Why Every Student Should Participate in a Math Olympiad

It's a universally accepted fact that Maths is a life skill for all kids. A strong Math foundation in early years of schooling is very crucial for building confidence as the kids advance into higher classes. Remember that for any engineering discipline in graduation, Maths is a key prerequisite subject. There are also specialized Maths engineering courses (both at graduation and post-graduation level) which are in very high demand in industries like data, finance and trading where complex algorithms need to be written using the concept of Maths, and these are the highest paying jobs in the corporate world today.

As Parents, how do we build a strong Math foundation for our kids?

There are numerous effective ways to do this and every parent is striving to give the best education to their kids. As a Math expert and a parent of a 15 year old boy, let me today touch upon the two specific ways we can make the foundation of our kids super strong in Maths at an early age.

Math Olympiad online Classes for kids

Olympiad exams are designed to enhance the creativity and logical skills of the child, and they drive the kids to focus on application-based learning. If your kid is strong in the school Maths as taught in his school and understands the basic concepts, then we should encourage him to learn higher concepts by enrolling into Math Olympiad online classes. Math Olympiads classes help the kids in following specific ways:

• Advanced level questions of the same topics that the child has learnt in school, so that he goes deep into the concepts and understands that topic thoroughly. If the foundation is strong, he will be able to pick up any new topics with ease as he moves into higher classes.
• Effective Time management – A lot of practice is needed to complete the Olympiad exams within the prescribed time limit. Students need to give mock test papers over many months and most kids struggle initially. But with regular practice and determination, they become more and more fluent and develop a good command over both speed and accuracy.
• Strong Logical and Analytical reasoning skills – Olympiad questions are specifically designed to develop both the logical and analytical reasoning skills. Since the complexity level of questions is way above regular school Math, if the kid excels in Olympiad it's clear evidence that he will do good in today's competitive world.
• Recognition – If a child scores good rank in Olympiads, he gets both national and international recognition. A kid participating in an Olympiad competes against the best and there are many scholarships offered by both private and government organizations to promote the students who do well in Olympiads. It is not super important to secure the first rank, but more important is participation because even for participating the kid would need to come out of his comfort factor and spend quality time in learning the advanced topics as well as developing speed and accuracy by more and more practice.

Vedic Maths classes for kids

Vedic Maths classes for kids is an alternate technique to learn Mathematics and a very powerful means to develop superfast speed. Kids who attend Vedic Maths classes develop an ability to do the calculations 5x faster as compared to conventional school Maths methods. Vedic Maths short cut tricks for various Math operations are boon for kids and once mastered, it gives a unique advantage to your child over their peers.

Let us look at a simple multiplication example:

Multiply any two double digit numbers using Vedic Maths

• Pre-condition - Same Tens place digit, and addition of one's place digit is equal to 10
• Step1 → Multiply the ten's digit number with its successor
• Step2 →  Multiply the one's digit numbers with each other

Example: 47 x 43

Advantages of Vedic Maths classes for kids

•  Superfast speed in all arithmetic calculations – this is helpful to kids of all age groups whether he is school going or even if he is on college, or appearing for any competitive exams.
• Strong Pattern Identification skills and better Focus – To apply a Vedic Math trick, the child would need to identify a specific pattern of questions. This habit is very helpful in developing strong observation skills and gradually helps strong memory retention.
• Improved Intellectual Quotient – IQ based assessment uses a lot of pattern-based questions, as well as speed is the key aspect there. A child who has a good hold on speed and can identify patterns easily is guaranteed to score a very good IQ in any assessment.
• Immediate results in the short term – Each Vedic Math trick is independent of each other and as a result there is no need for a very long-term commitment. Even if the child attends Vedic Maths course just for a few weeks, he will retain those tricks with him forever and can effectively use them in school Maths. The only precondition is that he must keep practicing the tricks regularly, only then he can easily identify the questions where those tricks are applicable.

Which is the Best School for Math Olympiad online Classes and Vedic Math course?

This is a choice that you must research a bit before finalizing, since you will invest both money and time. Usually, it's a safe choice to go with a school that your close family or friend may recommend based on their personal experience. However, I would suggest that you must validate the following aspects before enrolling:

• Teacher's qualification
• Teacher's ability to connect with the kids

In my opinion all other points like whether the school is a big brand or not, or the fee structure, or where is the school situated, are secondary.

I enrolled my kids with Mathcruise school which fulfilled both the above criteria to perfection. Before enrolling we had an initial interaction with their chief trainer including both me and my son, and I noticed the following:

• She has great passion for teaching Math to kids
• She immediately engaged my son in an active conversation and created an interest in that assessment class itself, which was amazing.
• She holds an international certification in advanced Medic Maths from Vedicmaths.org, which is not an easy achievement since there are only such 100 teachers worldwide. You can browse through her certifications on their website, and she is also listed as a certified teacher @ https://vedicmaths.org/community/tutors
• She is also an expert in giving Olympiad training to kids
• Mathcruise offers fully online classes for all their courses including Vedic Maths classes for kids and Olympiads classes, which is a great advantage since you can enroll from anywhere irrespective of your location.

There are many schools available to teach these courses but if you are not aware of anyone specifically, then you can just reach out to the Mathcruise team. They specialize in all kinds of Math courses and take students from all countries and provide customized class schedule to support your needs. Be rest assured that you are handing your kids into safe hands and they will embark on the learning journey with a smile.