Is Putnam difficult?

Is Putnam difficult?

It is widely considered to be the most prestigious university-level mathematics competition in the world, and its difficulty is such that the median score is often zero (out of 120) despite being attempted by students specializing in mathematics. …

Has anyone got 120 on Putnam?

Among the three top scorers — Sah, Zhang, and Zhu — two earned a nearly perfect score, and one (who prefers not to be named) earned a perfect score of 120 points. This is only the fifth time in Putnam’s history that a test-taker received a perfect score. Competitors were also ranked by participating institution.

How hard is the Putnam Reddit?

Here’s what you should know: Putnam questions are hard. Really hard. The median score most years is a zero—that is, at least half of takers receive no points at all. You probably will have no idea how to do most of the questions on the test, and that’s okay.

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What is the difference between IMO and Putnam?

The most significant difference is that Putnam requires some expertise in college level math while at IMO sometimes the hardest problems can be solved with only middle school math. Timing also makes a lots of difference. Putnam has twice more problems than IMO has to be solved in 2/3 of IMO’s time (3 hours compared to 4.5).

How difficult is the IMO?

The problems that appear in difficult math competitions such as the IMO or the Putnam exam are usually very difficult and require some ingenuity to solve. They also usually don’t look like they can be solved by simply knowing more advanced theory and the such.

Why is it so hard to get a high score in Putnam?

What makes it hard to get a high score in Putnam is that it requires a much broader knowledge of math than IMO. The format of IMO is pretty fixed. You know there will usually be 1 geometry, 1 inequality, 1 number theory, 1–2 algebra questions so you can prepare specifically for these topics.

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What is the difference between the IMO and USAMO competitions?

The overall difficulty of the two competitions is similar, but the IMO has a significantly larger difficulty range: IMO 1/4s are easier than the easy USAMO problems while 3/6s are harder than the hardest USAMO problems.