<p>The best Putnam performers are usually the same people who did well in high school math competitions, ie. they were already good before they entered undergrad. They learned the skills necessary to do well at Putnam in years of high school competition, and it’s definitely possible to do well on Putnam without learning advanced college mathematics topics (depending on the subject distribution that year). Putnam standings are very loose indicators of the strength of math programs, though certainly they must be attracting the best math students for some reason.</p>
<p>The current professors leading the WashU sessions are quite knowledgeable, but I haven’t found them to have the most engaging teaching style (read: they’re kinda boring to listen to).</p>