Mathematical Olympiad Program


The Mathematical Olympiad Program is an intensive summer program held at Carnegie Mellon University. The main purpose of MOP, held since 1974, is to select and train the six members of the U.S. team for the International Mathematical Olympiad. Students qualify for the program by taking the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. The top twelve American scorers from all grades form the "black" group. The approximately eighteen next highest American scorers among students from 11th grade and under form the "blue" group.
In 2004, the program was expanded to include approximately thirty of the highest-scoring American freshmen and sophomores each year, the "red" group; this was later split into two, forming the "green" group, which consists of approximately fifteen of the highest-scoring freshmen and sophomores who have qualified through the USAMO, and the "red" group, which consists of those who have qualified through the USAJMO. The colorful designations of these groups were adapted from Karate. Also, with the new system the Black Group includes more or less only the IMO team, which is not necessarily all USAMO winners.
Until 2011, only Black MOPpers were eligible for the selection to the USA IMO team, determined by combining USAMO results with results of a similar competition called the Team Selection Test. From 2011, a new competition called the Team Selection Test Selection Test was established; this competition is open for any of the participants of MOP, and along with results from the USAMO, determines the students who take the TSTs. This ultimately, along with the USAMO and MOP competitions, determines the IMO team.
Canadians are allowed to write the USAMO but not to participate in MOP unless they are U.S. residents. Occasionally, when Canadians are amongst the USAMO winners, top scoring honorable mentions are added to the black group. These additional students are also eligible for the IMO team. In 2005, such a student did qualify for the team and went on to win a gold medal at the IMO. Under the TSTST system, effective 2011, honorable mentions can qualify for the IMO team and will be placed in the black group if they do so.

Cutoff scores

Red cutoffs 2010 onward refer to USAJMO while 2009 before refer to USAMO.
YearBlackBlueGreenRed
200235
200328
200424
200529
200625189
200723179
2008282010
200927188
201029231835
201135282128
201235221721
201330221429
201432221325
201527161127
201628201421
201725201636
201824221527
201932242233
2020????

However, the cutoff scores for groups are not entirely rigid; some students are moved between groups at the beginning of the program. However, they do dictate who is invited to the program. As part of the process of selecting members of the European Girls Math Olympiad, many years the Math Olympiad program has additionally invited female students to the camp. In 2017, the cutoff was 13 for the USAMO and 20 for the USAJMO. In 2018, the cutoff was 8 for USAMO and 11 for USAJMO.

Locations

The first few MOPs were held at Rutgers University. After that, and until 1995, the program was alternately hosted by the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in even-numbered years and by the United States Military Academy at West Point in odd-numbered years. The 1995 MOP was held at IMSA in Aurora, Illinois, where then-MOP director Titu Andreescu was a member of the math faculty. Most of the MOPs from 1996 on forward have been held in Lincoln, Nebraska where the AMC headquarters is located. An exception was made in the summer of 2001, as the United States would be hosting the IMO that year in Washington, D.C., and nearby Georgetown was selected as the location for MOP. Starting in 2015, MOP was held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Year-round MOP

For years, the idea of extending the training program for the U.S. IMO team was discussed. During the 2004-2005 school year, U.S. IMO team coach Zuming Feng directed the Winter Olympiad Training Program, utilizing the Art of Problem Solving site for discussion purposes. The program was short-lived, lasting only that year. MOP participants are now able to participate for free in Art of Problem Solving's WOOT program for year-round olympiad training.