kp on the MathCounts course and SAT math

kp writes:

I took the AOPS Advanced MathCounts class this summer (I'm a coach and wanted to see what it would be like for my students and what new things I could learn from it.) I appreciated that the class taught the shortcuts but also focused on how the shortcuts worked and how you could adapt them when the problem was given a new twist. (For example, to find the number of factors a number has, first find its prime factorization, then add 1 to each of the exponents, then find the product of these numbers. They explained why this made sense, then assigned different variations of problems on this topic.)

I'm no expert on the SAT (I'm a middle school teacher), but there does seem to be a large overlap between hard middle school math and what is on the SAT. We sometimes use SAT practice problems in our MathCounts practices. Our district's merit scholars often participated in MathCounts in middle school. Perhaps that is because the type of kid who stays after school to do math is the type of kid who is also successful on the SAT, or perhaps it is because MathCounts helps to prepare them for the SAT.

The MathCounts course sounds like a blast.

Teaching the shortcuts is a great idea -- it's the shortcuts that help you see what's actually going on, I think.

I remember years ago reading an article -- it may have been a study -- about smart-works-hard type students versus the 'naturals.' The smart-works-hard types went on wild goose chases trying to solve problems, while the naturals produced short, elegant proofs and solutions. I laughed, reading that, having been on many a wild goose chase myself.