// Advice Letter//

1/9/12

Dear n00bie, I hear that you’re going to your first math competition.I’ll give you some pointers and advice.

First things first, you should get a good breakfast.A good breakfast means having nutritious fruits and foods with DHa and omega 3 (which is good for your brain).Like eggs for example.When ever I eat eggs or fruit I always do well on my math competitions.

The morning before the competition I had an ok breakfast,all i had was a tiny bit of a poptart (no eggs or fruit).During the competition,I was doing my math quietly but I had a little trouble thinking, I just sucked it up and kept going. I did not do as well as I expected.

In contrast,I had another competition, except this was even more intense.I went against my friend B.L and his team. We had a fierce rivalry! Luckily, I ate eggs and fruit this time, and guess what? We got 3rd place!! We beat B.L’s team!! I tested it with my other competition and I’ve been doing great. So,n00bie, when you hear, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”, they’re right.

My second piece of advice is don’t give away clues that you did well or got the answer correct.This mostly works on team competitions because in individual competitions you can’t anticipate their emotions.Also the answers are revealed at the end of the competitions unlike team competitions. When you get a question correct,don’t jump up and down like B.L’s team did. We could tell when they got an answer right or wrong, we knew if we were winning because they showed too much emotion. It’s good to show emotion, but wait until after the competition.

Then,when I was going against B.L’s team,my team would pretend that we got a answer wrong,even though we got it right. We did such a good job,we caught them off guard and they thought they were winning,but it wasn’t true. We even got 3rd place!! So during team competitions,don’t show any celebratory emotions.

My third piece of advice is to channel all your emotions, pressure, and your nervous feelings. To do this,you must think a certain way.People think if you don’t do well you lose your family and the whole world ends but if you win,you get a wish or a parade.

For me,the pressure of teammates counting on my answer helps because I know how to channel it.To do this you must first take a nose to toes deep breath,then just relax or release all your stress. Don’t let pressure hurt you,use it to help you.

My team and I were right on the edge of losing. On the last round,you have to send an individual teammate to go do the last round,and they picked me!! I was very nervous because all of my teammates were counting on me. All that pressure was just rushing through me,making me move a lot and think better/faster. I channeled my pressure so well that my team took 1st place!!!! Channeling your emotions is very important.It takes lots of practice,but you can master channeling emotions,relaxing techniques,and then you become good at competitions.

I hope my advice can help you.For your 1st competition don’t be nervous and if you studied enough you’ll be just fine. Good luck,n00bies.

Sincerely,

B.Y