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If I was qualified for AIME, is that a considerable achievement?

AIME is American Invitational Mathematics Exam, after you qualify AMC 12 or 10.

By Nyugrad (Nyugrad) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 04:59 pm: Edit

yes, yale actually asks for that particular exam on their undergraduate application. Congrats and keep up the good work.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 05:04 pm: Edit

MIT and Caltech have a place for that also. It's good to qualify. But don't be discouraged if you take it and get a low score the first time. It's very difficult! The average score is 2 (out of 15) and the most common score is zero. Good luck.

By Mrboya (Mrboya) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 11:05 pm: Edit

Thanks all of you guys for letting me know and supporting me.
Would you happen to know any webpages where I can glance at a few sample questions?
Thanks

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 11:12 pm: Edit

http://www.unl.edu/amc/e-exams/e7-aime/archiveaime.html

By Svansviek (Svansviek) on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 11:32 pm: Edit

AIME is hard as hell.

By Sar (Sar) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 05:21 pm: Edit

I qualified too.

If a college doesn't ask for it, is it a good idea to send it, and what would be the best way to send this info?

And O my gosh, those AIME questions are crazy.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 06:19 pm: Edit

If you take it and make a 2 (or a zero), I would still list "AIME qualifier" among your academic honors and awards. After all, it indicates that you were in the top 5% or so of people who took the AMC-12. But I wouldn't list a score.

By Sar (Sar) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 06:38 pm: Edit

Thanks.
Erm.... i think i'll get a zero. are calculators allowed? I'm thinking no...?

Would it be too late by the time we take the test and receive our results? Wouldn't the decisions already be made?

Should I tell colleges right now that i passed the amc?

By Admiralexe (Admiralexe) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 07:30 pm: Edit

This was the first year I took the AMC 12 (I had to get the school involved in the contest myself). My teacher mailed the test off, we cracked open the answer booklets, and I found I got a 102 - I have 2 questions:
1) When should I expect my actual invitation to take the AIME? Does it come with a mailing to the school? (That's 2, actually.)
2) How in the world can I prepare for it, any books you guys recommend?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 08:23 pm: Edit

if you took the AMC 12 on the Feb 11th date, your teacher should already have the official results and list of AIME qualifiers. If you took it on Feb 26th, the official results have not been returned yet.
The invitation will go to the school, not the student. To prepare, look over some of the archived problems at the link given in my post above.
Sar - no calculators. You're right, if you are a senior, admissions decisions will be made before you get the results. Go ahead and tell them now that you qualified.
If anyone is a non-senior and would actually like to prepare for this for next year, the book Art of Problem Solving is good (vol. 2, plus you'll need the solutions manual). Go to: www.artofproblemsolving.com (or maybe it's .org)
You can also order past tests from AMC which include solution booklets. I think the archives just have answers, not how in the heck to do the problem. AIME problems are really hard for beginners. The problems aren't "impossible" so much as really different from what most students have been exposed to. Once you've seen a bunch of them you sort of get the hang of it.
Good luck to everyone taking this.

By Cornellian07 (Cornellian07) on Saturday, March 01, 2003 - 10:55 pm: Edit

Too bad this is the first time I took the AHSME. I made it to the AIME, but have already been accepted to Cornell anyways, so I didn't have the opportunity to pad my resume with that. Oh well.....

By Cru (Cru) on Tuesday, March 04, 2003 - 10:42 am: Edit

I thought AIME was nothing...
I didn't put it on my apps...
Now I'm regretting!

By Sar (Sar) on Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - 10:11 pm: Edit

Why not send a letter to tell them? I would guess it doesn't hurt, b/c my counselor tells me the worst they can do is not read whatever extra stuff you send in.

By Cru (Cru) on Wednesday, March 05, 2003 - 11:52 pm: Edit

Isn't it too late?
it's march...

By Littlemaz3 (Littlemaz3) on Thursday, March 06, 2003 - 01:18 am: Edit

i think i might've gotten screwed this year...i took the amc 12 and got a 99.5, yea im a choker. Do any of u guys know if that score will qualify as top 1% because they also make it to the aime. anybody have experience with a score in the high 90s who still qualified?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, March 06, 2003 - 04:11 pm: Edit

I'm guessing no. I think the cut-off for the past 3 years had been 100 and this year's test does not seem like it was any harder than usual.

By Sar (Sar) on Thursday, March 06, 2003 - 11:59 pm: Edit

it was still 100 this year for the AMC12A. and on paper somewhere i read that meant u'r in the top 5%, but on their website it says less than 3% make the 100pt cutoff each year.

By Dan202 (Dan202) on Friday, March 07, 2003 - 07:38 am: Edit

What score on the AIME should you at least have before listing it on Harvard, Yale, Princeton & stanford applications (rather than just saying AIME qualifier)?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Friday, March 07, 2003 - 09:43 am: Edit

Well, the average score last year was 2.07. The scores drop off really fast above that. A score of 6 put you in the top 5%, and a score of 6-8 (depending on your AMC-12 score and grade) qualified you for the USAMO. A score of 5 was top 11%, a score of 4 was top 18% and a score of 3 was top 31%. I hope this gives you enough info to decide.

By 230602 (230602) on Monday, March 10, 2003 - 07:06 pm: Edit

I was the winner at my school with a score of 113.5 on the AMC, and now I've qualified for the AIME. Should I write to the schools that I applied to and tell them that? My math teacher was really excited, but I really don't know much about the test.

By Louisa (Louisa) on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 11:36 am: Edit

My boy friend got a 132 for AMC and a score in the 120's for the AIME.... two years ago.. now he's at harvard... yeah it's a pretty big achievement~

By Track4life17 (Track4life17) on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 07:08 pm: Edit

AIME is only out of 15

By Admiralexe (Admiralexe) on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 10:13 pm: Edit

For those of you who took the later of the two test dates for the AMC 12, have any of your schools received the wrap-up information and invitations for the AIME yet?

By Mikus (Mikus) on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 10:18 pm: Edit

Yes, our school took it on the later date, and our teachers have already informed us of the AIME invitations.

By Louisa (Louisa) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 10:23 pm: Edit

my bad.. then it must have been the AMC score~ anyway he took the AIME and got tops in the country~

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Tuesday, April 01, 2003 - 09:37 pm: Edit

I am very sad. I got a 139.5 on the AMC-12 and only a 6 on the AIME. I am an 11th grader. Looks like I just missed the cutoff AGAIN. I got 140.5 AMC-10 and 6 AIME last year and was pretty much the highest possible without qualifying for the USAMO. I know I can do usamo problems too. There is still a SLIGHT chance I qualify, but not really

By Admiralexe (Admiralexe) on Wednesday, April 02, 2003 - 04:46 pm: Edit

Did anyone else find this year's AIME problems to be incredibly easy? I had the first 4 done in about 10 minutes.

By Ali_Liu (Ali_Liu) on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 07:29 pm: Edit

I have a book that shows strategies for those questions and the like...

By Ali_Liu (Ali_Liu) on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 07:30 pm: Edit

A book for IMO...

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 08:06 pm: Edit

old IMO/USAMOs with solutions, plus other books of similar problems from various sources are available for purchase from www.unl.edu/amc
You can also download old IMOs for free from http://www.kalva.demon.co.uk/imo.html