Some of the math competition questions are really easy but you are correct that at least the difficult questions are more challenging and more indicative of math talent. However, I think that fluency is also a big factor for the AMC8. In any case, the math compentitions are not standardized and for someone like my DS, they are pretty much worthless as a measure of progress. I had DS take about a half dozen of the recent actual AMC8 tests and his scores fluctuate a lot.