2023 AIME I: My Experience (edited)

This is a repost of an entry in my private Art of Problem Solving journal. I’m thinking about moving some posts over here to my actual blog.

Below is a full excerpt of the post.

First AIME ever

February 8th, 2023

I took the 2023 AIME I on February 7th, 2023 in my school’s library. I got a score of 3/15.

I had very vivid mathematical memories from this test. Unfortunately, it felt more stressful than fun.

EDIT: It feels pretty bad to fail AIME.

1:00 PM. I set up early in the media center, not knowing what in the world to expect from the test. I had looked at some previous AIMEs but had a gut feeling that this year was going to be especially hard.

I set up my testing stuff; my device, pencils, scratch paper, etc. AIME was administered online this year. Surprisingly, I had to wait for a good amount of time in order to see some of the other math pros show up.

The portal didn’t start until 1:30, so we had to wait until that time. I was sitting across from the only other sophomore from our school that qualified.

The test opened and I immediately scanned through the problems to see what I was up against. What I did not know was that I was about to take one of the hardest tests I’ve ever taken in my entire life.

I glanced at problem 7 and thought it wasn’t too hard; just a couple of moduli, maybe CRT? (no lol I was very wrong!)

By this point, I was already starting to panic, even though it was just five minutes into the test. I have never taken an actual mock AIME (3 hours) and thought that I would do just fine because my intuition for the problems I’ve done over this month would help me by a good amount.

I put the simplified form for for the first problem, which was already bad enough. Second problem was an easy log problem. Third was a mediocre counting observation. I double-checked for the fourth and got the right answer.

I got destroyed after the fifth problem.

#5: I used so much algebra bash for about twenty minutes only to get a wrong answer.

#6: I drew the state diagram so many different times and still got it wrong.

#7: omg I bashed all residues mod 60 – I should have thought of doing and instead 🙁

I tried #8 (a geometry problem) for a very long time and got stuck for another hour and a half. I briefly glanced at the cubic counting in P9 and the daunting floor sum on P10, but I was already basked in enough demotivation to not even consider the last half of the test.

With half an hour left on the clock, I was done. The test has morphed into one of my worst nightmares. Seven problems solved, wasn’t even sure they were right. I briefly “checked” my work and computations. With my already foggy and drained brain, I caught errors in both P2 and P3. It turned out that I added wrong. I subtracted wrong (almost the same mistake) for the third problem, which was horrendous.

When the time was up, I was so out of mental energy – it felt like lifting a two-hundred-pound mental weight, only worse because you’re given three hours to lift it fifteen times in a row. I couldn’t do any more math for the rest of the night and got extremely low-quality sleep the next evening.

When the test ended, I compared my answers with my friend who took it across from me at the same table.

Our answers barely checked out; we only agreed on three problems, which made me worried. At that time, I convinced him that my answer was correct for #5, which I “clearly did it right”. I walked out of the school knowing (but not acknowledging) that my chances for the national olympiad were null for the 2022-2023 school year.

Problem Distribution: 01110 00000 00000

Score: 3/15

Solve Distribution(right/wrong/blank): 3/4/8

I answered seven questions and got a total of four wrong – three due to a lack of intuition and one due to an arithmetic mistake. It turned out that my friend got a 6; all of his answers that didn’t check out with mine were correct.

If I was not already exhausted with my past failures, the results of this test depleted me for days. I was unable to fully concentrate on school and wasn’t able to touch competition math problems for about a week.

But here’s the important thing: I stood up again.

Reflections

EDIT 12/29/2023: Thinking back to it, this was one of the most confusing, stressful, and painful tests I have ever taken. I was so emotionally down that I couldn’t think for the second half of the test.

As I say goodbye to 2023 and hello to 2024, this year’s AIME (and other college competitions) was truly a hallmark in my endeavors in competitions. It was not only a massive learning opportunity, but a testament to my true problem-solving ability and a demonstration of my massive ego.

Back then, I thought that AIME was easy and I could easily sweep at least a 9 or 10 and qualify for JMO with my low AMC score. I had such an inflated ego that I convinced my friend of a wrong answer. I cringe at my performance and my attitude back then. The top performers typically have deflated egos and instead, fully turn their attention to the problem, instead of how well they’re doing or how hard the problems were. They don’t flex, they’re too focused on the current problem at hand. The sophomore friend wasn’t even sure if any of his answers were right. The best people admit mistakes and learn from them.

I discovered the intricacies and turmoils of getting the single right answer the hard way. Many things wrong can go awry without sufficient practice. Your computation could be wrong, you could have computed instead of , your concepts might not be very sturdy or you simply misread. Or, you didn’t know how to solve the problem, despite numerous attempts. Knowing how to do a problem and executing the procedure are two distinct processes to be mastered, neither of which I was proficient at during test day.

I’ve always struggled with dealing with test day anxiety, which comes from my pressure to perform well. With the added pressure to do well, your mind functions differently and one is not able to perform as well as if they have done a practice test. Time is an important element that every test taker must strive to use to their advantage. I’ve discovered that there are two ways to boost test-day confidence and success:

1. Take deep breaths, and assure yourself that your life is not dependent on this one test. (it isn’t)
2. Trust in your inner intuition and take breaks when necessary to activate your diffuse mode. Often, I find much better ideas with a good pause from the problem.
3. Take practice tests.

Also, pray to God for His grace and for Him to be with you. I certainly didn’t do that.

Thinking that a three or four-hour test can change your life forever is, although convincing, certainly dim-witted. Because after high school, there’s college and your whole life ahead of you. We (math contestants) tend to forget that the most important takeaway from our contest preparation isn’t necessarily about the scores (I wrote a whole blog post about this earlier, remind me to read it again!), but more about the journey, hard work, effort, and dedication put into this path. If you ask me about my past contest scores, they aren’t all that bright. But I’ve certainly gained a colorful set of problem-solving skills needed for the rest of my life. I’ve learned a lot of cool math; aren’t polynomials, power of a point, and permutations (purposeful alliteration right there!) the most wonderful thing you’ve ever heard of? Additionally, I’ve gained new friends and as my school’s officer, helped organize lectures and events that promote creative mathematical thinking in the community. I’ve written handouts and delivered lectures to others.

The thing that everyone will admire isn’t necessarily how accomplished or skilled you are, but how much you’re able to give and help others. Dear future self, if you are reading this, whether or not you achieve your goals, please remember this! From, past self.