How should I go about preparing for the Putnam Exam?
Author: admin // Category: maths competitionsI have experience with Math Olympiads, UIL mathematics, and other math competitions, but I would like to tackle the mack-daddy of them all…the Putnam…Any advice on how should I go about preparing for the exam? Any particular books or resources I should make use of?
Honestly, the best (and possibly only) way to study for the Putnam is to do the old Putnams. Get an idea about the problems that are on there. Usually there are at least two in each part that only involve elementary things (eg take a derivative, do an integral, etc.) but are clever. Work on getting your mind focused on figuring out "the trick" for each problem.
Then learn a bit about Putnam strategy. If you can get just one single problem in each section, do that. Do not attempt to do them all and get partial credit. The ONLY points they ever give are 0,1,9,10, with maybe a few 2s and 8s. Partial credit will not help you as much as getting a single question 100% right.
So when you get the test, look at the questions. Usually it's the first question that's the easy one (not always - make sure you can identify the easy question). Do that one if you can. Then maybe find the next easiest and do that one as much as you can. Then, if you have time, try the harder ones.
Find an old problems/solutions manual. Look at the problems, and the techniques, and (IMPORTANT) the way they expect the solutions to be written up. A correct solution with a bad write-up gets 1 point. An almost correct solution with a good write up might get 9 points (depending on how close "almost correct" is).
That's my advice! Try websites like:
http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/problems-math/
Or just search in Yahoo or Google "putnam exam" questions:
http://www.google.com/search?q=putnam+exam+questions
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:47 am
Honestly, the best (and possibly only) way to study for the Putnam is to do the old Putnams. Get an idea about the problems that are on there. Usually there are at least two in each part that only involve elementary things (eg take a derivative, do an integral, etc.) but are clever. Work on getting your mind focused on figuring out "the trick" for each problem.
Then learn a bit about Putnam strategy. If you can get just one single problem in each section, do that. Do not attempt to do them all and get partial credit. The ONLY points they ever give are 0,1,9,10, with maybe a few 2s and 8s. Partial credit will not help you as much as getting a single question 100% right.
So when you get the test, look at the questions. Usually it's the first question that's the easy one (not always - make sure you can identify the easy question). Do that one if you can. Then maybe find the next easiest and do that one as much as you can. Then, if you have time, try the harder ones.
Find an old problems/solutions manual. Look at the problems, and the techniques, and (IMPORTANT) the way they expect the solutions to be written up. A correct solution with a bad write-up gets 1 point. An almost correct solution with a good write up might get 9 points (depending on how close "almost correct" is).
That's my advice! Try websites like:
http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/problems-math/
Or just search in Yahoo or Google "putnam exam" questions:
http://www.google.com/search?q=putnam+exam+questions
References :
I've placed in the Putnam a few times… not very well, mind you, but not bad either. Those days are over, but I still have fond memories of that day-long crazy competition.