British Mathematical Olympiad, first round results

A number of Paulines sat the first round of the British Mathematical Olympiad (known as BMO1) on 18 November 2022.

The Olympiad paper consists of six highly challenging mathematics problems worth 10 marks each. Participants qualify by virtue of a successful performance in the Senior Mathematical Challenge paper, which took place in early October. Approximately 1000 pupils from across the country qualify to sit BMO1 with roughly 100 progressing on to the next round (BMO2), which will take place on 25 January 2023. If they perform exceptionally well in the BMO2 then there is a further round of training and selection after which a team of 6 is selected to represent the UK in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Japan at the start of July. 

A total of 33 Paulines sat the BMO1 paper this year. The top performer was Haolin Zhao (Lower Eighth) who achieved the ultimate performance by registering a perfect score of 60, a feat matched by only three other pupils in all of the UK. As a result Haolin was selected to join a UKMT training camp in Hungary over the new year. In news received over the Christmas break, we learnt that Haolin has also been selected to represent the UK in the Romanian Masters of Mathematics competition in March. Anango Prabhat (Fifth Form) achieved a highly impressive score of 49, meaning he was also invited to Hungary alongside Haolin. Just behind Anango were Neil Prabhu (Lower Eighth) and Adavya Goyal (Fifth Form) who both scored 47 with Jash Jhaveri (Upper Eighth), Michael Sydorenko (Fourth Form) and Aman Parekh (Fifth Form) also qualifying for BMO2. These results are some of the best the school has ever achieved, despite a long history of success in BMO and IMO competitions. It is worth noting that six of the seven qualifiers are also eligible next year, with four pupils still being in only the Fourth and Fifth forms! 

Congratulations of course go to the individuals themselves, but now is also an appropriate moment to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of Dr Zhivko Stoyanov for the countless hours he has put into running practice sessions during lunchtimes, after school and during the holidays to help the boys prepare. Well done to all of the qualifiers; further updates will be sent out following publication of the results of BMO2.