• Course Offered
• Registration & Tuition
• Schedule
• Staff
• FAQ

When

Dec. 20, 21, 22, 23, Dec. 27, 28, 29, 30 (2021)

Who

Programs are intended mainly for students from the 5th to 12th grades

Program Setup and Workload

The IDEA MATH 2021 Winter Contest Prep Program intend to offer a full range of courses (CW0 to CW10) via remote learning -- Zoom based LIVE classes. Each course will have one 2-hour meeting (from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, US Eastern Time) on every class day. Therefore, for each course, we have 8*2 = 16 total class hours. In the Winter Contest Prep Program, we intend to cover our materials via our classroom activities with no additional homework assignment.

Winter Contest Prep Program is a great supplementary program for our Year Round Programs (School Enrichment series, Extracurricular series, Contest Edge series, and XC series). In particular, it is parallel to Contest Edges series. Winter Contest Prep Program will have its own independent teaching materials.

In each course (starting from CW1), materials for Winter Contest Prep Program are different year to year. The 2021 Winter Program will focus upon Contest Review 2021: selected high quality problems from US (such as AMC8/10/12, AIME, USAJMO/USAMO, MathCounts chapter, ARML, HMNT, HMMT) and around the world from 2011, 2001, 1991; and about 16 new (original) practices sets (covering from all different levels) written by our academic team.

The tuition for each of these courses is $495 for a total 16 in-class hours (unit rate is about $30 per hour) with (additional) grading/reviewing (on submitted written work).

What

Designed for students focusing on the American Mathematics Contest (AMC) series (AMC8/10/12/AIME and USAJMO/USAMO) and MathCounts (school/chapter/state/national rounds), these classes feature mock tests and problem solving strategies tailored to the appropriate exam . In addition to learning important mathematical concepts and problem-solving skills, the students will also develop critical test-taking skills, such as learning how to work under time pressure and avoid costly mistakes.

The classes will be organized by the specific contest level from AMC to AIME to USAMO and each class will hold several practice tests that closely track the difficulty of the respective contests. Moreover, the practice tests are targeted to the parts of the test most likely to improve students' scores based on their level. By taking these exams and discussing them with their peers afterwards, the students will not only improve their test-taking performance, but also further their mathematical knowledge and problem solving skills.

Despite the program's intensity, we wish to emphasize that the contest preparation is not a viable substitute for the other (year-round, online or summer) IDEA MATH programs: the contest preparation program is meant to complement the other programs, not replace them. Due to the limited time we have, the program will not be as comprehensive or holistic as the other programs, and will instead be more focused on contest-taking. Thus, we strongly advise students of the contest preparation program to also enroll in either the year-round programs or the summer program.

Why

IDEA MATH provides in-depth enrichment in important mathematical areas, particularly in the fields from which contests problems are drawn: algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory. We believe students learn best by discovering, rather than simply memorizing, essential theorems and techniques. Our process puts students at the center of the classes, as students work together to develop their ideas. Our instructors lead this process by teaching vital ideas, giving meaningful examples, and guiding students through the problem-solving process.

How

We apply seminar-style teaching in our classes. Class sizes are small to ensure that students receive plenty of individual attention. Students are expected to work as a group and present their solutions and ideas to the class.

Zoom Class Policies

To protect students' privacy, we have the following online class policy:

1. Always use student's full name along with IDEA MATH ID to join Zoom classes. Only enrolled students are allowed to join our LIVE classes.
2. Turn on video and audio during the class.
3. No recording or taking photos is allowed.

For more detailed online class policy please visit here.

What are the unique strengths of IDEA MATH that distinguish it from other (summer/winter/online/weekend) math programs?

The unique strengths of IDEA MATH can be summarized as follows:

1. Comprehensive and well-tested teaching materials, modeled after the training materials once used by our academic director Dr. Zuming Feng in his work with the Phillips Exeter Academy Red Lion (PEARL) math club/team and Math Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP). (Go here for more references on curriculum info. )
2. Strong team of instructors, consisting of front-line teachers, coaches, and top former students. (Find more staff info. )
3. Emphasis on student leadership and the development of an attitude conducive to learning.
4. Focus on schools and the local math communities.

For more details, please visit our FAQ page.

Contact IDEA MATH

As always, we welcome parents' specific academic questions about our curriculum and teaching styles, as well as students' class-work and preparation. Please contact info@ideamath.org---make sure to include the following info in your email subject: student's full name, 4-digit IDEA MATH ID, and intended program.

IDEA MATH Contest Preparation program is designed to sharpen students' skills for upcoming nationwide middle school and high school mathematic competitions. We offer a series courses for students of varying mathematical backgrounds. As the winter program spans but a week, the courses will have a focus on the application of mathematical concepts and problem-solving to competitions. To that end, the different levels of courses will be aligned with the AMC/AIME/USAMO competition series; through participation in and discussion of mock exams of these difficulty levels, students will develop contest-taking habits along with mathematical knowledge and problem-solving.

IDEA MATH provides an extensive curriculum. The course list shown below consists of projected courses we will offer in this program. Two of the major strengths of our program---a strong academic team and a full range of materials---allow us to create new courses/groups to meet the needs of the students body. Therefore, the course list (and course schedule) is subject to change based on actual enrollment and staff availability.

Please visit detailed curriculum grid for a more complete reference of IDEA MATH course curriculums.

* Each course will only be offered when a minimum number of students have enrolled. Some courses might run multiple sections. To maintain the high standard of our students' learning experience, class sizes will remain small---about 6 to 16 students for CW0 courses, about 8 to 20 students for other courses.

** During the initial registration and enrollment process, CW8/CW9/CW10 students will be put into one common pool. After the enrollment process is completed in early December, our academic team will determine the sectioning and choose proper materials based upon the academic background of the students who are enrolled and placed in this pool.

IDEA MATH provides an extensive curriculum. Please see the projected course offerings below and their (main) corresponding placement levels. In general, each applicant not recently enrolled (that is, who has not completed an IDEA MATH course in the spring or summer of 2021) in our programs shall take a placement test in one of our open online/onsite placement test sessions. (For more details on our placement test/course placement process, please visit here.)

Test Levels and their corresponding courses

It is important for each applicant to input accurate, complete, detailed, and up-to-date academic background information (i.e., age, grade level, math courses taken, official contest scores, etc.) in the applicant's IDEA MATH student account. We review this information to make initial course placement/placement test level decisions.

In general, each applicant not recently enrolled (that is, who has not completed an IDEA MATH course in the spring or summer of 2021) in our programs shall take a placement test in one of our open online/onsite placement test sessions. (For more details on our placement test/course placement process, please visit here.) We will find the most appropriate course placement based on the information entered in the student’s IDEA MATH account and (if applicable) placement test work. Please note that our academic team will make the final decision on your course placement based upon your academic background and your work in the placement test. (Further course placement adjustments can be made, by our academic team, based upon your class work.)

Please click this link to register for the placement test. The placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. An extra charge may be applied if a student wishes to change testing dates after registering and paying for the placement test. If you would like to request a different placement test, please email us and an additional charge may be applied.

Summer/Fall Placement Test Schedule

* Each placement test is 90 minutes long. Students should arrive at the testing location (onsite or online) 10 minutes prior to the test. All test times are in the US Eastern Time Zone.

** The placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable; that is, it cannot be transferred from one applicant/student to another applicant/student, and it also cannot be transferred from a registered/chosen test session/date to another placement test session/date for the same applicant/student. Special test sessions (test fee starting at $150) can be arranged depending on staffing availabilities. Please contact info@ideamath for inquires on special test sessions.

Fall/Winter Placement Test Schedule

* Each placement test is 90 minutes long. Students should arrive at the testing location (onsite or online) 10 minutes prior to the test. All test times are in the US Eastern Time Zone.

** The placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable; that is, it cannot be transferred from one applicant/student to another applicant/student, and it also cannot be transferred from a registered/chosen test session/date to another placement test session/date for the same applicant/student. Special test sessions (test fee starting at $150) can be arranged depending on staffing availabilities. Please contact info@ideamath for inquires on special test sessions.

Class Dates: December 20, 21, 22, 23; 27, 28, 29, 30, 2021

* All class times are in the US Eastern Time Zone. Each course will meet 8 times.

** During the initial registration and enrollment process, CW8/CW9/CW10 students will be put into one common pool. After the enrollment process is completed in early December, our academic team will determine the sectioning and choose proper materials based upon the academic background of the students who are enrolled and placed in this pool.

Note that registration is only the first step of towards enrollment. Enrollment (for each session) is completed only after the tuition is paid in full. The tuition payment is independent to student's course placement because the tuition is for the program, not for a specific course. The IDEA MATH staff will work with students on course placement by reviewing their academic backgrounds, assigning placement test levels, reviewing placement test work, and more. IDEA MATH staff make the final decision on students' course placements. (Please see our Course Placement Policy section for details.) All tuition refund for withdrawal will be processed based on the refund policy.

Pay Tuition

Please log in to your account to pay the tuition online.

Tuition Payment Schedule
(Class dates: December 20, 21, 22, 23; 27, 28, 29, 30, 2021)
(Class time: 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM, US Eastern Time.)

* The tuition payments may be stopped earlier than the published date if the program has reached to its upper capacity.

** After the tuition payment deadline date, a late fee ($150) will be applied to the tuition and admission can only be given if space is available.

Please note that only tuition is refundable per the above policy. Other fees such as the application fee, the registration fee, and the placement test fee are non-refundable and non-transferable.

Credit cannot be transferred between different type of programs---say, from summer, year-round, winter, etc.

For programs of a similar type (e.g., between summer programs), we will follow the withdrawal/refund policies. For example, after tuition is submitted and before date X, we will apply the transfer in the following way (assuming space is available for the intended program): switching series is considered a withdrawal from one series and an enrollment to another, and any difference in tuition rates applies.

To request a refund and withdraw your student, please send a complete request in writing to info@ideamath.org. You must include the payee name and mailing address matching the information in the student's account in order for your request to be deemed complete and submitted. Please include "Refund Request" and the student's name in the subject line. The amount of the refund will be based on the time that a complete request is submitted; incomplete requests will not be deemed to meet deadlines for withdrawal.

If the student is ill and chooses to withdraw from the program, we can offer prorated credit (proportional based upon the first refund policy: paid tuition deducted by $100, then prorated per day) towards a future program. A note from a licensed physician is required. The doctor's note should clearly assert that the student's current medical status does not allow the student to complete the remainder of the program. The date when the doctor's note is submitted to IDEA MATH (via info@ideamath.org) is considered the initial date for the prorated refund (credit) calculation. The same policies apply if the IDEA MATH staff determine that the student must withdraw due to illness in order to protect the health and welfare of themselves or other students.

For all purposes related to this refund policy, a day shall be deemed to begin at 12:01am local time in the US Eastern Time Zone (US ET).

Academic Director

Dr. Zuming Feng

Instructors

Mr. Ivan Borsenco, Mr. Zhuoqun Alex Song, and many more. (To be updated soon.)