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Besides the SAT's, I'm also doing some practice on the AMC 12 with some past competitions; my goal is to make it to the AIME, but I find that I can barely break 100. Would anyone out there be willing to discuss (or rather--teach) the strategies behind the problems with me? E-mail or IM me at Chanaml@aol.com. Thanks.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 09:43 pm: Edit

I'll be happy to discuss some of the things I did for preparation. I went from failing the AMC 10 to making the USAMO in one year. Hard work pays off with these contests. AIM me: my sn is in my profile. Basically, the strategy consists of doing buying numerous contests from AMC and doing them.

By Mo222 (Mo222) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:04 pm: Edit

How do you get past tests?

By Encomium (Encomium) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:10 pm: Edit

Fairyofwind--what do you mean by "failing?" Failing as in a 45 or "failing" as in a 92.

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:43 pm: Edit

I have had a lot of success with these competitions, IM me at lambchop1117 with any specific problems and I'd be happy to explain to you how I'd go about doing them. Most decent math students are capable of doing any of these problems, it really is all about recognizing the problem type and starting them

By Almostdone (Almostdone) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:57 pm: Edit

lol...reminds me of what i did to get invited to AIME. if you read the instructions and calculate carefully, you will see that you can get 101 points on the AMC-12 if you answer exactly 11 questions correctly and leave the other 14 blank. I did this last year and got exactly 101. it was better than trying to answer as many as possible because then i KNEW i would get some wrong and that would screw things up...so i only did the 11 i was SURE of. a lot of very smart math people in my school tried to do as many as possible, made mistakes, and wound up with 99s, 97s, etc. lol but it was definitely a risk, and if you're serious about getting as far as the USAMO (which i wasn't, because math is not really an interest or a strong point of mine, i just wanted to get to AIME so i could put it on my apps,) then this is a no-no because as you probably know both ur AMC-12 and AIME score are used to calculate the final score which qualifies you for USAMO.

sorry, this is probably not what you were looking for. also, "my goal is to make it to the AIME, but I find that I can barely break 100." ---> if you get 100, you get in to AIME. so as long as your getting around 100, your fine for the AIME.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 10:57 pm: Edit

i think it would be best to post your questions here, so you can get the opinions / strategies of multiple people and see what works for you.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 11:01 pm: Edit

also lots of times the solutions that the test gives is not great, so if you dont understand their solution, ask someone here, as they will probablly explain it much better.

By Encomium (Encomium) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 11:25 pm: Edit

I'm really really strong in math but i got a 57.5 on the AMC 10 in 9th grade. I got an 80 in 10th grade. I really extremely suck at those things.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 11:36 pm: Edit

Encomium: failing as in not making the AIME

By Goirulz (Goirulz) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:14 am: Edit

Unfortunately, unlike the rest of my friends who signed up early for the few AMC 10 registration forms that were available to freshmen, I was forced to take the AMC 12 in 9th grade last year. After being informed of the points you get for blank questions, I decided to answer 6 questions that I definitely knew the answer to and left the other 19 blank. Obviously I didn't make it past 100, but I received a decent score of 83 as a freshmen on the AMC 12. Hopefully I'll do better as a sophmore, as I soon realized, after I left the examination room, that I could've solved 3 other questions on the test. Oh well.

BTW - I really need the opinion of other people who have taken the AMC/AIME/USAMO/IMO tests. As a sophomore, do you think my chances of making the AIME would be better by taking the AMC 10, on which I will most likely get a higher score, or the AMC 12, which automatically allows scores of 100 or over invitation to the AIME?

By Stanfordhopeful (Stanfordhopeful) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:27 am: Edit

I hate that time of the year when we the AMC rolls around. I've made the AIME every single year... but so have 250+ other people! I feel ridiculously stupid while I am taking the AIME with them (I've never made it to the USAMO) but next year will be different...! *evil laugh*

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:27 am: Edit

take the AMC-12 as a sophomore if you want to make the AIME. The required score for the AMC 10 has only been going up in recent years and will probably approach 120 this year. A 100 on the AMC 12 is much easier by comparison, you could even skip the 11th-12th grade material and answer plenty of questions to get that 100

By Goirulz (Goirulz) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 06:33 am: Edit

Jimjunior, thanks for your valuable advice. Now that I see the bigger picture, I think that I will take the AMC-12 next year. Do you happen to know where I can get free practice questions or material to prepare for the test (perhaps online) ?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 10:14 am: Edit

While jimjunior is correct that you should take the AMC-12 if you want to make the AIME, it is probably to your advantage to take the AMC-10 if you want to make the USAMO as a sophomore. This is mainly because the smart sophomores around the nation usually take the AMC-12, believing the AMC people that they'll have a better chance of making the USAMO, but in fact, this leaves a much easier pool for the 90 AMC-10 participants. Actually, this year, a freshman took the AMC-12 and then got a 7 on the AIME from our school, but didn't make the USAMO, but if he had taken the AMC-10, he probably would have made it. Another person taking the AMC-12 didn't even get in with a 9 on the AIME. This is sort of like the highway paradox: choosing the "cars only" lane or the "cars+trucks." lane

By Encomium (Encomium) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 12:29 pm: Edit

lol, the highest score our school has ever had on the AIME is a 5, and on the AMC 10 a 120

By Madrigal (Madrigal) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:00 pm: Edit

FOW - If that is a picture of you in your profile, I am astounded. Wow.

By Pookdogg (Pookdogg) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:03 pm: Edit

Seriously: a very flattering pic.

By Mo222 (Mo222) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 02:39 pm: Edit

Can anyone post practice problems for the AMC 12 here?

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:28 pm: Edit

fairy: was that guy with a 9 on the AIME a jr/sr? Cause last year you only needed an 8 on AIME if ur a soph/frosh to make USAMO, regardless of AMC score.

If this is the case for next year, i would suggest that all people of decent ability take AMC 12. But if you have never done some AMC test from past years, or any math competition at all, take 10.

Also fairy, did you take amc 12 or 10 last year?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:38 pm: Edit

Firstly,

FOW - If that is a picture of you in your profile, I am astounded. Wow.

Um... no.

Billiam:

10, because they ran out of 12 contests at our school lol. Yea the 9-AIME was a junior.

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:40 pm: Edit

wow... I'm thankful that somebody brought the AIME question up!!! I've been really distressed lately because I didn't get to go to AIME this (or last) year! (i'm going to be a sophmore)
I got 110+ last year as a freshman and got to go to the AIME (as a fresh!!!) but our school had a snow day, so i missed it entirely!!
this year (2002~3) i tried to go again, but i got 90 something!!! i was sooo mad... I saw that going to the USMAO (?) was really important but i neglected it!!! Please help! I really want to go to the olympiad!!! (great on the transcript, right?)
Thanks!

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:40 pm: Edit

i see. well it sucks for us next year.. a lot harder to make usamo. By the way, have you taken discrete mathematics?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:42 pm: Edit

Daniels, how could you let your school do that to you, giving you a snow day on the day of the AIME. That's absolutely appallingly ridiculous. They should've registered for the alternate AIME.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:44 pm: Edit

Danielsjang: im not sure, but i think your school could have given you the AIME B test instead, but oh well. For sophomores, i think the AMC result is pretty much obsolete... your making USAMO is totally dependent on your AIME score, so concentrate on that once you think you can score above 100 on AMC. And if you're having problems with that, just do old tests, and keep in mind that you only need to get 11 right, 0 wrong in order to get 100. But after all of that AIME practice that you will do, you should be able to get much higher than that. Good luck.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:48 pm: Edit

i doubt daniels school has many people who qualify each year, so they're probablly didnt know about the B test. But now that you know daniel, its your responsibility to let them know next time if for some reason you cant take the A test.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:48 pm: Edit

Billiam what type of discrete mathematics? Also, could you explain a solution to me. AIME 2001... #15. The pamphlet solution is so difficult to understand.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:50 pm: Edit

its a course necessary for computer science. Im thinking of taking it, but not sure.

I dont have the test, and dont know where to find the 2001 questions, so you'll need to post it.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:56 pm: Edit

actually i kn ow what the question is. so dont bother.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:58 pm: Edit

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/wforum/viewtopic.php?t=410

where there are black spaces, click and drag your mouse over to highlight, cause the text is hidden.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 03:59 pm: Edit

I've rephrased the question from the original wording to avoid copyright problems.

Consider the 8 vertices of a cube. Draw all diagonals and space diagonals of this cube. The result is a graph. Count the number of Hamiltonian circuits (a different starting vertex = a different circuit) of this graph.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 04:02 pm: Edit

It seems like they all got different answers from the correct answer though.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 04:17 pm: Edit

hm yeah. But i think their way of approaching the problem is good though. Sorry, i personally dont know how to do it.

By Phantom (Phantom) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 05:38 pm: Edit

Thanks for all the replies. So anyway, Fairy and Jim, I will probably IM you guys sometime in the future in addition to posting some problems here.

Mo222: I ordered the past tests from http://www.unl.edu/amc.

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 10:58 pm: Edit

wow, few hours passed and many replies...
My school had only a handful of ppl go to the AIME that year
(ya, it sucks that it was a snow day... I honestly didn't know it was much of a contest...)
I was really surprized that I did sooo bad this year!!! i dropped 30 pts in a year! (i didn't study the year before, and neither this year)
Actually, I asked my math teacher right after the snowday asking if I could take it later, but she told me that it was a national thingy, so i couldn't... She did say there was an alternate test B (or some sort) but it was too much hassle and told me it would be a good idea just to let go(!?!?)... Not knowing anything about the test (and 3 hours for 15 questions!!! ridiculous!), i reluctantly agreed and moved on with my life...

ANyway, so you guys agree that taking older tests would be the best way to prepare for it? THanks!


PS how hard is it to go to USMAO?? i really wanna go there in the next 2 years!!! If there's one strong point in my life, it's math and i think it's like the most significant way to show that (true?)
PPS if you take 1 year older math (like junior math as sophmore) am i still allowed to take AMC 12 as a 12th grader when I'm taking um... college courses? or same with AMC10--if i'm taking junior math (precalc) as a sophmore, am i still elgible for the AMC10??
THANKs!!!

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 10:59 pm: Edit

also, thank you for those ppl who posted their AIM screen names to help those in need, like myself!

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 11:02 pm: Edit

Also:
quote: "fairy: was that guy with a 9 on the AIME a jr/sr? Cause last year you only needed an 8 on AIME if ur a soph/frosh to make USAMO, regardless of AMC score."

What's the thing about this!?!??! I never heard anything like it... does it change every year?
Also, could some people post about what combination of AIME and AMC scores combined u need to move up to USMAO? How does AIME work?? (is it like AMC10/12?) Thanks!
-sorry for all the annoying dumb questions!

By Funkirabbi (Funkirabbi) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 01:04 am: Edit

whats the highest score u can get on the AMC-12? never heard of it....

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 03:50 am: Edit

The highest score that you can get on the AMC-12 is a 150 by answering all 25 questions correctly.

an index of 220 is probably necessary for advancement, unless you come from a small state.

Combinations would be 150 AMC, 7 AIME
140 AMC, 8 AIME etc etc

BTW that 2001 #15 might be the hardest AIME problem I have come up against. I really dont recomend spending time on the final problem for anyone unless they are aiming for a near-perfect score. That does not mean someone who doesnt expect a huge score should ignore the 2nd half of the test. In 2002 #11 was the easiest question on the test, and this year I got #13 without too much trouble

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 06:56 am: Edit

I love how this guy says "No reason a bright student couldn't figure that out with pencil and paper in a few minutes." Right.

Some random math professor posted:

It's an exercise in elementary graph theory. To get on more familiar
ground, for "faces of octahedron" read "vertices of cube". We have to
count the Hamiltonian circuits in a certain graph, namely, the
complement of the cube Q_3. No reason a bright student couldn't figure
that out with pencil and paper in a few minutes.

The graph consists of two K_4's joined by a matching. The circuit
must use either 2 or 4 edges of the matching, so there are two cases.
In each case you have to decide (a) which edges of the matching to
use, and in which direction, and (b) how to link them up.

In the first case, there are 4 choices for which edge of the matching
to use for the left-to-right crossing, then 3 choices for the
right-to-left crossing, then 2 ways to link then up on the left side
and 2 ways on the right side, for a total of 4*3*2*2 = 48.

In the other case, there are 6 choices for which 2 edges of the
matching will be traversed from left to right, then 2 ways to link
them up on the left side, after which there is only 1 way to link them
up on the right, for a total of 6*2*1 = 12. The grand total is 48+12 =
60 Hamiltonian circuits (with an orientation but no designated
starting point), and the probability is 60/7! = 1/84.

By Rrusczyk (Rrusczyk) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 12:33 pm: Edit

Greetings,

Those of you interested in tackling the AMC tests are invited to join our community at www.artofproblemsolving.com. The community is dedicated to problem solving and includes many avid students discussing problems of varying difficulty from MATHCOUNTS up through Olympiad-level. In our first few months we've gathered over 350 members who have contributed more than 6500 posts. Membership in the community is free, and we host occasional free problem solving sessions as well.

If you have any questions about the community, please contact me at rusczyk@artofproblemsolving.com.

Thanks,

Richard Rusczyk

By Nancy0223 (Nancy0223) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 01:25 pm: Edit

Mr. Rusczyk, I went to this website before and I know there is a lot of stuffs about advanced mathematics. Just wondering if u have a specific course for the preparing for the incoming ASHME competition?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 03:11 pm: Edit

Lol wow our board has attracted the attention of Richard Rusczyk... I just registered on that board. While it certainly has some useful posts and lot of interesting discussions, the color theming is nowhere as clear as the one on CC

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 03:55 pm: Edit

I just registered my self! I think i could use a lot of help from that site!
btw, is there a difference between ASHME and AIME/AIM/Olympiad??

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 03:56 pm: Edit

lol you mean AOL Instant messenger? yea AIM is like the opposite of AIME

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 04:03 pm: Edit

hope you're kidding fairy, AOPS colors are much better than this.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 04:20 pm: Edit

Billiam: Yikes! You can BARELY read the text on that site, and the web design is INCREDIBLY unprofessional. On CC, at least the text is nice 12 point Verdana? On AOPS, it's like size 8 font yellow font on BLACK. And a bunch of ugly blues and reds don't help, either.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 04:31 pm: Edit

it is a website meant for kids, and that may be why it doesnt look 'professional'. But i like the black background for some reason. Maybe its cause usually when i read text on white backgrounds, i highlight it to make it darker.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 04:32 pm: Edit

http://discuss.princetonreview.com/forums/index.cfm?cfapp=3 is much better anyways.

By Danielsjang (Danielsjang) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 05:18 pm: Edit

FOW: ya... lol. I meant AMC not AIM

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Anybody else here do the USAMTS. I just did the round 1 problems today. Not too hard, although I think my solutions could have been more concise.I recomend people try out this competition. It's very low pressure with some good problem solving
here is the link

http://www.nsa.gov/programs/mepp/usamts.html

By Rrusczyk (Rrusczyk) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Here's an answer about how our classes correlate with the AMC tests:

Several of our subject courses are appropriate for preparing for the AMC in that particular subject area. The Intermediate Counting class covers very tough AMC questions and AIME-level questions. The Intro to Number Theory class covers a variety of AMC-level questions (plus some easier stuff and little harder stuff). The Advanced Algebra class we'll offer in November will be heavy with AMC-level material (and some AIME-level items).

In addition to these, we expect to offer a Problem Series course for the AMC starting in January. This course will cover AMC-12 level questions for 8 classes and AIME questions for 4 classes (plus or minus a week, and we might throw in a USAMO question on the last day). The primary difference between the Problem Series course and our regular subject course is that there aren't problem sets. Therefore, all enrollments are 'audited'. Many extra practice problems will be given on the message board that supports the class, however, so you will have plenty of extra opportunities to practice with instructor review.

As for the color scheme, we'll be experimenting with others in a few months (we did just increase the point size on the threads, so this should make it easier to read).

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 05:46 pm: Edit

Finally USAMTS is typesetted in LaTeX.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 08:05 pm: Edit

what do you use for a text editor?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 08:06 pm: Edit

You mean TeX editor? Or text editor. Seriously though I HATE it when mathematical documents aren't typesetted in LaTeX... this is the 1st year I'm doing the USAMTS. I couldn't motivate myself to join last year because it was not typesetted in LaTeX :P

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:38 pm: Edit

i didnt notice that it wasnt before. And yes tex editor. What do you use it for, anyways? I was planning on using it to type up notes and proofs for USAMTS. I have terrible handwriting, takes forever to write them out by hand.

How hard is it to learn?

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:41 pm: Edit

Quite difficult. Personally, I do not typeset with LaTeX, even though I expect it from everyone else. =P I never bothered really learning it because the coding was so tedious, but a good package, though with terrible documentation, is mikTex. I spent an hour trying to figure out how to compile a .tex file into a .pdf file...

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:54 pm: Edit

hm maybe thats cause you didnt use a text editor... do you have texniccenter? That is supposed to be good.

What did you plan on using it for? I was told that it was not difficult, but i am lost when trying to learn it.

By Fairyofwind (Fairyofwind) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 10:59 pm: Edit

http://cta.tug.org/tex-archive/info/lshort/english/lshort.pdf

Great introduction to LaTeX... but you'll soon see why it's so complicated... I guess it isn't difficult, just hard to get used to. Btw, this year's first round USAMTS problems are unusually easy and pretty short, so writing them out wouldn't be too hard.

By Billiam2 (Billiam2) on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 11:30 pm: Edit

thanks, i have not looked at the USAMTS questions yet. I didnt plan to until school started, but i was worried that there wouldnt be enough time.

By Funkirabbi (Funkirabbi) on Wednesday, February 11, 2004 - 11:50 pm: Edit

whats the highest score on the AIME?