Can You Make My Kid Qualify For AIME and USACO Silver?

No -- but I can show him or her exactly how.

Each year, my students achieve these awards. I specialize in guiding brilliant students from around the world over various elite competition cut-offs. When a child is eager to put in the work, my tutoring accelerates his progress. But no amount of tutoring, from myself or anyone else, can make your child qualify. My students qualify because they put in an extraordinary amount of independent effort between our tutoring sessions, far beyond what most students (or parents) realize is necessary.

To give a sense of scale, about 3000 students per year (ACROSS ALL AGES!) qualify for USACO Silver, and 6000 students per year (ACROSS ALL AGES!) qualify for AIME. There are roughly 4 million students per grade level in the USA. Unless your child is putting in more effort than 1999 out of every 2000 kids his age, he does not stand a chance of qualifying.

Fortunately, the path of what material to know is well-established. If you are serious, here is the path:

AIME

Independently answer every single challenge question in the following AoPS books:

Prealgebra

Intro to Algebra

Intermediate Algebra

Intro to C&P

Intermediate C&P

Intro to Number Theory

Intermediate Number Theory

Intro to Geometry

Intermediate Geometry

(If your kid gets stuck along the way, that is where my lessons are a benefit. But no amount of lessons is a replacement for working through the books for hours and hours.)

USACO Silver

Solve 70 USACO Bronze questions independently if you're in middle school.

Solve 50 USACO Bronze questions independently if you're in high school.

Solve 30 USACO Bronze questions independently if you've qualified for AIME already.

(If your kid is not able to solve that many USACO questions, again, this is where my lessons are useful. Keep in mind that any questions we solve together do not count towards these independent totals.)

I have not met a single student who has done the above preparation who has not qualified for AIME and/or USACO Silver respectively. I have, however, met many students whose families have paid for countless classes that cover each of these AoPS books and various USACO problems without the child doing the hard work of actually solving many, many problems on their own.

Students often like the AoPS Online classes to better understand the AoPS books. While I don't get paid to endorse them, these classes are great (I did previously work on AoPS' curriculum team, but I still endorsed these classes before my time there)! That said, orange and green on AoPS classes does not count as knowing the subject; you must put in the work to get consistent blues. Similarly, AlphaStar Bronze classes are wonderful for covering the content with either myself or my husband (I also don't get paid to endorse those, but it is one of the cheapest ways to experience my teaching live). And again, simply enrolling in that class, or another class marketed towards USACO Bronze, is irrelevant; those classes help students gain the tools to start solving on their own, but the student must actually do the work to independently solve USACO problems.

Keep in mind that while the above paths sound simple, simple does not mean easy. Actually putting in the effort to reach each of these goals is a tremendous accomplishment!!

Another very important note to consider is just how many years of continued efforts it takes for a student to hit each of these goals. The 9 AoPS books are each more intense than a full year of math at school -- so that means that AIME qualifiers have squeezed in at least 9 more years worth of math curriculum than a typical high school student (don't be fooled by "Prealgebra" and "Intro to Algebra" sounding easy -- I assure you that there are very advanced competition tricks included, even in those lower level books!). USACO Silver qualifiers can generally skip the Intermediate AoPS books, but that's still at least 6 more years worth of math curriculum and 2+ years of rigorous coding to qualify for USACO Silver. Please note that most coding classes for kids are useless; if my tutoring is not in your budget, take the AlphaStar coding classes self-paced. The AlphaStar 4-class bundle with rare tutoring sessions (with me or another teacher with USACO-specific experience) makes the most financial sense, but again, no class can replace sheer hard work.

No instructor can make your kid qualify. No amount of money can push a kid over these extremely competitive cut-offs. Qualifying for these competitions is a massive accomplishment as a result of years of intense effort.

Finally, I often find that parents mostly want their kids to qualify because of college applications. Please note that if you're interested in HYPSM (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT), these competitions are far from sufficient to get in as a math or computer science major. I've qualified for each of these myself, but I applied as a classics major, as my classics awards were stronger. These are impressive and meaningful milestones, but it is only worth the journey if your child is inspired by the process. Otherwise, help him explore theoretical research, applied math, or project-based work that better aligns with his real passions. I’ve worked with students who favor other paths instead. For the right student, these other options can be just as rigorous, rewarding, and recognized.