When do AMC 8 results come out? Should I push my dd to do better next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You are right. It’s not her choice, because she has no idea about AMC 8 except for the fact they received an email from school about registration. I won’t say she doesn’t have inner drive. She does when it comes to finishing homework and reviewing before test. She wants to get all A’s. But to go extra mile for something more challenging, she doesn’t. If I ask her about participating in anything, competition, club or extracurricular stuff, “no” is the only answer I could expect. That’s why I’d like to push her a little. I know she has potential. She has great memory, strong learning skills, and could work hard if she decides to. And more often than not she enjoyed the things I pushed her/recommended her to do in the end, esp if efforts brought her good results. She lacks the initiative though.

I understand here ppl love to prioritize interests and passion. They just might not exist for everyone, at least not at this age.

As with anything in life, you will excel more at things you enjoy doing. Does she enjoy logic puzzles, riddles? Math competition problems are very similar once you learn the concepts to solve them (which takes time/aptitude/drive). Many times there is a problem that looks overly complex that actually has a simple (simpler) solution that makes you smack your head that you didn't see it at first. Math competition problems often require multiple steps across 2 or more areas compared to school math that is usually focused on the topic of the day.

You said she strives for "all A's". Do you know why? To impress you, her friends, herself, to get into a better high school/college?
Perhaps you can show her that some colleges ask for AMC12/AIME scores as part of their admission process if you think that is her motivation.

But, every kid is unique and there is never a one size fits all approach.

[Anonymous]

Maybe she doesn't like competitions. Some kids get very stressed out by competing and prefer activities that are more artistic or cooperative in nature.

I would just make her pick a couple clubs and do those. Or, perhaps she should consider playing a musical instrument. If she wants to do math, make sure she signs up for the school club next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe she doesn't like competitions. Some kids get very stressed out by competing and prefer activities that are more artistic or cooperative in nature.

I would just make her pick a couple clubs and do those. Or, perhaps she should consider playing a musical instrument. If she wants to do math, make sure she signs up for the school club next year.

Math Counts is highly competitive at schools like Carson, Longfellow, and Cooper. Carson has about 120 kids take the test for 30 spots in the club. That is narrowed down to 14 kids for the competition itself, 4 for the official team and 10 who participate as individuals. I am not sure what the program looks like at other schools.

Someone asked about how to get AMC scores, you can email the proctor for your kids exam and ask them. Initially you will get your kids score and then you will get a certificate for Honors, Distinguished Honors, and placement at your kids individual location after those thresholds are determined. We just got DS score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I received my child’s AMC 8 score from the AAP coordinator at his middle school. I believe they only send out emails when the kids earn honors etc.

No, they send them to everyone. The Honors and Distinguished Honors thresholds have not been determined yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

The only kids I know who take the AMC tests are the kids who are into math competitions. My kids school has not offered the AMC 8. He is at Carson and we had to find a different location for him because it wasn’t offered at the school. His ES did not offer the AMC 8 last year. I know some ES and MS offer the test.

I think it is great that your child wanted to try the AMC 8 for the challenge, that is why my kid does math competitions, he likes the more challenging problems. As in all things, you tend to do better when you prepare. Doing well in math in school is preparation and a solid math student in 8th grade should have the skills to do well on the exam. The problems are different and the timing is different but the fundamental concepts are, obviously, the same.

There is a difference in a kid who wants to try it because they are interested in seeing how they do and a kid who is taking it because their parent makes them take it. The kid who wants to try it is entering from a place curiosity and the kid who is being made to do it is not.

There are plenty of kids doing enrichment because the parents insist on it and some who are there because they want to be there. We know kids who were at RSM because their parents made them go. I suspect OPs kid is doing AoPS because OP thinks it is pushing her daughter to do well in or see her potential in math and less because the daughter wants to do AoPS. There are lots of kids in Algebra 1 in 7th grade who never did AoPS or RSM or mathnasium or Sylvan or any of that. And many of those kids do well in the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

Getting a (very) low score and feeling dumb/discouraged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

The only kids I know who take the AMC tests are the kids who are into math competitions. My kids school has not offered the AMC 8. He is at Carson and we had to find a different location for him because it wasn’t offered at the school. His ES did not offer the AMC 8 last year. I know some ES and MS offer the test.

I think it is great that your child wanted to try the AMC 8 for the challenge, that is why my kid does math competitions, he likes the more challenging problems. As in all things, you tend to do better when you prepare. Doing well in math in school is preparation and a solid math student in 8th grade should have the skills to do well on the exam. The problems are different and the timing is different but the fundamental concepts are, obviously, the same.

There is a difference in a kid who wants to try it because they are interested in seeing how they do and a kid who is taking it because their parent makes them take it. The kid who wants to try it is entering from a place curiosity and the kid who is being made to do it is not.

There are plenty of kids doing enrichment because the parents insist on it and some who are there because they want to be there. We know kids who were at RSM because their parents made them go. I suspect OPs kid is doing AoPS because OP thinks it is pushing her daughter to do well in or see her potential in math and less because the daughter wants to do AoPS. There are lots of kids in Algebra 1 in 7th grade who never did AoPS or RSM or mathnasium or Sylvan or any of that. And many of those kids do well in the class.

AoPs advertisement

[Anonymous]

The exams got done less than a week ago. I believe honors comprises of the top 5% and Distinguished honors comprises of top 1%. I don't believe it is school dependent and that data is not out yet.

OP, you know your child best. I do agree though that having a group of students or even you solving some problems with her can make the process fun. If you think pushing her works for you and her, do it.

[Anonymous]

in 2024, we didn't get the AMC results until April. But does the school know sooner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that my dd is getting 15-16/25, based on her practice tests at home. She only did about 3-4 practice tests two weeks before the real test. Should we push for honor roll next year?She is in 7th grade now. How much time do students usually spend on preparing this test to be on honor roll?

Eventually, I’d like her to try for AMC 10 and see if there is a chance for qualifying for AIME. I hope I am not doing the wrong thing for pushing her.

She is taking algebra 1 right now and finds it to be relatively easy. Because she is surrounded with many highly intelligent kids, she lacks a little bit confidence to excel in math (not the classroom math, but the more challenging question kind of math), though she’s got all As. She doesn’t know what her passion is yet, or if strong math skills would be relevant to her future passion, but She is moderately driven, meaning she cares a lot about her grades and tests in school, but not very keen to finish all her homework on AOPS.

Sorry about the rambling. Any advice from parents with similar kids would be very helpful. Thank you!

My kid is good at math but has no interest in it.
Getting to high levels of achievement in AMC cannot be done by parental force of will without crushing your child's ego.
We all hope that our kids develop a passion for something but honestly very few kids do. Very few adults do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in 2024, we didn't get the AMC results until April. But does the school know sooner?

The Proctor has the scores now. Our sons Proctor sent his out Thursday. I don’t know why some Proctors deliver the scores late. The scores for Honors and Distinguished Honors have not been released yet, that can take a month or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

Getting a (very) low score and feeling dumb/discouraged

My kid doesn’t care about that. He knows he’s not dumb and that other friends taking the test have their weekends consumed by math courses, which he doesn’t want. He got a pretty solid score in 6th going in cold so he’ll keep doing them for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that my dd is getting 15-16/25, based on her practice tests at home.

BTW, the difficulty of AMC8 has considerably grown over the last few years. If your child is taking practice tests from the 2015 or earlier time frame, expect them to do 3-5 points higher than on a test today.
Our child routinely got 23-24 on some 200x tests and just 19 on this year's. (Part of it might be the fact that it's offered on a computer, making it impossible to write on the test paper, and that the order of questions is now scrambled.) But they definitely made it harder, perhaps in response to the larger number of kids that prepare. That's one of the few areas where the level of math has actually increased.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But sometimes pushing is just pushing and not at all effective parenting. Effective parenting is putting your kid in a lot of activities, following the kid's passions, helping the kid set their own goals, and then pushing the kid to take the steps necessary to achieve them. Effective parenting might also include putting a kid in outside enrichment if the subject is important to you.

Signing a kid up for a competition in an area in which they show little passion and lack a reasonable foundation, having the kid do somewhat poorly, and then deciding that you need to make the kid practice more and try harder without addressing the kid's interest or foundational knowledge isn't effective parenting. It's just pushing.

I hope OP takes all of this to heart. OP's kid is unlikely do do well next year on AMC 8 if she isn't getting some sort of outside foundation, whether it's through RSM, AoPS, her school's math club, the local math circle, or whatever. She's also unlikely to do well or practice effectively if she isn't especially interested in the math.

See my reply above. Maybe you have not met a student that shows no passion for anything. By the way, she doesn’t hate math at all. She just doesn’t know what she likes. She hasn’t been on any math clubs before 7th grade because her ES doesn’t offer any. She missed the deadline for tryout the mathcount team at her MS. So yes, the only thing we could do this year is to have her try amc 8. Well, if she should not try amc 8, according to the score distribution, you would conclude at least half of the kids should not try because they are not ready and they must be forced by their parents.

Honestly, I am surprised at the number of kids who take the AMCs because the low scores show that most are not prepared for them.

They are not a normal 8th graders did better math test. There is more to them, a lot more. There is a reason why math programs have classes for these exams.

I have a co-worker who graduated from MIT who told me you could easily tell the difference between this students who had been competition math strong and regular math strong, the thought process is different.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware students must prepare to take it. DC is strong enough in math that he regularly scores higher than most of his enriched peers in school. He felt like trying AMC8 for a challenge. What is the downside of doing it unprepped?

The only kids I know who take the AMC tests are the kids who are into math competitions. My kids school has not offered the AMC 8. He is at Carson and we had to find a different location for him because it wasn’t offered at the school. His ES did not offer the AMC 8 last year. I know some ES and MS offer the test.

I think it is great that your child wanted to try the AMC 8 for the challenge, that is why my kid does math competitions, he likes the more challenging problems. As in all things, you tend to do better when you prepare. Doing well in math in school is preparation and a solid math student in 8th grade should have the skills to do well on the exam. The problems are different and the timing is different but the fundamental concepts are, obviously, the same.

There is a difference in a kid who wants to try it because they are interested in seeing how they do and a kid who is taking it because their parent makes them take it. The kid who wants to try it is entering from a place curiosity and the kid who is being made to do it is not.

There are plenty of kids doing enrichment because the parents insist on it and some who are there because they want to be there. We know kids who were at RSM because their parents made them go. I suspect OPs kid is doing AoPS because OP thinks it is pushing her daughter to do well in or see her potential in math and less because the daughter wants to do AoPS. There are lots of kids in Algebra 1 in 7th grade who never did AoPS or RSM or mathnasium or Sylvan or any of that. And many of those kids do well in the class.

Carson didn't have AMC8 this year?
They've had it in recent years, and it's hugely, hugely popular. Carson is one the largest few AMC8 schools in the USA!

"Mrs. Angie Cahill, a math teacher on the Legacy team, said about 250-300 students participated from RCMS."



https://carsonchronicle.com/10994/recent-posts/students-prepare-for-math-competition/


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