Finally, I made it to the big stage of the Thailand Mathematical Olympiad (TMO), the national math competition of Thailand. This was an important step in my life. At that time, I was only a Grade 8 (Matthayom 2) student moving up to Grade 9 (Matthayom 3). On the first day of Grade 9, I received the great news that I had been chosen as a representative of Suankularb Wittayalai School to compete in the 17th TMO.
This competition was a big opportunity for me. It wasn’t just a chance to step into the national math level but also the beginning of serious growth in academics. I spent a lot of time preparing and practicing up to 10 hours a day solving past TMO problems on weekends and 6–7 hours on school days. I also practiced with math books from the U.S., which helped improve my skills a lot.
I did pretty well in my first year and won a bronze medal, my first award ever. However, I didn’t qualify for the first IPST camp. Still, I didn’t give up. The following year, I worked even harder, practicing many types of problems, especially inequalities. I solved 100 advanced inequality problems in just two months, which improved my skills quickly and made inequalities my strongest subject.
Over the next 10 months, I focused almost all my time on studying various topics, like Combinatorics, Inequalities, Functional Equations, Number Theory, and Geometry. I spent a lot of time reading international books and doing mock exams to prepare for the next national competition.
Finally, my hard work paid off—I won a gold medal, placing 4th out of nearly 100 top students from across Thailand. I was proud of my effort to prepare and achieve my goal.
I found that competing in TMO required knowledge in many areas, such as **Number Theory**, which was full of tricky problems but very exciting to solve. I learned that practicing problems from different sources is very important to succeed in national competitions. It helps you discover new ideas and techniques.
For my study method, I believe in re-reading my own solutions to understand my thinking while solving problems. I often wrote detailed notes about my thought process so that when I looked back, I could easily understand how I approached the problem. I also spent time analyzing solutions deeply to learn how to apply the same ideas to new situations.
In the end, I learned that success in mathematics doesn’t come from talent alone. It also requires hard work, persistence, and systematic thinking. These qualities have become the foundation for my mathematics and future journey.