Textbook

[Hapler]

What books do you guys use to get a general overview of the maths materials covered?

[007math]

Everything covered in school is pretty much on the math test (except maybe probability and counting), but otherwise the algebra, geometry, calculus, etc. is all covered in school math classes.

[AuSmith]

Well, the purpose of the General Mathematics contest is to cover a broad span of material. So, you would need several books to get everything.

1) Problem solving: many of the problems use familiar concepts, but you need to think about them in a different way. The sort of "original" problem solving book is Paul Zeitz's "The Art and Craft of Problem Solving," and the popular website [url=artofproblemsolving.com]AoPS[/url] produces several more specific types of problem solving books. Or, you can just go through problem after problem and get the hang of it after a while (The Red book of Mathematical Problems, The Green Book of Mathematical Problems, AMC 10/12 Contest Problems and Solutions available at AoPS or by ordering).

2) For counting problems, you might refer to the books "102 Combinatorial Problems " and "A Path to Combinatorics for Undergraduates: Counting Strategies" by Andreescu and Feng. Most anything by Andreescu is going to be good to read if you're (really) into high school math competition.

3) As 007 noted, most of what you need to know is covered in high school math classes. This is part of UIL's creed, that its competitions are designed to propel high school students in their classes. Keeping things at a high school level also puts less demand on coaches who might not have expected to ever teach anything beyond high school material.

Mostly, practice practice practice. If you have a problem you can't figure out, ask someone. They're all the same. When you get to be able to solve the previous problems on your own, you can probably solve the latest problems on your own.