When it comes to the National Olympiad, should one learn mathematics in advance?
My son is currently in the sixth grade and has been learning C++ for over a year.
The National Olympiad C++ is fundamentally about using computer languages to solve related mathematical problems. Since it is linked to mathematics, should we let children learn mathematics ahead of time?
Based on the information I have gathered, if one needs to achieve good results in middle school, it is essential to learn some mathematics in advance.
The reason is simple: if a question in the Olympiad involves knowledge points from high school mathematics.
A student who has learned this mathematical concept will understand the problem better than one who has not encountered it yet.
Initially, when my son was solving problems, there were some concepts beyond elementary mathematics that he completely did not understand, such as absolute value. Therefore, when he saw some questions, he had no idea what those strange symbols meant.
He had never learned it, and expecting him to read the question a few more times to understand it is too much to ask of a child!
During a summer training camp, it was held at a high school, and the school’s Olympiad team was also training there.
In our discussions, I learned that the students on the team had already completed high school mathematics by the time they reached middle school. So, it is undeniable that if a child wants to achieve success in the Olympiad, they must learn ahead of their peers at a younger age.
How did I arrange for my son to learn mathematics in advance?
Now, I have arranged for my son to use his free time to learn mathematics in advance, planning to complete the middle school mathematics curriculum this year; so far, he has finished the first semester of seventh-grade mathematics.
I have never arranged for him to learn Olympiad mathematics; the mathematics knowledge he is learning is entirely through the courses available on the national primary and secondary school intelligent education platform, where he watches videos.
However, I did buy him physical textbooks so he can follow along with the video lessons while referring to the printed materials.
My expectations for his mathematics learning are not for him to master it as if he were preparing for a mathematics competition. In his current self-study state, I hope he can understand and grasp the corresponding knowledge concepts.
As for the level of mastery of the knowledge points, I occasionally find some exercises in the textbook for him to do; based on his performance on these exercises, I can assess his understanding of the new concepts. The reason I do this only occasionally is that I have limited time, and since my child is already learning a lot, adding more exercises in this area would inevitably affect his learning attitude and motivation.
As a parent, if you look at your child’s elementary school mathematics textbook, it is not difficult to find that the difficulty of the knowledge points discussed in the book is not high.
Under the current dual reduction policy in education, the school’s teaching can only guarantee the minimum teaching quality for children, meaning it only ensures the lower limit of education. As for more outstanding children, there is not much exploration in the classroom. This task is left to the parents, so it is not surprising to see many children learning and practicing after class.
Indeed, without paying much attention to my child’s homework, I did not notice any issues raised by the teacher regarding my son’s incomplete assignments. At least this indicates that my son has basically completed the homework assigned by the school, and he is self-motivated in his studies.
He can finish his classroom assignments at school, so when he returns home, he has time in the evening to study C++ and middle school mathematics.
My son’s problem-solving ability has improved
Recently, I noticed that he is less inclined to solve simple problems. This change is also due to his improved level of mathematical knowledge, allowing him to confidently tackle more challenging problems after being able to solve most basic and common questions.
This is completely different from his previous state of only attempting introductory problems; he used to shy away from slightly more difficult questions and would simply pass on them.
Now he is no longer just solving easy problems, and I am pleased to see this transformation. The increase in the difficulty of the problems he attempts reflects his improvement in C++ programming skills.
Today, his ranking on the OJ problem-solving website dropped again. After solving a few problems, he said he felt tired and wanted to go to sleep.
So I quickly let him take a shower and go to bed, as we cannot underestimate the importance of a child’s sleep. There is plenty of time ahead for him to solve problems.
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Articles in the series for non-computer science parents helping their children learn Olympiad programming:
How non-computer science parents guide their children to learn Olympiad programming
My son’s performance in the semi-finals, sharing from a gold medal coach at Yali, how an ordinary child can achieve a gold medal in 2025
How non-computer science parents help their children learn C++ programming for the Olympiad
My son’s ranking dropped on the OJ Olympiad website; I need to remind him to solve more problems