Eight Harker students qualified to take the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) or the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO) exams! These tests, which will be taken on campus tomorrow and Wednesday, are qualifiers for the 2015 U.S. Math Olympiad Team.

Students who qualified to take tests are seniors Patrick Lin and Ashwath Thirumalai; juniors Lawrence Li and Richard Yi; sophomores Kai Ang, Peter Wu and David Zhu; and freshman Swapnil Garg. 

The tests are six-question, two-day, nine-hour essay/proof examinations. Students qualify by taking the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) exam and then, after passing that, the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME).

The AIME is a 15-question three-hour test given to those who rank in the top 5 percent, or score at least 100, on the AMC 12 high school mathematics contest (formerly known as the AHSME), and those who rank in the top 2.5 percent, or score at least 120, on the AMC 10.

Only about 500 students out of 350,000 who take the AMC exam qualify for either the USAMO or USAJMO exams. Of that 500, 12 then qualify for the prep team based on their scores. A variety of other top finishers also may be invited under various qualifications. These students then attend the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP), where instructors select the six-person team (plus supernumeraries) to compete in the International Mathematical Olympiad in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from July 4-16. Go Math Eagles!