Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment AMC competition

I'm just curious as to how many of this board's children took the AMC 8 this year. My son took it and did pretty well. He's decided not to try the AMC 10 this year though, which I think is fine.

My DS took it and he also scored well enough to "qualify" for AMC 10.
Do you know Lorel how it works?
Online I found the expression "kids scoring so and so will be invited to participate in AMC 10" Does it mean that they will send his school a letter inviting him or should the school go ahead and register him?
We have no experience in that part, and his math teacher is kind of clueless. He wants to write AMC 10.

We are homeschoolers, so all the registration stuff came to me. I received a registration brochure for the 10 along with our test results. I believe that anyone can take the 10, though they promote it to the kids who do well on the 8. You should be able to find all the information you need on the AMC web site. I'm not sure how it works if the math teacher is clueless- maybe you can meet with him/her and make your plans.

good luck!

My daughters are preparing for AMC 10/12 this year.

2008 test days are Feb 12 and 27. These are pretty hard tests. By talent alone will probably not get the kids into next round which is AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). Top 1% of AMC 10 and top 5% of AMC 12 contestants qualifies for AIME. Kids probably need some proper training to get to that level.

Art of problem solving provides excellent distance learning classes for AMC 10/12. But it is too late for this year. You have to wait until October 2008 to sign on the classes.

By the way, AMC 10/12 as well as AIME scores carry weight. These tests are much tougher than SAI 1/2 math part and colleges know that. MIT, for example, explicitly ask for your AMC/AIME score if you have one.

AMC 10/12 is where real problem solving begins. Chenchuan is correct in saying that the vast majority of kids, who are good in math, need proper training and lots of it to be able to qualify for AIME.
I would suggest going throught Art of Problem Solving books, if you have them available, and doing old AMC 10/12 tets.

Chenchuan is right - participation in these tests and scores are important if you are planning on pursuing math or physics at a reputable university.