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I am wondering if anybody else took the AMC 10 or AMC 12 test today (tuesday). For those who don't know, the AMC is the first of a series of individual math tests high school students can compete in.

I checked my answers over and it looks like I got a 139.5. Starting tomorrow I can answer anybody's questions on individual problems. So...am I the only one who took it?

By Diconoclastx (Diconoclastx) on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 01:24 am: Edit

I remember the AMC. I took it last year an got a 146.5. I got 11 on the AIME and 33 on the USMAO.

By Mr0range (Mr0range) on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 05:43 pm: Edit

I took it, i'll be lucky to break 100
I suck at math

By grrrrr on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 07:29 pm: Edit

I took the AMC 10...I hate those things.

By dxiw on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 07:42 pm: Edit

I took the AMC12. Got 23/25. Hopfully got somewhere in the 130's.

By alexfromohio on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 09:19 pm: Edit

100 is a very good score. Heck, last year I was my school's winner with a 90. I'm not sure about all of the percentages but 90 was in the 92nd %tile, which isn't too bad considering only good math students take it.

Anyway, I took it again this year, not sure how well I did. I only answered 14/25.

By Mrowry (Mrowry) on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 10:05 pm: Edit

The lune problem was so beautiful. *sniff*
What was #25? I think I asked this somewhere on this board, but I forget where...

By fdsa on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 10:33 pm: Edit

hrm, 90 was top score in school?!? no offense, but is this some rural school with 40 pple in a forest clearing, cuz in my public school 7 kids scored above 120 last year. sigh.

By Tiankai Liu on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 10:51 pm: Edit

Pitiful. I scored a 42 on the IMO.

By amc12 on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 02:52 am: Edit

i'm curious if people can post answers so i can figure out how many i got right. thanks!

By Jim on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 02:52 am: Edit

A couple of teachers at my school went over the test and confirmed that I got a 139.5 which is tops in my school. It's the third year I have been tops (I am a junior) so I get a Silver medal. Last year I was painfully close to the USAMO with a 200.5 index. This year I hope for 8 or 9 on AIME.

For the person who asked, #25 was 2. The possible values of a are 0 and -4

Going over the answers makes me feel dumb. I skipped a couple of semihard ones and solved the hardest ones correctly. I just blanked on two easy ones.

Congratulations Diconocastx. What year are you? How many times have you taken the USAMO?

By Jim on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 02:55 am: Edit

A couple of teachers at my school went over the test and confirmed that I got a 139.5 which is tops in my school. It's the third year I have been tops (I am a junior) so I get a Silver medal. Last year I was painfully close to the USAMO with a 200.5 index. This year I hope for 8 or 9 on AIME.

For the person who asked, #25 was 2. The possible values of a are 0 and -4

Going over the answers makes me feel dumb. I skipped a couple of semihard ones and solved the hardest ones correctly. I just blanked on two easy ones.

Congratulations Diconocastx. What year are you? How many times have you taken the USAMO?

By dxiw on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 11:09 pm: Edit

teachers said I probably got around 105 realized I screwed a few

By roller on Thursday, February 13, 2003 - 11:34 pm: Edit

usamo? amc? sombody please explain

By Jim on Friday, February 14, 2003 - 01:24 am: Edit

All of these things are math competitions. The AMC is a 25 question, 75 minute exam open to all high school students. There are separate tests for 9-10 and 11-12. If you do well enough you will qualify for the AIME. This is a 15 question 3 hour exam and is very difficult. The top 250 scorers on these two tests go on to the USAMO. This is a two part, 6 question 9 hour math test that requires written proofs for each problem. Only the top students in the country take this test

By Jim on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 07:17 pm: Edit

bump

By 9331 (9331) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 10:39 am: Edit

Can I sign up for it even if my school doesn't offer if? I live in Michigan.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 01:39 pm: Edit

too late for this year, 9331. You can take it next year by getting your school to register or by taking it as a guest at a different school. Info about all the AMC exams can be found at www.unl.edu/amc

By Futuredoctor (Futuredoctor) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 04:30 pm: Edit

I am a good math student (high SAT math score, and high grades in classes..), however I am not able to qualify for these higher math competitions (my score was around 90, on the AMC 12)!!

How does one prepare for such tests, some things are common sense, however there are questions on topics that I have never heard of in my MATH classes!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 06:12 pm: Edit

All of the problems on the AMC-12 can be solved with simple math. If you are trying to use calculus or even most of the stuff you learn from Pre-Cal then you are on the wrong path. These tests measure your problem solving skills. The best way to improve that is just to take more of these types of tests and do competitive math more often. Also a lot of people can solve all the problems, but waste their time setting up equations and doing things the long way. These kind of people only finish half the test but do very well on the questions that they do answer. I would be happy to discuss the AMC and strategies with you.
AIM: lambchop1117

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 07:22 pm: Edit

Competition math is pretty different from standard textbook math you are used to in regular classes. There's a lot of stuff like number theory or probablity that is not part of the usual curriculum. Also they tend to be trickier, requiring "out of the box" thinking. People who like competition math really like that creative aspect of it. But it can be frustrating for beginners. Even if you are good at math already, you have to learn how to do this to be really good at it. Get old AMC 12's with solutions from the AMC website www.unl.edu/amc or order the book Art of Problem Solving from www.artofproblemsolving.com (or maybe it's org.)

By Crazyandy (Crazyandy) on Saturday, March 08, 2003 - 09:45 pm: Edit

I took the AMC 10 last year as a sophomore but not this year as a junior (I was new to the high school I go to last year and we're on blocks so i havent had math since i first came). Is taking the AMC tests something I could put on a college application or what? Is it really that "prestegious"?

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Sunday, March 09, 2003 - 02:37 am: Edit

Taking the test isn't prestigious at all. Many thousands take it every year. I think that colleges would still like to see that you are interested in that type of field. Qualifying for later rounds after the AMC might be something that a college would look at a little bit more closely

By Nyugrad (Nyugrad) on Sunday, March 09, 2003 - 02:47 am: Edit

How do you score the AMC 12?

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Sunday, March 09, 2003 - 10:02 am: Edit

roughly 240,000 people took one of the preliminary AMC exams last year, and at some schools every student in the school takes it. So I agree with Jimjunior, it only starts to be something prestigious if you qualify for the next exam up (AIME, top 5%). The third exam is the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO). Only 300 people in the entire country qualify for that, so taking it is very prestigious (even though most people make a zero the first time).

Scoring the AMC10/12 - there are 25 questions worth 6 points each, for a maximum score of 150. Wrong answers are worth zero, and blanks are worth 2.5.

By Vizious (Vizious) on Tuesday, March 11, 2003 - 11:02 pm: Edit

I took the AMC12 three times(soph to sr year). First time I got a 40 something, second time a high 80, and this year a high 80....never qualified for AIME....oh well...

Not anything extraordinary compared to yalls LOL. How is the AIME like? Whats a type of question you'd see on the AIME?

By Mikus (Mikus) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 03:03 pm: Edit

You can go to their site, they have sample problems of both the AIME and AMC 12 I believe. Just search for "AMC 12", I'm sure it will come up. If I remember correctly, AIME allowed no use of a calculator, about 15 questions of pure problem solving. You can solve them all with math skills up to calculus. But be warned-- they are HARD. It's not the math that's hard, it's the problem solving. Some of it requires natural talent, IMO. Memorizing facts won't help, although I suppose practice could.

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 10:32 pm: Edit

You could know all of the formulas and math tactics in the world and still get 0/15 on AIME. It is all about figuring out how to solve the problem. Studying will do you zero good, practicing old tests might help, and will at least give you an idea of what to expect. here is a sample problem from 1991 (one of the "easier" ones:

Given a rational number, write it as a fraction in lowest terms and calculate the product of the resulting numerator and denominator. For how many rational numbers between 0 and 1 will 20 factorial be the resulting product?

By Incognito (Incognito) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 10:45 pm: Edit

Jimjunior:

If studying wont help, and practicing doesnt do very much, then what do you expect ppl to do? I mean, what exactly is the AMC supposed to test, anyways? Natural abilities?...

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 11:25 pm: Edit

what I meant by practicing wont help is that going back over tests, reading solutions and figuring out how you would have gotten to that solution doesnt really help. Doing math in a timed environment is what helps. It really isnt what you know, but your ability to problem-solve and to do it quickly that is tested. It is a lifetime of doing math that is going to prepare you, not the two weeks before taking the test

You CAN study and practice for AMC tests. You just have to make sure that you are practicing doing speedy math as well as good math. It is the AIME that is more about natural ability. This is kind of frustrating for me. I score very highly, and will probably make the usamo this year, but I will never be at that top tier. I have to accept that. In the mean time, i can have a lot of fun

By Mikus (Mikus) on Wednesday, March 12, 2003 - 11:51 pm: Edit

Exactly what Jim said; the test is based on finding the most efficient way to do the problem. Theoretically, you could use the formulas that you have learned throughout HS-- it would just take you ages to do one problem, with a very high chance of making arithmetic errors. I took it last year, and landed with an embarrassing 2/15, lol. It's just critical thinking. Apparently, me... not so critical ;)

By Alex123 (Alex123) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 12:28 am: Edit

Grr. I got 99.5 (as noted above, you need 100 to qualify for the AIME) =/. I suck.

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 01:31 am: Edit

Don't be embarrassed with a 2/15. That is the national average for this invitation-only test. Of the few that actually took it from my school one got 0/15 and another got 1/15.

By Incognito (Incognito) on Thursday, March 13, 2003 - 05:39 pm: Edit

bump

By Pocketsalt (Pocketsalt) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 10:51 pm: Edit

I think this year I am going to spend the entire time on one problem on the AIME. Are there actually people out there who get all of them?

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 - 11:41 pm: Edit

Only a couple of people nationwide will get a perfect score. Very, very few get ten or more. The first problem is pretty much a gimme, so anyone who can qualify could prbably get two

By Azn_Cowboy (Azn_Cowboy) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Hey, I'm a Freshman, and I took the AMC 12B two weeks back I think, and it was pretty tough. It doesn't take as much knowledge in mathematics as it does sense in mathematics. I don't know what I got it.

But I'm hoping for the best.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 06:30 pm: Edit

I don't think it's accurate to say that anyone who can qualify for the AIME should be able to get two right. The AVERAGE is two. That means that a full 50% of the people who take it get zero or one. It's probably much more than 50% of the people taking it for the first time. Last year over 12,000 people took the AIME. Only 3 people in the country got a perfect score. 112 (less than 1%) got 10 or better. 2800 (almost a quarter) got zero.

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 11:37 pm: Edit

what I meant is that anyone who can qualify is capable fo getting 2. People misread or miscalculate or do something strange. Most people are capable of doing around half of the amc, but that doesnt mean the average is going to be in the 90s

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Tuesday, March 25, 2003 - 09:51 pm: Edit

anybody take the AIME today? How did you think it was? I answered 10/15 questions, and feel somewhat confident on them all. I do not expect to get all those right, but 7 would be great. I could answer questions on most of the probs

By Aj61498 (Aj61498) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 03:11 am: Edit

Wow jimjunior a 7 would definitely be great. what did u get on the amc12? I'm got a 111.5 and am taking the AIME on 4/8. I was doing some practice problems from years past and could barely do any!

By Jimjunior (Jimjunior) on Wednesday, March 26, 2003 - 05:25 pm: Edit

I got a 139.5 on this year's amc-12

By Britney4521 (Britney4521) on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Hey, I'm gonna take it next year! How did you gise study fot it.

By Anhnguyen (Anhnguyen) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 10:13 pm: Edit

Does anybody know where I can find the questions of this year and last year AMC10-12 questions? Thanks.

By Anhnguyen (Anhnguyen) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 10:20 pm: Edit

oh and one more question. I'm in 9th grade and i'm about to take the AMC10. What do i need to study for it? i know we haven't learned anything about pre-calculus yet.

By Ekim (Ekim) on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 11:15 pm: Edit

i'm a junior this year, and i'm takin the amc12 this wednesday.
i got 105 or somethin on the AMC 10 and im not sure how different the AMC 12. any tips?
i also wanna take some practice test if u know any good ones.
thanx