Alvian Alif Hidayatullah, an ITS Mathematics Department student who won bronze in the International Mathematics Competition 2021

ITS Campus, ITS News – Achievements in the international arena are once again accomplished by the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) student. This time, a student from the Mathematics Department, Alvian Alif Hidayatullah, managed to get a bronze medal at the International Mathematics Competition (IMC) 2021, hosted online by the American University in Bulgaria, Saturday (7/8).

Alvian said that the 28th IMC has a different award system from the regular competitions. Outside ten recipients of the Grand First Prize, there are also other awards for 20 percent of the total number of participants in the competition. “I got 14 scores, so along with 120 other participants, we got the Third Prize or a bronze award,” he explained.

The student from Sampang, Madura, left to join the IMC representing the Indonesian team and ten other students under the auspices of the National Achievement Center (Puspresnas) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek). Participants in the Indonesian team were the winners of the 2020 National Mathematics and Science Competition (KNMIPA). “I received a silver award last year at KNMIPA,” he said.

Alvian Alif Hidayatullah, while attending the closing online broadcast ceremony of IMC 2021

Of the 11 Indonesian representative teams, nine of them won medals. One won a gold medal, three won a silver medal, and the remaining five people (including Alvian) managed to win a bronze medal. Two other people managed to get honorable mention awards.

He said, three weeks before the events opened on August 2, Alvian, as one of the winners of the KN MIPA 2020, received a request from the ITS Mathematics Department to take part in this IMC. Two weeks into the IMC, a national training was held by the Puspresnas Kemendikbud, Research, and Technology online for the Indonesian team to prepare themselves for this competition.

After the opening, the young man born on October 2, 1999, worked on the questions for two days and successfully answered four questions in four hours each day. Each participant can work the questions from home with supervision by the team leader via the Zoom application. “Everything is being recorded, so in case the committee finds similar answers, there will be the evidence that we are not working together,” he added.

Alvian Alif Hidayatullah (top right) when he saw the announcement of the results of the IMC 2021

Alvian admitted the level of difficulty in international competitions is very much different from national competitions. A more stringent scoring system requires participants to provide complete and precise answers to the following questions. “For example, we can answer a lot, but if it doesn’t match the study case, we will get a few points,” he explained.

The other obstacle for him is that the work has to be answered in English. The mathematics terms in foreign languages are quite different from everyday speech, and Alvian feels he is still not fluent enough. “But fortunately, with the previous training, we can get used to doing the questions in English,” said the alumnus of SMAN 1 Sampang.

Alvian expressed his gratitude for the support from other Indonesian teammates. Although the competition individually scored, he got so much moral supports since the training era made his confidence level increasing from the start until the competition finished. In addition, the Indonesian team also held a live broadcast event of the IMC 2021 closing via Zoom to support each other. (sel/ITS Public Relation) 

Reporter: Muhammad Miftah Fakhrizal