Taiwan moved up 13 notches to fifth in this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad in Hong Kong, with a team of six students winning three gold and three silver medals.
Hsu Shao-huai (徐紹懷), a student at Taipei Jianguo Municipal High School, scored 35 points at the competition and became the nation’s top-performing participant, the Ministry of Education said, adding that Hsu ranked No. 12 in the world.
Two other Jianguo students, Lee Ping-hung (李品宏) and Cheng Jung-tao (鄭容濤) also won gold medals.
Kaohsiung Municipal High School students Cheng Tien-chun (鄭天鈞) and Chiu Yu-pin (邱于賓), as well as National Experimental High School at Hsinchu Science Park student Wang Shih-yu (王詩宇), won silver medals.
National Taiwan Normal University associate professor Lin Yan-chi (林延輯), who coached the students, said the nation’s performance in the competition improved significantly from previous years.
Although rules for the competition had remained unchanged, there were fewer questions on geometry this year, which helped the students and gave them a competitive edge over Eastern European students, who are well-trained in geometry, Lin said.
He said that the students were level-headed when solving the questions.
Commenting on Hsu’s performance, Lin said that Hsu is a student of high acumen, but that he struggled to convey his thoughts in words at last year’s competition.
He said that after a year’s training, Hsu’s writing skills improved significantly.
The ministry said all six students will be admitted to their preferred departments of mathematics or receive letters of recommendation from the ministry when they apply to universities.
The students who won gold medals are each to receive NT$200,000 in prize money, while those who claimed silver medals are to receive NT$100,000, it said.
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