STEI Informatics Students Win Gold Medals in the 2019 International Mathematics Competition
Five students from the Bandung Institute of Technology have succeeded in achieving success in the event International Mathematics Competition (IMC) 2019 held at the American University of Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria on July 28 – August 3, 2019. They managed to win two gold medals, two silver medals, and one bronze medal.
The gold medal was won by Farras Mohammad Hiban Faddila (Informatics 2018) and Muhammad Afifurahman (Mathematics 2016). Meanwhile, the silver medal was won by Adrian Ramanda (Chemical Engineering 2018) and Rubio Gunawan (Mathematics 2017). The bronze medal was won by Muhammad Rizki Fadillah (Mathematics 2015).
The five ITB students are medalists in the 2019 National Mathematics and Natural Sciences Olympiad (ON-MIPA) organized by the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti). The 20 ON-MIPA medalists from various universities in Indonesia had to be selected first in Puncak, Bogor from June 13-16, 2019. The selection results selected six students who will represent Indonesia in the 2019 IMC competition with five of them from ITB and one from UI.
In the competition, students were asked to solve ten math problems over two days. Each day, students were given five problems, each taking five hours. Afterward, a panel of judges reviewed the answer sheets and announced the preliminary rankings that same day.
On the first day, Farras, a member of the Indonesian team, secured fifth place out of hundreds of participants from around the world. Although his ranking dropped on the second day, he still managed to win a gold medal. "I just took the test with ease, because when I'm relaxed, the test goes smoothly. Plus, I prepared my materials beforehand," Farras said.
The Indonesian team itself collectively managed to occupy 16th place out of 77 teams that participated in IMC 2019. Farras said that the IMC competition is not only a mathematics competition, but also brings together students from all over the world.
In addition to the Math competition, IMC 2019 also included other activities such as playing soccer and group discussions, allowing students to get to know other teams. The competition featured participants from mostly European countries such as Greece, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Israel, and Russia. "The Israeli and Russian teams were the strongest in the IMC 2019 competition," Farras told ITB Public Relations Reporters on Thursday (8/8/2019). In the interview, Farras advised fellow students to study consistently and not be shy about asking questions to those more experienced.
Besides Farras, Muhammad Afifurahman, who also won a gold medal, expressed his extraordinary impression of the event. Besides participating in a prestigious competition, he also gained valuable experience learning about customs in another country and learning a new language. "It was exciting, traveling to Europe for the first time and representing Indonesia. It was great because I got to learn about customs in a foreign country, experience, and hear another language almost every day," said Afif.
Reporter: Deo Fernando (Kewirausahaan, 2018)