven Uni-versity of Technology. It contains 5 open questions.Then there is a training and at the end of the trainingthe students make a test: the best 6 students will goto the IMO. The test contains 5 open questions.1.25.1 External linksOcial site in English.1.29 The Philippines 51.26 New ZealandThe rst selection is based on the September Problems,where the top 24 students are selected and invited to aresidential one week training camp. At the end of thecamp, approximately 12 students are selected as a squad.The squad receives regular assignments to complete everyfew weeks as well as sitting the British Maths Olympiad,Australian Maths Olympiad and the APMO. The nal sixcandidates plus one reserve are later selected based onresults of the assignments and these tests.1.27 NorwayIn Norway, the Niels Henrik Abels Matematikkonkur-ranse is held each year. The rst selection, usually inSeptember, consist of a multiple-choice exam with 20problems. One is given 5 points for each correct answer,1 point for each unanswered problem and 0 point for awrong answer. Approximately 10%of the competing stu-dents are selected for the second selection, which is heldin February. The examination consist of 10 problems,giving 10 points for each correct answer, who are inte-gers between zero and one thousand. 20 students are thenselected for a nal four-hour long examination consistingof four problems. While usually the 3 best students areautomatically chosen for the nal team, the rest 3 are de-cided by their results in the Nordic Mathematical Contest,which they will compete in afterwards.1.28 PakistanIn Pakistan, selection for the IMO participants is quitesimilar to that in other countries. The process starts oneand a half year before a particular IMO; and a test (alsoknown as NMTC- National Mathematics Talent Contest)is taken by the high school students which is organized bythe Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. The testis held in January and the results are announced by Aprilor May. About fty students out of a 4000 are selectedwhich are called by Abdus Salam School of Mathemat-ics, Government College University, Pakistan - usually inSeptember. The fty selectees are taught at the school fora week or two and are then tested at the last two days ofthe camp. This process, involving the top 50, is known asFirst Camp. Based on the performance in the test, about20 students are further selected for the Second Camp, andthe rest are dropped. These 20 students are joined by 30students (from NMO - National Mathematics Olympiad)in the Second Camp. Ten students from the 50 are thenselected, again based on their performance in a test. ThirdCamp is the nal camp, and 5 are screened out of these10. These would be the nalised participants for IMO.Alternatively, high school students from all over Pakistantake NMO (National Mathematics Olympiad) which isorganized by Abdus Salam School itself. About 30 areselected which join the NMTC top 20 students in SecondCamp. This test is held after the result of the First Campof NMTC is announced. Students who do not qualify theFirst Camp of NMTCcan still take the NMOif they wishto come to the Second Camp.Sometimes, the selection process may involve more thanthree camps and the number of students selected percamp can vary from the gures provided above.1.28.1 External linksOcial site of Science Olympiads in Pakistan, inEnglish.Ocial site of the Abdus Salam School of Mathe-matical Sciences, the home institution for the train-ing/selection of IMO in Pakistan, in English.1.29 The PhilippinesThe selection process starts with the Philippine Math-ematicalOlympiad (PMO),which includes a regionallevel, an area level, and a national level.The top twentystudents in the national level of PMO will be invited to aone-month training camp. The top students (at most six)in the selection tests given during this training camp willmake up the IMO team.1.30 PortugalIn Portugal, there are four selection steps. The three rstare the exams of the Portuguese Mathematics Olympiadandthelast iscomposedofseveral examsmadebyProjecto Delfos, who also prepares the students for in-ternational competitions.1.31 RomaniaInRomaniathosethat enter theRomanianNationalTeam on Mathematical Olympiad are selected from fourrounds:School, City, County and National. In the caseof Bucharest, being some 5 times larger than the largestcounty, as well as having larger schools, the rounds are:school,sector (a borough,roughly),city and national.Fromthe rst two rounds the advancing pupils are chosenusing a minimum grade threshold (usually 8.00/10.00).From the city/county round advance the top ve (fewerin certain cases), with a playo round organised if nec-essary. The national round oers fteen medals (ve ofeach colour). A team (plus reserve) is selected from themedal winners, usually following a playo round.6 1 IMO SELECTION PROCESS BY COUNTRY1.32 RussiaRussia has very extensive system of selecting and train-ing participants for IMO. Dierent aspects of solvingmathematical problems are studied and revealed: com-binatorics, logics, structural arrangement and proofs. Allproblems are evaluated from 7 points. Top participantsobtain certicates of 3 degrees (1st, 2nd and 3rddiploma)andoftenadditional commendablecerti-cates. Totally up to half of participants (in the last 3rounds) gain diplomas.The ocial rounds (each picking about 1/3 top of the pre-vious) are: School, Borough, Region, Okrug (a district,roughly) and national. More details:School round (Russian: , I stage)is a public stage - every interested pupil of 4-11grade can participate. Completely organized by ev-ery school this competition aimed more at popular-isation than at selection.Boroughround(Russian: , IIstage) for some schools (specically ones that haswinnersofregionround)isequal totheSchoolround.Region round(Russian: , IIIstage) is the rst which brings together participantsin one place to live for some days. It has two roundson its own. In Moscow they are separated with pro-cess of selection, but in less populated regions pupilstake part in both. In present days problems for allrounds starting with region round are created by spe-cial central committee. There are juries in each re-gion of roughly constant membership. Winners ofthe region rounds usually have privileges for high-school entering.Okruground (Russian: ,, IV stage) is an intermediate before the nalround. Problems usually corresponds to non-trivialmathematical facts,often to recent discoveries ortheir particular cases. Singular schools (e.g. SaintPetersburg Lyceum 239) have the right to presenttheir pupils directly to okrug round.National round (Russian: , Vstage) aimed at selection the most prominent pupilsfor participation in IMO. For this sake about 14 topof national round from10th and 11th grades (usually1st diplomas) are combined in following summerand winter gatherings for special training and fur-ther selection.1.33 South AfricaIn South Africa those who would be members of the teammust pass through a nation-wide talent search by corre-spondence, after which the top fty or so are selected for acamp (usually in the December holidays) at StellenboschUniversity. A number of rounds of monthly problemsets are issued by the University of Cape Town whichare taken into consideration, along with the camp marksto select the top fteen/sixteen to go to a nal selectioncamp at Rhodes University, Grahamstown or more re-cently the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein inApril. A nal training camp takes place at the Universityof Cape Town or more recently, the University of Preto-ria just before the IMO. The Asian Pacic MathematicsOlympiad has been used informally as a test, along withan IMO selection test written at the schools of the topfteen in the event of indecision.1.34 SpainIn Spain there are two rounds. The rst one is held in eachuniversity district. There are two written tests, in whichsix or eight problems are to be solved, depending on theregion. The rst three participants in each district go tothe national round. This one also consists of two writtentests, three and half hours long each, with a total of sixproblems. The top six scorers go onto the InternationalOlympiad.1.35 SwedenInSweden, amathematics contest calledSkolornasMatematiktvling is held every autumn. Those whoqualify to the nale are invited to participate in a corre-spondence course in problemsolving as well as the NordicMathematical Contest. From the combined results of thequalication round, the correspondence course and the -nale and NMC, the six highest achievers of the Swedishnalists are invited to join the Swedish IMO team.1.36 TaiwanIn Taiwan, the selection process consists of three sessions,starting fromApril to the mid of May. Students who rankamong the top 25 in the APMO can participate the rstsession. During each session students will be tested by sixIMO-style problems, and top six students will be selectedas the members of the Taiwanese IMOteam. The trainingsessions will be held during May and June.1.37 ThailandIn Thailand, the selection of the IMO representatives isthe responsibility of the organization The Promotion ofAcademic Olympiad and The Development of ScienceEducation Foundation. There are many branches of thisorganization around the country. At the end of August,a 30-question exam is open to all high school studentsto select 200 students to join a camp in each branch of7the country in October for promoting mathematics skills,known in Thailand as POSN Camp 1. The topics in-clude Algebra,Geometry,Number Theory,Combina-torics and Inequality. After the camp, an exam is givenin each of the preceding topics to evaluate the skills.A number of students, usually 50 or 100, are selectedto join another camp in March, known in Thailand asPOSN Camp 2. The topics include Algebra, Geom-etry, Number Theory and Combinatorics in an advancedlevel, and Functional Equation. After the camp, an examis given and 18 students are selected from each branchof the country to compete in the Thailand MathematicalOlympiad. Anyone with gold medal will continue to thecamp known as IPST Camp 1, and an exam is given,and some are selected to IPST Camp 2, nally, only 6students will compete in the International MathematicalOlympiad.1.38 United KingdomIn the UK, selection is through competitions and trainingcamps under the auspices of the United Kingdom Math-ematics Trust, starting with the multiple-choice SeniorMathematical Challenge (SMC). The SMC is followedby the British Mathematical Olympiad (BMO), held intwo rounds, but candidates who did not take part in theSMCor did not achieve the qualifying score may enter theBMO on payment of an entry fee and so be consideredfor the IMO team. After the two rounds of the BMO,20 potential team members, chosen primarily based onBMO results, are invited to a training and selection campheld in Trinity College, Cambridge, during which furtherexaminations are held, allowing the number of potentialteam members to be reduced to eight or nine. A nalcamp is subsequently held at Oundle School, after whichsix students are chosen as the team and the remainingtwo or three as reserves. In addition to this formal se-lection process, there is further training during the yearfor a squad of potential teammembers, including the 'Ad-vanced Mentoring Scheme', practice exams and an annualtraining camp in Hungary; information from exams atthe Hungary camp may be considered in selection whereavailable.[1][2]1.39 United StatesIn the United States,the team is selected through theAmerican Mathematics Competitions, which are open toall high school students. Final determinations for teammembers are based largely on the United States of Amer-ica Mathematical Olympiad and an IMO-style Team Se-lection Test. Note: It has lately become more compli-cated with the addition of a TSTST, which essentially se-lects the top 18 in contention for the next years IMO.2 References[1] BMOS/BMOC. The British Mathematical Olympiads.Retrieved 2010-09-12.[2] BMOS/BMOC. Olympiad Training. Retrieved 2010-09-12.8 3 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES3 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses3.1 Text International Mathematical Olympiad selection process Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mathematical_Olympiad_selection_process?oldid=671726383 Contributors: Leonariso, Joseph Myers, Bender235, Art LaPella, Tabletop, Mandarax, Rjwilmsi, Kingof Hearts, Bgwhite, Gaius Cornelius, Crystallina, SmackBot, Senordingdong, Chris the speller, Colonies Chris, BrownHairedGirl, Dl2000,Vanisaac, Thejaz, Giawgwan, Oreo Priest, Stijn Vermeeren, Kshitij, Florrat~enwiki, StAnselm, Mild Bill Hiccup, Fouady, Franklin.vp,LeeRamsey, Vbnjkl, LilHelpa, John of Reading, Pietdepiet, 7greenwhiteblack, Kai Neergrd, Mohayeminul Islam, 149AFK, Mogism,Robspe, Nmprasetya, IkkiTsf, JLTFRA and Anonymous: 513.2 Images3.3 Content license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0