One other issue is that a near precondition for IMO-type recognition is coming from at least a middle class family and having either an immediate family member or early teacher able to recognize and direct that talent. Worse, as these competitions have increased in stature, you have an increasing number of the students pushed by parents and provided regular tutoring and preparation. Those sorts of hothouse personalities would seem to be some of the more risky to put on an FAI team.
Are you sure about this? I don’t know of that many people who did super-well in contests as a result of being tutored from an early age (although I would agree that many that do well in contests took advanced math classes at an early age; however, others did not). Many top-scorers train on their own or in local communities. Now that there are websites like AoPS, it is easier to do well even without a local community, although I agree that being in a better socioeconomic situation is likely to help.
I think we can safely stipulate that there is no universal route to contest success or Luke’s other example of 800 math SATs.
But, I can answer your question that, yes, I’m sure that at least some of the students are receiving supplemental tutoring. Not necessarily contest-focused, but still.
Anecdotally: the two friends I had from undergrad who were IMO medalists (about 10 years ago) had both gone through early math tutoring programs (and both had a parent who was a math professor). All of my undergrad friends who had 800 math SAT had either received tutoring or had their parents buy them study materials (most of them did not look back fondly on the experience).
Remember, for any of these tests, there’s a point where even a small amount of training to the test overwhelms a good deal of talent. Familiarity with problem types, patterns, etc can vastly improve performance.
I have no way to evaluate the scope of your restrictions on doing “super-well” or the particular that the tutoring start at an “early age” (although at least one of the anecdotal IMO cases did a Kumon-type program that started at pre-school).
Are there some people who don’t follow that route? Certainly. However, I do think that it’s important to be aware of other factors that may be present.
One other issue is that a near precondition for IMO-type recognition is coming from at least a middle class family and having either an immediate family member or early teacher able to recognize and direct that talent. Worse, as these competitions have increased in stature, you have an increasing number of the students pushed by parents and provided regular tutoring and preparation. Those sorts of hothouse personalities would seem to be some of the more risky to put on an FAI team.
Are you sure about this? I don’t know of that many people who did super-well in contests as a result of being tutored from an early age (although I would agree that many that do well in contests took advanced math classes at an early age; however, others did not). Many top-scorers train on their own or in local communities. Now that there are websites like AoPS, it is easier to do well even without a local community, although I agree that being in a better socioeconomic situation is likely to help.
I think we can safely stipulate that there is no universal route to contest success or Luke’s other example of 800 math SATs.
But, I can answer your question that, yes, I’m sure that at least some of the students are receiving supplemental tutoring. Not necessarily contest-focused, but still.
Anecdotally: the two friends I had from undergrad who were IMO medalists (about 10 years ago) had both gone through early math tutoring programs (and both had a parent who was a math professor). All of my undergrad friends who had 800 math SAT had either received tutoring or had their parents buy them study materials (most of them did not look back fondly on the experience).
Remember, for any of these tests, there’s a point where even a small amount of training to the test overwhelms a good deal of talent. Familiarity with problem types, patterns, etc can vastly improve performance.
I have no way to evaluate the scope of your restrictions on doing “super-well” or the particular that the tutoring start at an “early age” (although at least one of the anecdotal IMO cases did a Kumon-type program that started at pre-school).
Are there some people who don’t follow that route? Certainly. However, I do think that it’s important to be aware of other factors that may be present.