A very useful resource for students who want to deepen their knowledge of olympiad mathematics is the collection called “Pillole di Senior”.
The main page is available here: 🔗 http://olimpiadi.dm.unibo.it/il-senior-in-pillole/
This collection includes video lectures and teaching materials from olympiad training camps. It is one of the best online resources for students who want to study advanced olympiad mathematics in a structured way.
The lessons are organized by topic and with progressive difficulty, and they include:
- lecture videos;
- handouts and PDF materials;
- explanations of techniques, methods, and results used in olympiad competitions.
Additional exercises can also be found at the bottom of the “Pillole di Senior” webpage.
There is also a collection of unsolved exercises, available for download here: 🔗 https://www.oliforum.it/download/file.php?id=956
Overall, this is a very well-structured resource, especially useful for students who want to go beyond the introductory level and study olympiad mathematics more seriously.
What the Senior training camp is
The Senior training camp is one of the national preparation camps organized by the Mathematics Olympiad Project of the UMI.
The camps usually take place in Pisa, at the Scuola Normale Superiore, and are designed for particularly motivated and promising students.
During these camps:
- problem-solving techniques are studied in depth
- more advanced mathematical theorems and results are introduced
- exercises and competition simulations are carried out
During the year, three main camps are organized: one in September, one in January, and the last in May.
Participation in the camps is free, and for many selected students travel, accommodation, and meals are also covered.
Student selection
To participate in the first camp it is necessary to pass an admission test, which is organized every year.
Students who achieve the best results may also participate in the subsequent camps.
The results of the competitions and tests carried out during the camps are used by the national team leaders, led by Prof. Massimo Gobbino, to identify the students who will represent Italy in international competitions, including the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
For this reason, the Senior camps represent one of the most important stages of olympiad preparation at the national level.