How to Prepare for CMI Entrance ~ Dwitimaya Sahoo

Learn from the Achiever - Dwitimaya Sahoo (CMI 2022)

Dwitimaya Sahoo - CMI Entrance Success Story

Dwitimaya Sahoo has cracked the CMI Entrance 2022 Examination.

He shared with us how he prepared for the CMI Entrance in an interview with Cheenta. This interview will take you through the preparation journey of Dwitimaya for CMI Entrance 2022 and can help you with some insights that you can utilize for your CMI preparation.

Here are some of the questions, that he answered in the interview.

Tell us about yourself

I am Dwitimaya Sahoo, Class 12th Student from DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar. I recently qualified the Chennai Mathematical Institute, CMI Entrance Test. In addition, AP Scholar with honors, JMO, PRMO, RMO, IOQM, AMC-12, UWaterloo CSMC, CMI STEM Tessellate, SASMO, HKIMO, IOQA, AIMO, WMI, NSEJS, INAO-jr, Astronomy OCSC, DOKA Maths, ANCQ, ICQ, VSSF SPOT-100,....

Coming from a middle class family from Bhubaneswar, Odisha, my interests are varied lying in physics, astronomy, mathematics and engineering, my favorite being mathematics as it lies at the core of all sciences. I am also interested in music (keyboard and guitar) and puzzles (particularly rubik's cube, 4x4x4, 5x5x5, megaminx, etc.) and chess.

How did you prepare for the CMI?

I had been learning advanced mathematics since Grade -7. Then, in Grade-8, I qualified JMO and attended camp at Institute of Mathematics and Applications, Bhubaneswar. Since then, I created small goals and checkpoints till I qualified CMI. I read the right books, solved the required level problems and watched the required videos.

Can you suggest some resources (books, YouTube channels and websites) that had helped you in your preparation?

Oh gosh! There are so many! The first book that I ever read in advanced mathematics was Pre-college mathematics. And there the journey began. Problem solving strategies by Arthur Engel, Titu Andreescu book series, Inequalities by B.J. Venkatachala, Principles of Mathematical Analysis by Walter Rudin, Geometry book of Evan Chen, Polynomials by E.J. Barbeau, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving, TOMATO, Excursions in Mathematics are just a few of the books I read during my preparation. Ofcourse, I didn't finish each and every page of these books! I just read the part that was relevant and was most useful along with doing the exercises. Some of the websites I used were those of Evan Chen's and Wikipedia. My youtube playlists consisted of Cheenta, 3blue1brown, Numberphile, KhanAcademy, etc.

What are you planning next?

Currently, I am preparing for my other examinations like my SATs, ACTs, JEE and BITSAT. I am also preparing for admissions in foreign universities. Right now, I am involved with Prof. Doros Petesis from Allegheny working on electron spin resonance, Cheenta's research group on hyperbolic groups and Prof Vladmir Chernov from Dartmouth college on knot theory, causality and quandles.

Any advice for the current aspirants?

I would advice current aspirants to make a checklist/roadmap of their goals in high school and backup/alternate plans if any one of them fails. For CMI and ISI aspirants, I would advice them to start from easier topics and solve each chapter's problem to a level of ISI or CMI's caliber. And to have faith and trust on their mentors.

How Cheenta helped you in your ISI - CMI preparation?

Before joining Cheenta, I had no idea how to approach CMI or ISI exam papers. So, it sort of provided a right direction to my vector to focus my methods and aims. Also, the problems discussed were exactly of the same level that came in the entrance examinations. The mentors were great as they used to solve all the doubts anyone had.

Cheenta is a great organisation working towards propagation of pursuit of natural sciences and mathematics. I wish all the very best towards their continuing endeavors.