The contest ended in a tie between Yi-Wei Chan and Justin Kopinsky, who each earned 51 out of 60 possible points. As the 2009 U of I Mock Putnam Champions, Chan and Kopinsky will each receive a $200 prize and will be recognized at the departmental awards ceremony next Spring.
Kopinsky is a sophomore in Math/CS and the winner of last year's U of I Mock Putnam Exam and this year's U of I Undergraduate Math Contest. Chan is a junior in Mathematics, who placed second in the U of I Undergraduate Math Contest.
The next highest scorers were Richard Moy, with 41 points, followed by David Goldstein and Danyang Zhuo, who earned 40 points each.
The U of I Mock Putnam Exam is a local version of the infamous Putnam Exam, known as the "world's toughest math test". It serves as a practice test for the Putnam Exam, and a key tool in the selection of the U of I Putnam Team. The Mock Putnam Exam has a long tradition going back several decades, but in the past these exams been relatively low key events. This is the second year that the exam has been offered in an upgraded format, with the winner receiving prize money and being recognized as "U of I Mock Putnam Champion". The event was widely publicized through mailing lists, posters, and advertisements placed in the Daily Illini. The added incentives and publicity obviously paid off, as the record participation indicates.
The U of I Mock Putnam Exam was organized by Professors A.J. Hildebrand, Jeremy Rouse, and Sujith Vijay.
Contest problems and solutions are available at the links below.