Information sessions (ZOOM meeting ID: 94578394448) will be held at
8:00 PM (US Eastern Time), Nov. 12 (Sunday) and 8:00 PM (US Eastern Time), Dec. 1 (Friday), 2023.

(All contents on this program page are for reference only. We reserve the right to make changes.)

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

During each academic year IDEA MATH offers several programs (for more information, click here).

Who

Holiday Contest Prep Program is intended for students in the 5th to 12th grades.

Where

This is an online program.

When

Session 1: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) on Dec. 20, 21, 22, 23 (2023).
Session 2: 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (US Eastern Time) on Dec. 27, 28, 29, 30 (2023).

What

Courses in the Holiday Contest Prep Program (CW) are intended to be supplementary courses to those full courses in the School Enrichment (SE), Extra-Curricular (EC), Advanced Studies (XC and MO) series. In each course, materials for the CW Series are different from year to year.

Courses in the 2023 Holiday Contest Prep will focus upon selected high-quality problems from US math competitions (such as AMC 8/10/12, AIME, USAJMO/USAMO, MATHCOUNTS chapter, ARML, HMNT, HMMT) and around the world from 2013, 2003, and 1993. These courses also feature about 16 new (original) practice sets (covering all different levels) written by our academic team.

Program Setup and Workload

Holiday Contest Prep Program offers a full range of courses (CW0 to CW10) via remote learning: Zoom-based LIVE classes. The program consists of two (independent and nonoverlapping) sessions: Session 1 (on December 20, 21, 22, 23) and Session 2 (on December 27, 28, 29, 30). One may choose to attend Session 1 or Session 2 or both. We recommend interested students to participate both sessions. There are eight class days (four in Session 1 and four in Session 2) and each class day has a 2-hour class for a total of (4+4)*2 = 16 total class hours. We intend to cover our materials via our classroom activities. Hence, we expect less than 15 minutes of homework for each class day.

The tuition rate are $285 per session (unit rate $36.62) and $525 for both sessions (for a $45 discount, unit rate $32.81).

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). 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.

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 ask our students to:

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 details on our 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).
   ( Find more information about curriculum here.)
2. Strong team of instructors, consisting of front-line teachers, coaches, and top former students.
   (Find more information about staff here.)
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 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.

^# During the initial registration and enrollment process, students in each of CW1/CW2, CW3/CW4, CW8/CW9/CW10 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.

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 Levels and their corresponding courses

Placement Test Schedule for Session 1 (Fall Session)

Placement Test Schedule For Session 2 (Spring Session) or Holiday Contest Prep

*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.

Session 1 (December 20, 21, 22, 23 (2023)); Session 2 (December 27, 28, 29, 30 (2023))

The program consists of two (independent and nonoverlapping) sessions: Session 1 (on December 20, 21, 22, 23) and Session 2 (on December 27, 28, 29, 30). One may choose to attend Session 1 or Session 2 or both. We recommend interested students to participate both sessions.

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

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

Session 1 (December 20, 21, 22, 23 (2023)); Session 2 (December 27, 28, 29, 30 (2023))

* 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 (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 Winter 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 $300, 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.

Academic team

Academic Director

Dr. Zuming Feng

Academic Team

Mr. Ivan Borsenco

Mr. Kevin Cong

Mr. Michael Curry

Ms. Junhua Duan

Ms. Claudia Feng

Mr. Zachary Feng

Dr. Zachary Franco

Mr. Xiaopeng Gong

Mr. Chris Jeuell

Mr. Ertan Kaya

Dr. Ray Li

Dr. Yanfei Li

Ms. Luana Liao

Dr. Yueqiang Liu

Mr. George Reuter

Mr. Alex Song

Dr. Celine Sun

Mr. Yi Tian

Mr. Tao Tu

Mr. Marc Vincent

Mr. Luyan Wang

Mr. Steven Xu

Mr. Zhun Xu

Mr. Jie Zhao

Mr. Howard Zhong

and more, to be updated soon.