The most advanced 7th to 10th graders in the nation: students who have passed IDEA MATH UC3 (or above) with high marks and/or students with USAMO index (AMC10/12 + 10*AIME) of 200 or above are qualified to take our placement tests, students with stronger work in the placement test are invited to take this series.
The IDEA MATH 2020-2021 year-round program offers four types of series during the school year. These four series are:
Students may enroll in combinations of the courses depending on their learning goals. In particular, students can also consider the Contest Edge series as a supplement for any of the other three series.
This web page is intended for the Accelerated Championship Series (XC series). The XC series consists of four components/courses: XC7, XC8, XC9, and XC10.
The XC series will not aim to teach these students math competition material, but rather improve their command of the core knowledge leading to higher studies in mathematics. Students will be surprised to discover that the school curriculum could be as challenging and as useful for learning Olympiad topics, if the right questions are posed, and more importantly, the school curriculum could and should be far more important, if learned with good depth and breadth.
Each course consists of 10 units/weeks (one unit per week). In each unit, there are 4 hours (two 2-hour sessions: one on Saturday, one on Sunday) of live remote learning (via Zoom). Hence, there are 40 (online live) class hours for each course. We also expect students to spend 1 hour on homework or test in each unit -- this is 50 hours of total workload.
The tuition for each of these courses is $995 for 40 in-class hours (unit rate is less than $25 per hour) of teaching and homework/test grading.
In the past 25 years, the Phillips Exeter Academy Red Lion (PEARL) math team, under the supervision of Zuming Feng, has become a dominant force in US high school math contests. From 2000 to 2019, students from PEARL have been USAMO winners 40 times and have won 25 IMO Gold medals, 11 Silver medals, and 8 Bronze medals. These students have diverse background, skillsets, and characters. What do they have in common? Well, almost all of them have studied Math Transition 3X (or 31X-40X-41X) and Math 431-511-521 with Zuming Feng.
Starting this spring, IDEA MATH is going to share these courses with the best 7th, 8th, and 9th graders in the nation via the XC series. While math contests are not the main focus for this course, this course cultivates young talented math students’ vision on the flow of mathematics and ability to reason and argue mathematically. Therefore, students’ achievements in math contests become a natural result.
XC7 and XC9 will be offered in the fall, 2020, and XC8 and XC10 will be offered in the spring 2021.
To protect students' privacy, we ask our students to:
For more detailed online class policy please visit here.
The unique strengths of IDEA MATH can be summarized as follows:
For more details, please visit our FAQ page.
As always, we welcome parents' specific academic questions about our curriculum and teaching styles, as well as students' class-work and preparation. Please contact info@ideamath.org---make sure to include the following info in your email subject: student's full name, 4-digit IDEA MATH ID, and intended program.
IDEA MATH provides an extensive curriculum. The course list shown below consists of projected courses we will offer in this program. Two of the major strengths of our program---a strong academic team and a full range of materials---allow us to create new courses/groups to meet the needs of the students body. Therefore, the course list (and course schedule) is subject to change based on actual enrollment and staff availability.
Please visit detailed curriculum grid for a more complete reference of IDEA MATH course curriculums.
| Courses code* | Course content | Pre-requisite and general student body |
|---|---|---|
| XC7 | IM7A, IM7G, IM8A, and contest extension (parametric equations, vector operations, 3-D geometry, advanced trigonometry) | (1) passing UC3 (or above) with good marks or (2) with USA(J)MO qualifying index of 200 (and above) and placement test; 7th, 8th and 9th graders in general |
| XC8 | IM8G (advanced 3-D geometry and vector operations), IM9A (Advanced Pre-Calculus), Introduction to Calculus an emphasis on proofs, and extensions to math contests | passing XC7 with good marks; 8th and 9th graders in general |
| XC9 | Calculus AB with an emphasis on proofs and extensions to (college level) math contests | (a) for younger student: passing XC8 with good marks;
or (b) for 10th and 11th graders: USA(J)MO qualifying index of 200 (and above) with placement test; 9th and 10th graders in general |
XC10 | Calculus BC with an emphasis on proofs and extensions to (college level) math contests | passing XC9 with good marks; 9th, 10th and 11th graders in general |
* Each course will only be offered when a minimum number of students have enrolled.
IDEA MATH provides an extensive curriculum. Please see below the projected course offerings and their (main) corresponding placement levels. We highly recommend each applicant new to our programs (who is not currently enrolled in one of our programs and/or has not completed a program with us recently) to take a placement test. (See detailed process in the Registration section below.)
| Targeted course | XC7/XC9* |
| Corresponding Placement Test | T4 |
*XC8 and XC10 courses are intended for returning XC7 and XC9 students. There are no placement tests scheduled for XC8 and XC10 courses. For new students who are are interested in joining XC8 and XC10, please contact info@ideamath.org. We will process such applications case by case.
It is important for each applicant to input accurate, complete, detailed, and up-to-date academic background information (i.e., age, grade level, math courses taken, official contest scores, etc.) in the applicant's IDEA MATH student account. We review this information to make initial course placement/placement test level decisions.
In general, each applicant new to our programs shall take a placement test in one of our open online/onsite placement test sessions. (See detailed process in the Registration section below.) We will find the most appropriate course placement based on the information entered in the student’s IDEA MATH account and (if applicable) placement test work. Please note that our academic team will make the final decision on your course placement based upon your academic background and your work in the placement test. (Further course placement adjustments can be made, by our academic team, based upon your class work.)
Please click this link to register for the placement test. The placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. An extra charge may be applied if a student wishes to change testing dates after registering and paying for the placement test. If you would like to request a different placement test, please email us and an additional charge may be applied.
| Placement Test Date/Time* | Placement Test Location | Registration By** | Test Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 30, 2020/1:00 PM (ET) | Online (Click here to register) | Aug. 26, 2020 | $50 |
* Each placement test for is 90 minutest long. Students should arrive at the testing location (onsite or online) 10 minutes prior test.
** $75 will be charged if registered after this date.
*** Placement test fee is non-refundable and non-transferable; that is, it cannot be transferred from one applicant/student to another applicant/student, and it also cannot be transferred from a registered/chosen test session/date to another placement test session/date for the same applicant/student.
Returning students: Students who have taken UC3 and above courses in an IDEA MATH program during the past academic year (i.e., have participated in our 2019-2020 year-round program, 2019-2020 online program, or 2020 summer program) can register for the XC7 and XC9 classes.
New students: New applicants who wish to register for the year-round program should create an account and enter information about their mathematical background. New applicants can then check the placement test schedule and sign up for a placement test before registration. All new students are welcome to contact the IDEA Math staff at info@ideamath.org for information or any questions on which placement test to take.
It is important for each new applicant to answer all questions accurately and provide detailed information. In particular, age, high school graduation year, detailed math background: courses taken, official contests taken and official scores (rather than ranks) should be included.
| Registered By* | Tuition Paid By* | Tuition Amount** |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 8, 2020 | Sept. 8, 2020 | $995 (<$25/hour) |
| Registered By* | Tuition Paid By* | Tuition Amount** |
|---|---|---|
| Dec. 22, 2020 | Dec. 22, 2020 | $995 (<$25/hour) |
For students who are new to our program, please make sure you sign up for the placement test. Click here to check the placement test schedule and sign up.
*Registration is the first step of the enrollment process. Enrollment is only completed after tuition payment is submitted in full. The tuition payments may be stopped earlier than this published date if the program has reached to its upper capacity. After the tuition payment deadline date, a late fee ($150 or more) will be applied to the tuition and admission can only be given if space is available.
**The tuition payment is independent to student's course placement because the tuition is for the program, not for a specific course. The IDEA MATH staff will work with students on course placement by reviewing their academic backgrounds, assigning placement test levels, reviewing placement test work, and more. IDEA MATH staff make the final decision on students' course placements. (Please see our Course Placement Policy section for details.) All tuition refund for withdrawing will be processed based on the refund policy.
Please log in to your account to pay the tuition online.
| Course | Time* | Dates** |
|---|---|---|
| XC7 | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM (ET) | Saturdays and Sundays Sept. 12, 13; 19, 20; Oct 3, 4; 17, 18; 24, 25; 31, Nov. 1; 7, 8; 21, 22; Dec. 5, 6; 12, 13 (2020) |
| XC9 | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM (ET) | Saturdays and Sundays Sept. 12, 13; 19, 20; Oct 3, 4; 17, 18; 24, 25; 31, Nov. 1; 7, 8; 21, 22; Dec. 5, 6; 12, 13 (2020) |
| Course | Time* | Dates** |
|---|---|---|
| XC8 | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM (ET) | Saturdays and Sundays Jan. 16, 17; 23, 24; 30, 31; Feb. 13, 14; 27, 28; Mar. 13, 14; 20, 21; Apr. 3, 4; 10, 11; 24, 25 (2021) |
| XC10 | 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM (ET) | Saturdays and Sundays Jan. 16, 17; 23, 24; 30, 31; Feb. 13, 14; 27, 28; Mar. 13, 14; 20, 21; Apr. 3, 4; 10, 11; 24, 25 (2021) |
* Each course will meet 20 times on 10 selected weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) for per session. Check calendar .
** All class times are in the US Eastern Time Zone.
| Withdraw Request Made | Refund Amount |
|---|---|
| After tuition is submitted and before the 1st class day of the course/session | Paid Tuition - $200 |
| From the 1st class day of the course/session and before the 5th class day of the course/session | Paid Tuition - $350 |
| From the 5th class day of the course/session | No refund |
Please note bus fee is non-refundable and non-transferable.
Please note that only tuition is refundable per the above policy. Other fees such as the application fee, the registration fee, and the placement testing fee are non-refundable and non-transferable.
To request a refund and withdraw your student, please send a complete request in writing to info@ideamath.org. You must include the payee name and mailing address matching the information in the student's account in order for your request to be deemed complete and submitted. Please include "Refund Request" and the student's name in the subject line. The amount of the refund will be based on the time that a complete request is submitted; incomplete requests will not be deemed to meet deadlines for withdrawal.
If the student is ill and chooses to withdraw from the program, we can offer prorated credit (proportional based upon the first refund policy: paid tuition deducted by $100) towards a future program. A note from a licensed physician is required. The same policy applies if the IDEA MATH staff determine that your student must withdraw due to illness in order to protect the health and welfare of other students.
For all purposes related to this refund policy, a day shall be deemed to begin at 12:01am local time of US Eastern Standard Time Zone (EST).
Main program FAQ page. For general program information such as teaching method, class size, core courses, admission, placement, etc.