MOSP is the official abbreviation for the
Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program. We like to refer to it as
MOP, though, since MOSP is a cross between a
moth and a
wasp.
MOSP is technically the training program for the
United States IMO team, but starting this year (2002), a large grant from Akamai made it so that all
USAMO qualifiers not graduating that year were invited. Previously, only
USAMO winners and honourable mention qualifiers were invited to the program.
MOSP is a rigourous summer mathematical program, focusing on
problem solving. This is as opposed to, say,
Mathcamp, which features a wide variety of mathematical subjects. Lots and lots of problem solving, with biweekly tests graded similarly to the
USAMO/
IMO, and daily lectures for quite a few hours.
MOSP 2002 attendees are divided into 4 groups.
Black group consists of the
IMO team and
alternates,
Blue group consists of
honourable mention recipients and people demoted from black group,
Red group consists of those scoring relatively well on USAMO but below honourable mention status, and
Yellow group is for everyone else.
A
typical day begins with a class starting at 8:30 and ending at 10:00, then another between 10:15 and 11:45. After lunch, classes start again at 13:30, and end generally between 15:00 and 17:00.
MOSP is conducted by the
AMC, and its official website is at:
http://www.unl.edu/amc/a-activities/a6-mosp/01mosp.html
MOSP 2002 was held between June 18th and July 13th at
UNL.
We get to do
Zuming geometry all day long. Yay.
More information is available at:
http://www.moppers.d2g.com/