That answers the question well. Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Hi, another confused parent, why would I have DC take this test, isn’t this more stress and work? Is it good for college applications

Mine takes them because he thinks that it is fun. I have no idea how long he will find it fun but for now, he does. I encourage it because he enjoys studying math and those are great skills to build and grow. He is in 7th grade so the math he is studying and working with is the foundation of future math. A bonus is that math at school is not stressful for him. Maybe he burns out on competitions, just like some kids burn out on a sport. For now he chooses to try out for math teams and he is willing to do the extra work associated with those teams.

Why does he do it? He likes math and he has had real success in competitions. He normally finishes in the 99th percentile for his grade level competitions. He placed in the 80th percentile on the AMC10 this year and we think in the 99th percentile for the AMC 8, he scored a 23/25.

Doing well on the exams can be good for college applications, but the scores that really help for college are going to be kids in the top 2% or so of the kids taking these exams. AIME is good but you are really looking for the USMO to impress most colleges. That said, a kid who enjoys competitions and participates in math club/math team and does well on math competitions through high school can demonstrate a passion, which colleges are looking for, and leadership in clubs, which is helpful. But without the super high test results it is probably no different then a kid in a club for 4 years.

We don’t have him take the class and the tests, we offer the choice and he chooses to take them.

Anonymous wrote:Best AMC/AIME tutors are those TJ graduates who made USAMO and beyond. For example, search MIT students who graduated from TJ.

Agreed. Find agencies that have former usamo competitiors as coaches

Best AMC/AIME tutors are those TJ graduates who made USAMO and beyond. For example, search MIT students who graduated from TJ.

Hi, another confused parent, why would I have DC take this test, isn’t this more stress and work? Is it good for college applications

Thank you, this is quite helpful!

Concise detailed summary

https://www.olympiadinsider.com/amc-10-12

Anonymous wrote:I stumbled into this thread and am curious how the AMC process works. Is this something that is done through school or totally separate? My DC is the top math student at their AAP center school without much effort, and genuinely loves math. I’m wondering if we need to start seeking more challenging math elsewhere but am a bit overwhelmed with where to start and how the AMC stuff works. Appreciate any advice.

AMC 10 (10th graders and below) and AMC 12 (12th grade and below) are national , incredibly prestigious contests that happen each year. Top 5-10% are chosen to take round 2, the American invitational math exam. This is the goal for many students. Qualification is an amazing achievement, especially for underclassmen. Qualification for the Third round is much more difficult. It is the usamo/usajmo, and qualifying is enough to single-handedly influence a college application decision to all but the most competitive schools (HYPSM). Top 0.3%ish each year qualify for round 3. Most schools host amc, but if yours doesn’t, you can contact neighboring schools. Like OP mentioned, a good tutor is incredibly helpful if you want to maximize your chances

Anonymous wrote:I stumbled into this thread and am curious how the AMC process works. Is this something that is done through school or totally separate? My DC is the top math student at their AAP center school without much effort, and genuinely loves math. I’m wondering if we need to start seeking more challenging math elsewhere but am a bit overwhelmed with where to start and how the AMC stuff works. Appreciate any advice.

AMC is a math competition. You sign up for it and go to a location to take it.

There are math competition classes/programs that some kids participate in, we use RSMs Math Competition Program. Some kids use books at home, like Beast Academy. Some kids study off of Khan Academy. Some kids participate in math club, if their school has one. Different approaches work for different kids. DS does RSM MCP, math club at school, and is on a team for the Purple Comet math competition. He is a 7th grader.

I stumbled into this thread and am curious how the AMC process works. Is this something that is done through school or totally separate? My DC is the top math student at their AAP center school without much effort, and genuinely loves math. I’m wondering if we need to start seeking more challenging math elsewhere but am a bit overwhelmed with where to start and how the AMC stuff works. Appreciate any advice.

Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone! This is the OP. DS ended up qualifying for AIME with AMC 10A (just barely) this year and scored a 4 on AIME. He did better on AMC 10B but cutoff was higher. We are thankful for everyone's advice and also our tutor from https://olympiadinsider.com for guiding him every week. but DS also did a lot of hard work, with at least 1 hour a day after school and 2+ hours on weekend. For parents considering: even the best tutor requires DC to put in effort. a tutor cannot transfer knowledge if the DC is not willing to put in the efforts. but if you have a child who is willing to work hard, you owe it to them to give them a good teacher. Thanks again for everyone's feedback and suggestion. AOPS book have great practice problems

Congrats. Making AIME from less than half a year of studying is very impressive. Your son must have worked very hard!!

DD were enrolled in AoPS amc 10 class. She did the homework but still did not qualify aime. Did I do something wrong as a parent? What is everyone doing that is getting 130+ on amc?? We barely made 90 points on the 10b which is supposedly “easier” one

Thanks for sharing. We also used the tutoring service, but not on a regular basis. Our DS has been trying to make usajmo for past few years. He did ok on amc 10a but really did well on 10b (130s). His aime score was competitive for JMO (will not share for privacy). We think this is because last summer we hired Olympiad insider as a consulting, basically someone to keep our sons self study on track by meeting once a month. AMC expert was very responsive via email whenever we had questions, even if we did not book a session with him for a while.

Hi everyone! This is the OP. DS ended up qualifying for AIME with AMC 10A (just barely) this year and scored a 4 on AIME. He did better on AMC 10B but cutoff was higher. We are thankful for everyone's advice and also our tutor from https://olympiadinsider.com for guiding him every week. but DS also did a lot of hard work, with at least 1 hour a day after school and 2+ hours on weekend. For parents considering: even the best tutor requires DC to put in effort. a tutor cannot transfer knowledge if the DC is not willing to put in the efforts. but if you have a child who is willing to work hard, you owe it to them to give them a good teacher. Thanks again for everyone's feedback and suggestion. AOPS book have great practice problems

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you’re looking for a tutor, I’ve heard about https://olympiadinsider.com/tutoring

Let me know how it goes if you give them a try; we are looking for an amc 8 tutor as well

Apparently these amc exams are more about strategy than actual math these days… so much for a math competition

Not true, unless you are counting "get a copy of the test in advance" as a strategy, which was popular this year.

They are about knowing all of a very specific set of material, and drilling to increase speed, though, if you want to be one of the highest free scores.

The get a copy of the test is a proven and popular strategy with the many of the TJ hopefuls at least in t he not too distant past.

MAA disqualify all the cheater. Don’t lie