It’s SASMO (Singapore & Asian Schools Math Olympiad) season. At the end of this post, you’ll find the link to sample papers with full solutions.
Over the weekend, I held a 1-to-1 training session with my Secondary 3 student (Z), who had attempted part of the sample paper.
Z registered through school and approached me for past year papers. Wow… that’s motivation!
In the 1.5-hour session that followed Z’s pace, we covered questions involving:
- number theory
- algebraic long division
- coprime numbers
- pattern recognition
- balancing puzzle
- logarithm
- combinatorics – complementary counting
- geometry – application of similar triangles
- logic puzzle
- polyhedrons and Euler’s Formula
Over the session, Z turned from being frustrated at incorrect solutions to enjoying learning new concepts and strategies.
Though the questions seem challenging, the key is to use effective teaching methods such as
- growth mindset
- “Mistakes help us to learn and improve. Let’s find out how to solve this together.”
- connect to what the student already knows
- “Name some 2D shapes you know… Now name some 3D shapes you know… Well, polyhedrons are…”
- simplify the problem
- “What if this problem involves only 9 instead of 2019 coins?”
- use concrete and pictorial along with abstract
- “Hold a cube. How many faces are there? How many edges? How many vertices?”… “Now complete this table”…
Ok, back to solving more questions and designing lessons to prepare for future sessions!
~ Carol @ Owlissimo
P.S. Download your sample Math Olympiad (especially SASMO) papers with full solutions at
>>> https://form.simcc.org/lms-home/
P.P.S. My Master of Education (Math) semester break is from next Monday until 17 March. There are Chinese New Year holidays and travelling in between too.
So I’m only conducting short-term private SASMO training for selected parents and students.
