Imagine taking the most difficult test imaginable. Now imagine volunteering to do so.

Four Oglethorpe students, Agbolade Akande ’19, Robert Dougherty-Bliss ’19, Kaitlyn Harysch ’19 and Sealtiel Garcia ’18, have been voluntarily gathering on nights and weekends to practice math problems in preparation for the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition on December 2.

Students participating in the Putnam Mathematical Competition, from left, Agbolade Akande, Robert Dougherty-Bliss and Kaitlyn Harysch

Around 4,000 undergraduates participate in the competition each year. Participants work individually on six challenging math problems over two three-hour sessions, 12 total problems for the day, and are scored both individually and as an institution, with three students from Oglethorpe competing as a team. Cash prizes are awarded to top individual scorers, top teams and top female performance.

Time Magazine calls the competition an annual “coming-out party for the next generation of beautiful minds” and says “a high score on the Putnam can fast-track a young mathematician’s career, and a team win can put a math department on the map.”

“The winners are usually from MIT, Harvard, CalTech (and) the scores are ridiculously low because of the difficulty of the exam,” wrote Dr. Mary Garner, visiting assistant professor in mathematics. “Oglethorpe should be so proud of these students!”