Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Correlations between AMC8 and AMC10?

DS/DD took the AMC8 last week. Now DS has expressed interest in taking the AMC10. I think it must be due to comments made by the proctor since I never mentioned AMC10 to DS and would not have thought to sign him up to take it since it must be a lot harder. What is the correlation between AMC8 and AMC10? In other words, how well do you think a student should score on the AMC8 before tackling the AMC10?

Not directly answering your question, but if your son finds the AMC 10 questions at http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/2000_AMC_10 interesting to work on, I don't see why he should not take the AMC 10 this year. My 6th grader will.

I'm not familiar with these tests, but on glancing at sample past tests, would I be right to say that there is a significant jump in difficulty from AMC8 to AMC10?

You have to get a 20ish on AMC8 to take the 10.

That may be the policy at your child's school for students in grades 8 and below, but the Mathematical Association of America, which administers the test, has no such rule AFAIK.

One parent previously said her son thought the AMC 10 was much harder http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....The_ultimate_brag_thread.html#Post125483 , and looking at the questions, I agree.

I think if you score high enough on the AMC8 you will be "invited" to take the AMC10. That threshold may be 20. This is the level where MAA thinks you are very strong and wants to see how you do at a higher level.

Bostonian is also right though. Anyone can register for the AMC10 if they want to. No "invitation" is needed.

From the AMC FAQ http://www.maa.org/math-competitions/about-amc/faq :

The AMC 10 is significantly more difficult than the AMC 8. There is no minimum score required to take the AMC 10.

I have general guidelines for recommending the AMC 10 for students in 8th grade and below. I consider the student's score on the AMC 8 and their attitude toward difficult problems.

In general, I recommend the AMC 10 for students in 8th grade with a score of 18 or above, 7th graders with a score of 20 or above, and students in 6th grade and below with a score of 22 and above.

I typically see three types of students in our extra curricular math program: students who are aggressive in their approach to hard problems and motivated by the challenge of a problem they can't solve, laid back students who don't really care whether they can solve a problem or not, and perfectionist students who are very frustrated when they can't solve a problem quickly or face a large number of problems they can't solve.

If the first type of student is close to the guideline score and really wants to take the AMC 10, they can. I recommend laid back students who meet or exceed the guideline score take the AMC 10. I only encourage perfectionist students who exceed the guideline scores to take it before 9th grade.

This is how I make my recommendations, but, ultimately, parents decide whether or not their children will participate.

I second Bostonian's recommendation of AoPS for AMC 10 preparation. You can find a downloadable pdf with live links on our math enrichment program website:
https://sites.google.com/site/polandbulldogmath/poland-seminary-high-school-math-club

Thanks. I find these comments very useful in deciding if/when to attempt certain competitions.