What are some of the more efficient ways of studying for an Olympiad? This September I am participating in a competition called the Australian Intermediate Mathematics olympiad, and you may not have heard of it but it's very similar to the AIME. Could you please tell me how I could prepare for it well because I really want to do well. I bought some math books on the internet and am studying them... is this a good way or preparing? These math books cover topics such as proving, number theory, combinatorics and so on... Here is a practice paper for the competition and I have done it many times. It is easy but I hope that this year's will be similar, however it is always better to preparing for it. => < Edit: How much time should I be spending everyday practicing?

Years ago, I participated in one Mathematical Olympiad in my country (with very good result).

I bought a book with solved problems in this kind of contests. I tried to solve myself about 1 or 2 hours. After that, I read the book and compared solutions. Many times I didn't know anything to do, so reading the book I tried to learn many kind of strategies that are useful in diferent areas (Inequalities are essential in these sort of exams and also some common strategies, as induction, or reductio ad absurdum). By doing that, I had something to try when I didn't know how to continue.

Good luck and don't try to learn solutiones by heart, only strategies.