If you have any inquiries please contact us.
Information sessions (ZOOM meeting ID: 94578394448) will be held at
8:00 PM (US Eastern Time)
on July 30, August 20 (presented mainly in Chinese) and August 25, 2023.
(All contents on this program page are for reference only. We reserve the right to make changes.)
During each academic year IDEA MATH offers several programs (for more information, click here).
Fall Contest Prep Program is intended for students in the 5th to 12th grades.
This is an online program.
This program runs from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) on Sundays:
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023).
Contest Prep programs (Fall, Holiday, Winter) offer courses from our Contest Prep Series. These programs have independent and nonoverlapping materials. These courses provide additional practices for various math contests such as MATHCOUNTS (School/Chapter/State/National) and American Math Competitions (AMC 8/10/12, AIME, USA(J)MO). The courses for Contest Prep Programs are intended to be supplementary courses to courses in the Extra-Curricular and Math Olympiads series.
Fall Contest Prep Program offers a full range of courses (CE1 to CE7) via remote learning -- Zoom based LIVE classes. Each course has eight two-hour meetings. Materials for each meeting are independent of one another. One may choose to attend any number of meetings due to individual schedules and needs. We recommend interested students to take all meetings. We intend to cover our materials via our classroom activities. Hence we expect less than 20 minutes of homework for each class day.
The tuition rate is $70 per meeting (2 hours, unit rate $35). The total tuition payment is calculated based on the number of meetings a student chooses to attend. If one takes all 8 meetings of a session, the tuition is $495 (for a discount of $65, unit rate $30.94).
Despite the intensity of the Contest Prep programs (Fall, Holiday, Winter), we wish to emphasize that these programs are not viable substitutes for the other IDEA MATH programs; these programs are meant to complement the other programs, not replace them. Due to their limited time, these programs are not as comprehensive or holistic as the other programs, and will instead be more focused on taking contests. Thus, we strongly advise students of these two programs to also enroll in either the year-round programs or the summer programs.
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.
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.
To protect students' privacy, we ask our students to:
For more details on our online class policy, please visit here.
The unique strengths of IDEA MATH can be summarized as follows:
For more details, please visit our FAQ page.
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 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.
| Courses* | Date** | Class Time** |
|---|---|---|
| CE1A/2A# | Sunday | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
| CE3A/4A# | Sunday | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
| CE5A | Sunday | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
| CE6A | Sunday | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
| CE7A | Sunday | 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
| CE8/9/10 A | (integrated into MO1/MO2 courses) |
* 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.
# During the initial registration and enrollment process, students in each of CE1A/CE2A, CE3A/CE4A will be put into one common pool. After the enrollment process is completed, 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.
** All class times are in the US Eastern Time Zone.
IDEA MATH provides an extensive curriculum. Our courses are intended for able students who wish to expand their mathematics knowledge beyond regular classroom settings. We emphasize study skills (such as taking notes, oral and written presentations, listening, observing, organization, etc).
In general, each applicant not recently enrolled (that is, who has not completed an IDEA MATH course in the spring or summer of 2023) 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.)
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. We will find the most appropriate course placement based on placement test work and general academic information in the student account. 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.)
Placement test levels and dates are shown below. Please click this link to register for the placement test. The placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable.
| Test Level | Targeted Course |
|---|---|
| S0/T0 | Extra Curricular Series: PC0/Pre-Algebra 1 and PCA/Pre-Algebra 2 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW0 |
| S1 | School Enrichment Series: Algebra 1 |
| S2 | School Enrichment Series: Geometry |
| S3 | School Enrichment Series: Algebra 2 |
| T1 | Extra Curricular Series: PC1 and PC2
Fall and Winter Contest Prep program: CE1/CE2 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW1/CW2 |
T2 | Extra Curricular Series: PCX and UC1 Fall and Winter Contest Prep program: CE3/CE4 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW3/CW4 |
T3 | Extra Curricular Series: UC2 and UC3 Fall and Winter Contest Prep program: CE5/CE6 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW5/CW6 |
T4 | XC Series: XC7, XC9, and XC10 MO Series MO1 Fall and Winter Contest Prep program: CE7/CE8 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW7/CW8 |
T5 | MO Series MO2 and MO3 Fall and Winter Contest Prep program: CE9/CE10 Holiday Contest Prep program: CW9/CW10 |
| Placement Test Date/Time* | Placement Test Location | Registered and Fee Paid by | Test Fee** |
| August 6, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Online | August 1, 2023 | $50 |
| August 20, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Online | August 15, 2023 | $75 |
| August 25, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Online | August 23, 2023 | $100 |
| Special date (US Eastern Time) |
Online | Special date | $150 |
| Placement Test Date/Time* | Placement Test Location | Registered by | Test Fee** |
| November 19, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Online | November 16, 2023 | $75 |
| December 3, 2023 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Online | December 1, 2023 | $100 |
| Special date (US Eastern Time) |
Online | Special date | $150 |
*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 of $150 or more) can be arranged depending on staffing availabilities. Please contact info@ideamath.org for inquires on special test sessions.
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.
Please log in to your account to pay the tuition online.
| Program | Registered By | Tuition Paid By* | Tuition Amount** |
| All eight meetings | August 15, 2023 | August 30, 2023 | $495 ($30.94/hour) |
| Per meeting | August 15, 2023 | August 30, 2023 | $70 ($35/hour) |
| Per meeting | August 15, 2023 | the last Tuesday prior the class day | $80 ($40/hour) |
* 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 ($100) will be applied to the tuition and admission can only be given if space is available.
For the class schedule, please check the course schedule.
| Course | Time* | Dates* |
| CE1A/2A | Sunday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023) |
| CE3A/4A | Sunday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023) |
| CE5A | Sunday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023) |
| CE6A | Sunday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023) |
| CE7A | Sunday 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) |
Sept. 10, 17, 24, Oct. 1, 15, 22, 29, Nov. 5 (2023) |
| CE8/9/10 A | (integrated into MO1/MO2 courses) |
* All class times are in the US Eastern Time Zone. Each course will have eight (independent) two-hour meetings.
| Fall Contest Prep, Withdrawal Request Made in Writing | Refund Amount |
|---|---|
| Before September 3, 2023 | Paid Tuition - $100 |
| On or after September 3, 2023 | No refund |
Please note that only tuition is refundable per the above policy. Other fees (including, but not limited to, fees for the placement test, bus, lunch, application, etc.) are non-refundable and non-transferable.
Credit cannot be transferred from the Contest Prep Program to another program.
For programs of a similar type (e.g., between summer programs), we will follow the withdrawal/refund policies posted on our website. 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 programs/series is considered a withdrawal from one program/series and an enrollment to another program/series, and any difference in tuition rates will apply.
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 $200, 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.
and more, to be updated soon.