1. I'm sorry to hear about that. Having done USA(J)MO grading in the past, it's an arduous and mostly thankless task for the graders (and now that it's done online there's not even the fun of having a MOP reunion), and I feel like the MAA has never been set up well to allow grade appeals on olympiads (in my day they didn't even give problem-by-problem breakdowns, to discourage this) and I get the impression that it is less well organized than ever. Unfortunately this seems to be yet another aspect of randomness in math competitions; the Putnam in my day had a particularly bad reputation for that. Some of this is part of why the MOP "how to write proofs" class has always started with "assume that your grader is lazy and stupid", but in this case it sounds like the level of incompetence goes substantilally beyond that. I hope the MAA does do something useful with the feedback!
(I've been conflicted about whether or not to return to grading the USA(J)MO, which I last did in 2020 / whether or not to encourage friends and colleagues to do so. On the one hand, USAMO grading is rather grind-y and not enough different from my day job, any I feel like I've done enough volunteer work for the MAA olympiads what with having been on the problem committee for 6 years as a postdoc when I probably should have been doing stuff that would have been better for my career. On the other hand, the number of people who get to take the USAMO is currently constrained by the number of graders, and so I'd like to make the USAMO accessible to more people. On the third hand, I get the impression the MAA doesn't really have their act together as well recently, specifically concerning the recent increase in cheating, and that makes it less appealing to me.)
3. This is totally my family also! Though in some ways more with the National Spelling Bee (which both my sister and I competed in) which we still watch live on TV. But the year my sister was in 8th grade, they decided to show the (taped) MathCounts National Countdown during the lunch break of the National Spelling Bee, so my sister found a TV in the spelling bee hotel to watch it during rounds with some of her Bee friends.
no subject
(I've been conflicted about whether or not to return to grading the USA(J)MO, which I last did in 2020 / whether or not to encourage friends and colleagues to do so. On the one hand, USAMO grading is rather grind-y and not enough different from my day job, any I feel like I've done enough volunteer work for the MAA olympiads what with having been on the problem committee for 6 years as a postdoc when I probably should have been doing stuff that would have been better for my career. On the other hand, the number of people who get to take the USAMO is currently constrained by the number of graders, and so I'd like to make the USAMO accessible to more people. On the third hand, I get the impression the MAA doesn't really have their act together as well recently, specifically concerning the recent increase in cheating, and that makes it less appealing to me.)
3. This is totally my family also! Though in some ways more with the National Spelling Bee (which both my sister and I competed in) which we still watch live on TV. But the year my sister was in 8th grade, they decided to show the (taped) MathCounts National Countdown during the lunch break of the National Spelling Bee, so my sister found a TV in the spelling bee hotel to watch it during rounds with some of her Bee friends.