Columbia University Science Honors Program ENTRANCE EXAMINATION

also were the first three problems on the challenge part all Es? sorry if you discussed this already but i found it kinda sketchy
the first one was the ratio one, that was 5/4
the second one was 15, sadly i forget the problem
the only other problems i do remember are:

14 with the ■■■■■ 0 year old - 102

15 with the acid solution - 25%

xxx with the base that was not base 10 - 8

xxx with the circle and the line on the coordinate plane - 2

xxx with the circle and the chord perpendicular to the radius - 12sqrt3

xxx with the man running and walking at 4 mph - 9/4

xxx with (another) man who walked 1/2 a mile slower and faster - 15 miles

xxx with 8x - 3a^2 or smth - 16/3 iirc

edit oh yes the classic painted cube one - 488

and the 10a/r rate question, as well as the 15 coins one (was that #3?)
also they don’t make the same test every year, right? too many people talk about the answers and they don’t control that (do they?)

@JumpyJLizard They edit the questions with different values every year.

@ADITYAEMPIRE actually? so next year, the age problem won’t have newborns? dammit ;-;
however they didn’t tell us not to talk about the test, which is questionable
i guess i’ll see next year
i’m guessing someone told you that? you’re a freshman right?
they have a contest held there every year and they make new problems for each of those tests. i’m guessing the two programs don’t collaborate that often.
or they could just choose to keep the problems the same for consistency. idk

@JumpyJLizard A lot of them are repeats, however a couple are new.

@papercanoe oh whoops I didn’t get that one

seems a bit lazy if you ask me
their site is still 1997 style and the applyme is unencrypted.

Hey, thanks for replying. I had trouble throughout most of the challenge math section, specifically questions about painting a cube’s sides and how many miles a man walked.

I don’t really know if people did stay after the exam, I left with my sister right away.

sorry for the late reply lol

@chessmaster1077
https://web.archive.org/web/19970814235409/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/shp/
Their website is the exact same for the last 20+ years lolol.

@56Student2022 The Challenge Math is not comparable to the AMC, not even the AMC 8. I’ve seen the AMC back to around 1995 and the level is entirely different. The SHP math is a lot more like extra-credit questions you can get on your school math test.

Hi, new to the thread but
I’m a sophomore and I was wondering if I could get in if i do relatively “well” on the challenge section (13/15) but not so good on the others (42-45/50, ??/60) will I be able to get in? (I’m not so good at doing easy questions fast lol, I’m a pretty slow test taker).

Most people have been saying that the challenge section is by far the most important, and 13/15 is pretty good.

10+ correct (depends on your grade) means you get in, I’ve heard.

@Bellicosi Apparently even people with 13/15 don’t make it if they “failed” the science section (looking back at 2011 thread)

@ADITYAEMPIRE LOL i made that as a joke and its actually true

hhh im definitely not getting in then ;-;

@ADITYAEMPIRE @Bellicosi oh ok, thank you!

@ADITYAEMPIRE wait the first problem and the problems with men walking are pretty AMC 8 level, imo
definitely low-level amc 8 (and kind of uninspired) but still amc 8
also the sorta low-quality age problem probably wouldn’t be on any amc lol
@56Student2022 the cubes problem needed something like spatial reasoning? or prior experience, of course. you needed to visualize what you needed to count, or if you’ve seen the problem before you could just apply what you did already. it’s always good to be able to retrace what you’ve done, though
the man’s walking distance problem required you to be able to put the problem into equations. it was a rate problem, the first equation gave you his speed and the second one his distance. it’s word problem algebra.
personally i would recommend looking at “art of problem solving” it’s a great resource
it seems the problems you told me about have to do with understanding what the problem is asking you to do more than actually doing it? i could be wrong. anyone else have advice?
amc is good too, i would recommend 8 for now