Think Academy at LAMT 2026 | Los Angeles Math Tournament

Key Highlights

• Think Academy was invited to LAMT’s first year — one of a select group of programs recognized for consistent competition results
• #1 in Geometry, #3 in Combinatorics, #4 in Algebra — Eric Zou, one of student in Think Academy USAMO/TST program
• Two Think Academy teams earned Top 10 finishes across different round formats
• The Mystery Round introduced a format no student had seen before — and our teams competed in it cold

On May 17, 2026, Think Academy brought 3 teams and 15 students to the inaugural Los Angeles Math Tournament (LAMT) at UCLA. It was a full day of challenge, strategy, and high-level competition — and our students rose to the occasion: Think Academy earned Top 10 finishes in two team rounds, and Eric Zou delivered one of the strongest individual performances of the day, finishing 1st in Geometry, 3rd in Combinatorics, and 4th in Algebra.

What made this day especially meaningful was the context: LAMT 2026 was the very first edition of this tournament, and Think Academy was there by invitation — selected based on our students’ consistent performance in other competitions. Being part of something from its first day is a different kind of milestone.

What Is LAMT?

LAMT stands for the Los Angeles Math Tournament. It is a new annual competition organized by college students from University of California, designed for middle and high school students with strong mathematical ability and a passion for competition math. In its inaugural 2026 edition, the tournament was invitation-only, with approximately 250 students and 60–75 teams competing across the day.

What makes LAMT special is both its ambition and its spirit. The organizers want to build a Southern California tournament that one day stands alongside BMT and HMMT as a premier high school math event — while keeping registration completely free and the experience genuinely enjoyable. As one organizer put it, they built LAMT to give back to the community of competitive math enthusiasts in the LA area, and to create a space where students can play math together.

LAMT 2026 Competition Format

Individual Rounds

Students tackle three separate subject exams — Algebra/Number Theory, Combinatorics, and Geometry — each with 10 questions, a tiebreaker, and a 50-minute window. Scores and rankings are tracked independently per subject, so a student can shine in one area even if another is a stretch.

Mystery Round (Shopping Round)

The team’s most unpredictable event. Each team works with a $100 virtual budget to select and purchase problems priced by difficulty — then decides in real time how far to push. This year’s Shopping theme will not repeat; the format changes every year.

Guts Round

Eight sets of three problems delivered to teams sequentially, plus a set of estimation questions. The pressure is cumulative — teams must stay sharp from the first set to the last.

Sweepstakes

A composite team ranking that pulls together performance across all rounds.

LAMT 2026 Eligibility

Students in grade 12 or below are welcome, teams can have up to six members from the same school or organization, and there are no geographic restrictions.

The tournament is designed primarily for high school students, aimed at the level of BMT and HMMT — the organizers were clear that high schoolers are the core audience. That said, younger students are genuinely welcome, and the free registration makes it easy for curious middle schoolers and even elementary students to give it a try.

In practice, high school turnout this year was lower than expected — the tournament fell during AP exam season, and scheduling conflicts with other UCLA campus events pushed the date into a difficult window. The organizers are already exploring a fall date for future editions, which should bring in the high school field the tournament was built for. We’re looking forward to seeing what that looks like.

A Tournament Built on a Different Philosophy

Most high-level math competitions follow a familiar playbook: rigorous problems, formal structure, serious atmosphere. LAMT was designed to challenge that assumption.

The organizers wanted to build something that felt as fun as it was demanding. As one of them explained:

“Part of the philosophy of our tournament in general is that we’re trying to keep it not quite as formal and set in stone as a lot of our peer competitions. We’re trying to fill in the niche of more easy access to tournaments. So we want to do a lot of fun stuff.”

That philosophy shows up in every layer of the event: the bear mascot logo, the free registration, the Mystery Round that changes every year, and a format that rewards both mathematical ability and creative thinking under pressure.

The Mystery Round: A Format Nobody Had Seen Before

Every competition has a team round. LAMT has a Mystery Round — and the mystery is that nobody knows what it will be until the opening ceremony.

This year’s theme was the Shopping Round. Each team received a $100 virtual budget to purchase math problems. Easier problems were cheaper, harder ones cost more. Teams had to decide, in real time, how to allocate their budget — balancing confidence, difficulty, and strategy.

Going over budget triggered a 3-point penalty. The intended design was clear: spend wisely, solve what you’re sure of, stay disciplined.

What happened next was not in the rulebook.

Some teams discovered that solving enough high-value problems correctly could outweigh the penalty for going over budget entirely. The calculated risk of overspending — if your mathematical confidence was justified — actually paid off. Teams who made that bet climbed the rankings. The organizers watched it unfold from outside the room:

“Seeing these types of strategies, especially when we didn’t think about them when writing, was really interesting… It’s a low-stakes kind of thing, but you’re teaching kids educated risk and stuff. It was not intentional — and that’s the cool part.”

Think Academy Math Defenders finished 6th in the Shopping Round. Beyond the placement, the round gave our students something harder to quantify: live experience with mathematical decision-making under ambiguity, where the right answer depends not just on what you know, but on how accurately you know what you know.

The Mystery Round will be completely different next year. Whatever it is, our students will be ready.

Think Academy LAMT 2026 Results

Individual Competition Results

The standout individual performance came from Eric Zou, a student in Think Academy’s USAMO/TST training program and a two-time MOPPER:

Subject	Rank
Geometry	#1 — 1st Place
Combinatorics	#3
Algebra / Number Theory	#4

Finishing first in Geometry and landing in the top 5 across all three subject rounds reflects the kind of deep, cross-domain mathematical preparation that years of serious training and learning in our rigorous curriculum build.

Team Competition Results

We brought three teams from our competition olympiad program to LAMT 2026, and two earned Top 10 placements:

Round	Team	Rank
Mystery Round (Shopping)	Think Academy Math Defenders	#6
Guts Round	Think Academy The Fantastics	#10

Earning placements in two different round formats — one requiring strategic budget decisions, the other demanding speed and coordination — reflects the versatility our Olympiad programs work to build.

Being There at the Beginning

There is something specific about being part of a competition in its first year. The format is new. The community is still forming. Nobody has a playbook. Everyone figures it out together.

LAMT’s organizers are thinking long-term. They want to move the high school tournament to fall, potentially launch a separate middle school event in spring, and keep building toward the stature of BMT and HMMT — while preserving what makes it different: the free registration, the whimsical identity, and the surprise round that no one can prepare a formula for.

The youngest competitor at LAMT 2026 was a 2nd grader — competing individually and scoring 28 points on the Guts Round. That kind of range, from 2nd grade to TST-level high schoolers all in the same building, is unusual. It reflects what happens when the cost of entry is zero and the spirit of the event is genuinely welcoming.

For Think Academy, LAMT is exactly the kind of emerging competition we want to be part of early — and the kind of community we want our students to help shape as it grows.

Think Academy’s Approach to Competition Math

At Think Academy, we believe competition results come from more than talent alone. Students grow best when they build strong foundations across all major domains of mathematics, develop the habit of thinking clearly under pressure, and learn how to perform consistently — not just brilliantly once.

LAMT is a great example of why that matters. With separate subject rounds in algebra, combinatorics, and geometry, plus a fast-paced Guts Round and an entirely novel Mystery Round format, success requires breadth, flexibility, and composure. There is no shortcut for any of it.

That is exactly the kind of growth we hope to support — not just stronger scores, but stronger mathematical thinking that holds up in any room, against any format, on any given day.

Curious about our competition programs behind these results? Or if you are also interested in high-level competitions and want to study with like-minded classmates. Take our free math evaluation and connect with an advisor who can help map out the right path for you.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations to every Think Academy student who competed at LAMT 2026. You were invited because of what you’ve already built. You showed up and made it count. We are already looking forward to next year.