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    Joined: Mar 2013
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    I think the key word is "wants." Since this is your DS's choice, I'd let him participate as long as he seems to handle it well. We offer the AMC 10, and we have more seventh graders taking the contest than students in other grades (45% 7th graders, 36% 8th graders, the remaining 19% split evenly between 9th and 10th graders.) One of the reasons we started offering math competitions is to offer gifted students the chance to really challenge themselves. Challenging competitions have helped my DD with her perfectionism. When she does do really well, she's truly proud of herself because she actually had to try.

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    Originally Posted by polarbear
    I would only draw the line based on what we can afford in expense as a family, or based on what my children can afford in time away from other things.

    This.

    We haven't had that issue with competitions, but we have with extracurricular activities, because DD is interested in practically everything.

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    My only rule for DS is that he can enter as many competitions as he likes if he is able to give it his best (effort and time) and if it does not mess up with his extracurriculars (like music, sports etc to which he has made commitments).

    He is turning out to be an aggressive competitor and seems to take winning for granted, so I encourage him to enter competitions that are too high in level for him in order for him to see what other kids are able to do and to experience losing so that he can learn that competitions are about learning and not about medals.

    My opinion is that if your son has time for the competition and is willing to put in the work needed, go for it.

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    Go for it.

    My ds in 6th grade just turned 12 and is going to try the AMC 10 this year.
    He understands there are question he will not know how to solve.

    Last edited by mecreature; 01/27/15 12:38 PM.
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    Thanks, everyone! It always clarifies the considerations for me to read other people's thoughts. I think all the posts combined have covered all the salient issues, even if only a couple actually applied to our situation at the current time.

    DS is actually not afraid of losing/performing poorly or he wouldn't have taken AMC10 last year. That request came out of the blue and surprised me at the time, but ultimately I was happy to oblige him and am glad that he wants to participate again this year. However, I am concerned with DS potentially burning out and not wanting to participate in some of these competitions when/if he finally becomes competitive in a few years. I am also not so much obsessed with winning as a criteria for participation, but a strong performance has to be one of many considerations for DS' participation because I have three children, including one with special needs, and unfortunately DS' participation generally requires many hours of my own time. Then there is the issue of all his other commitments and making sure he has plenty of free time left over. I suppose that I would be more inclined to encourage his participation if I see him making efforts to improve his skills. Unfortunately, he is hardly prepping for these competitions so the only benefit is participating in the competitions, which may not be insignificant but again there are many considerations to weigh.

    By the way, I do agree that a sense of progress can be invaluable in itself, which is only achievable if you try these competition before you are at the optimal skill level.

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    The best bang for the buck, for us at this time IMO are the mock Mathcounts competitions. 3 totally different types of test are given then almost always have a small break to relax visit eat some pizza. Then get back together and go over the solutions.

    It does take some time but are well worth it.

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    We may try to get a mathcounts team started at DS/DD's middle school next year so that DS will have the experience of competing with a team.

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    Top 10℅ sounds perfect. If he wants to do it he has to work but if he does work winning shouldn't matter. Are you sure though he isn't avoiding preparation so he has an out if he doesn't do as well as he wants?

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    Well, I can't ever be sure of the motivation deep within someone's heart, but I think not, at least as far as these math competitions since he doesn't care that much. It's more a matter of all the other things that are more enjoyable like gobbling new books or playing Minecraft online with all his friends for hours on end.

    Last edited by Quantum2003; 02/06/15 05:56 PM.
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