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

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

Who

In person Holiday Contest Bootcamp (at the Bay Area, CA) is intended for students to prepare for various contests such as MATHCOUNTS, AMC8, and AIME.

Where

10268 Bandley Drvie, Suite 205, Cupertino, CA (This is an in person program).

When

December 27, 28, 29, 30, 2025.

Morning classes: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Afternoon classes: 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Note: Lunch is not provided.

What

Contest Bootcamps offer courses from our Contest Prep Series. These courses provide additional practice 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 Bootcamp courses, we wish to emphasize that these courses are not a viable substitute for the other IDEA MATH programs. These courses are meant to complement the other programs. Due to their limited time, these courses 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 programs to also enroll in either the year-round programs and/or the summer programs.

Math contests are interrelated. Each contest covers a vast range of topics/concepts/difficulty levels. Each course/level in the Contest Prep Series focuses on certain components/levels of many contests. Please see the table below for a reference of the relation between these courses and various popular contests.

Program Setup and Workload

The program runs for four days on December 27, 28, 29, 30 (2025). Students can enroll in the Morning Program (morning classes are scheduled from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm), or Afternoon Program (afternoon classes are scheduled from 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm), or Full Program (both morning and afternoon classes). In general, we recommend that students enroll in the Full Program.

• Full Program (8 meetings, 24 academic hours)
• Morning Program or Afternoon Program (4 meetings, 12 academic hours)

*Students enrolled in the Full Program are responsible for their own lunch. Lunch hour activities will be supervised by our staff.

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.

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, 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.

In this program, we intend to offer Contest Edge levels A to 7 (2025-26 Version H).

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

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

* 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 (of $50 or more) 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.

2025-26 Holiday Contest Bootcamp at the northern California (CA) Class Schedule*

* All class times are in the US Pacific Time Zone. In this program, each course will meet 8 times (three hours every time) for a total of 8*3 = 24 hours.

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---summer, year-round, contest edge, winter contest prep, 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 programs/series is considered a withdrawal from one program/series and an enrollment to another program/series, 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 after the refund deadlines, we can offer prorated credit (proportional based upon the second 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.

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

Academic Team

Mr. Ivan Borsenco

Ms. Junhua Duan

Ms. Claudia Feng

Mr. Zachary Feng

Mr. Chris Jeuell

Mr. Alex Song

Mr. Alec Sun

Mr. Luyan Wang

and more, to be updated soon.