For students in grades 1-4, we recommend our Elementary problem solving seminar. Countless times during our teaching, we have observed the benefits of early math education. Not only is early math education an excellent way to acquire knowledge, it is also a primary milestone in establishing healthy problem solving habits.

Healthy work habits:

We teach students in grades 1-4 using our successful small group format. The group is made up of 4-5 students and meets at the residence of one of the students. Each group lesson is 1-hr long and costs a total of $100 for 4 students and $125 for 5 students. Payment is split between the group participants and must be made in advance on a monthly basis.

Our online Problem Solving Seminars are designed in a similar way. Parents may attend these online seminars to help young students take notes.

We also teach competitive math for grades 1-4 at the CACC in Pleasanton, CA and at Stevenson Elementary in Mountain View, CA.

Our small group lessons require half an hour of daily homework. Involvement in a number of extracurricular math activities is optional. Most students who work with us in our group format become very engaged in math and compete in math contests.

Most of our elementary and middle school students are enrolled in our virtual school Pacific Stars at mangahigh.com - where math is only a game! There is considerable team spirit in this group and we have successfully won and defended 2 trophies while facing much larger opponents. Visit the Pacific Stars math team and enroll in our group. It's free!

We teach grades 5-6 in a group structure similar to that of our elementary division students. Advanced students in grade 6, as well as students in grades 7 and 8, start preparation and compete in AMC 8. Advanced students in grades 7 and 8 compete in both AMC 8 and AMC 10. In order to qualify as 'advanced' a student must have obtained a score of 21 or higher on AMC 8.

Students in grades 6-8 are invited to participate in our AMC 8 online classes, which can be taken repeatedly since the material presented is always different. The same level class can be taken again in order to cover a larger set of examples and problem solving strategies. We encourage students in grades 6-8 who have obtained a score of 21 or higher on AMC 8 to consider taking AMC 10 classes.

Our online Problem Solving Seminars are designed to help students develop problem solving skills by learning a variety of strategies. While the AMC 8 class is a review class that emphasizes a limited number of strategies, the problem solving seminars are a long term skill building activity.

We also teach competitive math for grades 5-6 as well as 7-8 advanced at the CACC in Pleasanton, CA.

All these exams have a common core: arithmetic, number theory and Euclidean geometry. A significant part of this core is simply not studied in school. Even though this 'missing matter' is classified as middle school material, problems using these concepts vary widely in difficulty and can be found on AIME, USAMO and the IMO. This is why we advise parents to sign up for an AMC 8 class to make sure this material is covered. We also review this material, albeit at a much faster pace, in our AMC 10 classes. Most of this core is a pre-requisite in our AMC 12 class so that more time can be spent on functions, trigonometry, more difficult number theory and advanced geometry.

AMC 8 is an exam that summarizes the material provided during middle school instruction. A top score on AMC 8 (such as 24 or 25) is a strong predictor of success on AMC 10, 12 and AIME. A low score on AMC 8 indicates that the middle school material is either not solid enough or the student does not process it quickly enough to be competitive. Before moving on to AMC 10, students should focus on achieving a high score on AMC 8. It is the result on AMC 8, not the fast progress through the regular school curriculum that counts! Students who already have credit for algebra II in grade 8 but who nevertheless score only 18 on AMC 8 are not ready for AMC 10!

In our experience, students who have scored 25 on AMC 8 have qualified to AIME in the same year from AMC 10 with 100% success rate. Students with scores of 24 on AMC 8 have achieved the same feat in only 70% of cases!

AMC 10 and 12 are important markers in the college admission process for most Ivy League and tier 1 universities. How do we score high? Merely desiring to increase one's score is insufficient. The AMCs are designed to select those students who demonstrate a real interest and talent for mathematics. For most students who want to achieve high scores, the main problem is one of lifestyle. Students who have taken math enrichment classes from earlier on in life already have a habit of putting time and effort into problem solving. Students who are introduced to problem solving at an older age find it difficult to fit the preoccupation with math in their lives. It is a matter of building a habit, which is not always easy to do. In many cases, the student realizes fully that commitment is important, wants to improve, wants to perform but simply cannot find the time to fit math into his or her life. The importance of making math a part of life as early as possible is paramount!

We are continously improving our classes and, as a result, our classes have changed over the years. So far, approximately 60% of our students have qualified for AIME. We hope that, with the new class structure, this percentage will increase as our materials have become more targeted in level. We have improved our homework assignments to reflect a specific level from a variety of angles. We have also introduced more formal quizzing, so that students perceive that they have an obligation to study on a regular basis.

Our materials do not repeat for a period of 2 years. This means that a student can continue to take the same level class (such as, for instance, AMC 10) for as long as two years, and always get different problem sets as homework, quizzes and class problems.

In our experience we have seen too many students who qualified once and then failed to qualify repeatedly. There are a number of common causes for this: an increase in workload as a student progresses through high school, the - often detrimental - proliferation of extracurricular activities and participation in intense sports seasons.

False confidence on the part of student can also cause them to stagnate after their first qualification. They then think 'they have it in themselves' to qualify and can therefore slack because they believe that their chances to go even higher than AIME are low. However, mathematics depends on training in the same way sports does and slacking certainly precludes qualification.

We provide AIME classes starting each January and going up to the AIME exam. However, many of our training problem sets for AMC 10 and 12 lead up to AIME in difficulty and spirit.

Bay Area Mathematics Olympiad is one of the few training grounds for full solution exams such as USAJMO and USAMO. We recommend it for students who have learned how to write essay-form proofs and wish to exercise this skill in a timed contest.

Because we emphasize the "proof-based" approach to problem solving, and because we constantly encourage students to use accurate mathematical vocabulary, our classes help students verbalize and explain their reasoning.

BAMO has two divisions: BAMO-8 for students up to grade 8 and BAMO-12 for high school students. It is a very difficult exam, so please plan on participating in your real age group.

Math Kangaroo is a contest the features highly creative content. Indeed, the ingenious construction of many Math Kangaroo problems is astonishing. We recommend this contest whole-heartedly as a practice ground for mastering concepts and dealing with the stress of rapid pacing.

At all levels, we automatically prepare students for Kangaroo. Our teaching style and classroom materials are designed to improve observation, creativity and logical reasoning. As a result, students are prepared for contests in general and not just for one specific contest.