Math-M-Addicts – a look from the inside

Here we aim to provide an insight into how the program functions and what to expect vis-a-vis students continuing in the program.

Overall Program Structure

Currently, the program consists of 6 levels, as follows:

  • SP100: online only, 1 class, 30-35 students with small group work every class
  • SP200 - SP250: 4 classes total, 1 online class + 3 in-person classes, 17-19 students per class
  • SP300: 4 classes total, 1 online class + 3 in-person classes, 17-19 students per class
  • SP400: 3 classes total, 1-2 online classes + 2 in-person classes, 17-19 students per class
  • SP500: 3 classes total, 1-2 online classes + 1-2 in-person classes, 17-19 students per classes
  • SP600 - SP650: 3 classes total, 1 online class + 2 in-person classes

We generally target a class size of 17-19 students; the reason SP100 has a larger class size is that a lot of the instruction happens in smaller groups of around 6 students, led by Math-M-Addicts high school students from higher classes (SP500+).

What classes can a student take? Are there any restrictions?

New students must successfully pass an entrance exam to be admitted to the program. Existing students need to successfully pass an exmission exam to continue in the program. The exmission test is intended to measure how well the student mastered the material from the prior class, and to assess how ready the student is to advance. Some students repeat the class they took the prior year and then repeat the exmission exam, but we believe that the utility of taking the same class eventually diminishes. For that reason, we design most classes to have a cutoff for the number of years that a student can repeat the class, as well as the grade limit for students in that class. Here is the same list with those restrictions:

  • SP100: 5th - 6th grade, 1 year limit
  • SP200 - SP250: 5th - 7th grade, 1 year limit
  • SP300: up to 8th grade, 2 year limit
  • SP400: up to 9th grade, 2 year limit
  • SP500: up to 11th grade, 3 year limit
  • SP600 + SP650: up to 12th grade, unlimited

We do on occasion accept one or two 4th graders (and we have once accepted a 3rd grader) if they qualify for the SP250 (advanced SP200) class.

Why do you require a student below fifth grade to qualify for the advanced SP250 level in order to join your program?

We think that succeeding in our program requires certain maturity, which is higher in older students. However, when younger students are advanced enough to require the most rigorous training for their development, we will accept them into Group SP250.

Exams

Exams (entrance for new students and exmission for continuing students) are given in the spring and again in the fall. A student needs to pass at least one of these exams to remain in the program. Unless a student is outside of the year limit or the grade limit, reasonable performance will allow a student to stay in the program, while strong performance allows a student to advance to the next level. If a student is outside of either the years or the grade limit, they will need to show comfort with the curriculum in order to advance. In more advanced classes, we have found that a good predictor of being able to move to the next level is the performance on the homework. If a student, working on their own, consistently solves 4 or more problems correctly from a typical 6-problem homework, they typically pass the exmission exam and are able to advance to the next level. Conversely, if a student tends to solve 2 problems or fewer, the student typically does not do well enough on the exmission exam and is often not even able to stay at the same level. We have observed over the years that to learn new materials and to hone their problem skills appropriately, students need to spend several hours every week on homework on their own (2-3 hours per week at lower levels, 4-8 hours at higher levels). It is for this reason that homework is mandatory and students are limited in how many classes they can miss.

Exams by the numbers

Our program aims to maintain a high level of achievement and student engagement, but we also try to have space and opportunities for new students. As a result, we require both continuing and new students to pass exams to study in the program, giving them two chances to do so, in the spring and in the fall.

Since our students and parents tend to think like mathematicians, we are often asked detailed questions about how our tests work, by the numbers. Below are some statistics based on the last several years. We do, of course, make changes to admissions porcess and polivcies and other aspects of our program, so these may not apply in future years.

Statistically:

  • Spring exams:
    • Between accepted students and students on wait lists, we tended to fill 55-70% of each class, on average, from the spring exam
    • Typically, lower classes were closer to 55% full and higher classes were closer to 70% full in the spring
    • Waitlists have typically been short and amounted to 5% -10% of class size
    • The passing rate (which includes a place on the waitlist, a place in the same class, or a place in a higher class) on the exams has typically been 50-65%, except for SP600 exams, where it is generally higher
    • While there are aberrations, on a typical SP300-SP400 exam, about 2x - 3x as many students have qualified for a higher class than for the same class. This number includes students who have reached the grade limit or the number of years limit and therefore could not qualify for the same class
    • In a typical year, 10-15 students qualified for SP600 by taking the SP500 exam

Some students take the fall exams to qualify for the program, while some take them to qualify for a higher level class; students who register for a class after spring exams will be moved free of charge to a higher class should they qualify for it after fall exams

  • Fall Exams:
    • Between accepted students and students on waitlists, we tended to fill 25-45% of each class, on average, from the fall exam
    • Wait lists have been quite rare – 0-2 students per level. Students on the waiting list would typically find out by the second class at the latest if we were able to accommodate them.
    • The passing rate among students who were not taking the exam to qualify for a higher level class was 50-70%, and was more uniformly distributed across groups than in the spring. We think the pick-up of passing rates in younger groups was due to
      • students working over the summer when they had more time to absorb the material.
      • fewer students taking the exams (because many students passed in the spring), so any strong student who missed the spring exam amounts to a higher fraction of the total
    • A student who was taking the exam to qualify for a higher group tended to succeed about 30% of the time

Waitlists tended to result in acceptances 60-70% of the time.

Should a student try for a higher level in the fall once they are admitted in the spring?

With rare exceptions, we recommend that students do not skip levels in our program, e.g. trying to jump from SP300 to SP500 or from SP400 to SP600. Doing so, apart from being quite challenging, may result in a student missing important material and problem-solving skills. Some students also tend to lose interest and motivation when they do not follow the material well.

What if a student does not pass the exam after being in the program?

We offer three contest prep classes, which are only open to our current and former students – AMC8-AMC10, AMC10-12, and AIME (up to 18 students each). While they are more expensive than our regular classes, they have no exam requirements. Students are welcome to enroll in them to continue studying with Math-M-Addicts if they were unable to pass exmissions exams – and to attempt exmission exams again in a year, should they be interested in reentering the Saturday Program.

How do online vs. in-person admissions work?

Originally, the program was fully in-person, but after the pandemic, an additional degree of complexity appeared – is a class going to be offered in-person or online? Our preference is to offer one class online at each level and to offer all of the other Saturday Program classes in person. However, we are also attempting to reflect the demands of our students. For example, in 2024, we will have two online SP500 classes and one in-person SP500 class because students qualifying via spring exams on average preferred an online class. When applying to the program, a student can indicate in-person, online, or either. The advantage of indicating in-person or online is that should they qualify, they will be able to attend a class the way they prefer. The disadvantage is that the test cutoffs are often different for online vs. in-person classes (with no predictable patterns, it seems) – a person indicating “either” will be competing against a lower cutoff, but will not have a choice of an online vs. an in-person class – the choice will be made for them. (We accept applications for wait lists to change from online to in-person and vice versa, and we make decisions after the fall exam results are resolved; a positive outcome is expected less than 50% of the time.)

An exception is when a student indicates “in-person”, and they qualify for SP100 class (online only) – or if they indicate “online” and they qualify for SP250 or SP650 class (in-person only). In those cases, we will reach out to the family and ask if they would be interested in switching their online / in-person preference in order to attend a class. Should they not change their preference, they will need to take the SP100 exam again in the fall and try to score higher to qualify for SP200 – or they will be placed into online SP200 or online SP600 respectively.