ZSZhengqin Song
Changsha, Hunan, China · academicSong Zhengqin grew up in Changsha, Hunan; his father is a physics professor at Hunan Normal University. He first took an extracurricular olympiad math class in grade 5, initially ranking around 30th before climbing to the top three. He attended Bocai Experimental Middle School (博才实验中学) under teacher Ou Zhiwu (欧智武), then the High School Affiliated to Hunan Normal University, coached by Yang Mingliang (羊明亮). He struggled at first: in grade 11 he placed 30th in the provincial team selection, and in grade 12 barely made the 19-member provincial team at 14th, then 43rd (tied with 18 others) in the 60-person national training squad. Through a two-week national training selection camp (four short and two long exams) he won a place on China's six-member IMO 2016 team, crediting his geometry accuracy. At IMO 2016 he scored 26 points (P1 7, P2 2, P3 0, P4 7, P5 7, P6 3) for a silver medal as China finished third overall.
- Enrolled at Tsinghua University in computer science after being exempted from the entrance exam on the strength of his olympiad record.Jul 18, 2016
- Low national-team seeding that turned around: he placed 30th in the grade-11 provincial selection, 14th of 19 for the provincial team in grade 12, and 43rd (tied with 18 others) in the 60-person national training squad before winning an IMO team seat through the two-week camp.Mar 28, 2016
- Credited his geometry accuracy (near-perfect across the six selection exams) for winning his IMO 2016 seat, after China added more geometry problems to selection in response to the 2015 loss to the USA.Mar 28, 2016
- Coached nationally by Yang Mingliang (羊明亮) of Hunan Normal University High School, who publicly rejected the 'China's math level declined' framing of the 2016 third-place team finish.Jul 18, 2016
- His father is a physics professor at Hunan Normal University; the family lived in Changsha, where Song attended the affiliated middle and high schools.Mar 28, 2016
- School honor roll page at Hunan Normal University High School lists his 2016 silver as a flagship achievement.2016
Competition record
China · IMO