Anyone else taking the AIME I on March 7th? I’m really nervous - any tips?
Hey! I’ve taken the AIME a couple of times and I definitely recommend checking out artofproblemsolving.com. It’s a great forum site with a ton of mathletes. If you’re looking for the pages specifically about the AMC and AIME, here it is: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c5_contests_amp_programs.
I’m guessing this is your first time. Relax. It’s a 3 hour test with 15 questions.This test is mentally exhausting. Depending on your goals and what your level of math is, spend most of the 3 hours tackling the first 8 problems. You can take a look at the last 7, but they’re close to impossible to solve unless you’re at a high level of math. This will be my fourth time taking the AIME and the highest number of problems I’ve solved has been 7 (which is still really good and I’m proud of it!). Being an AIME qualifier is already a huge accomplishment so congrats!
Bring a water bottle and some snacks that are easy to eat. I’d recommend some grapes, string cheese, pretzels, cliff bar, etc. Get a good night’s sleep and just remember to RELAX.
@AIME2017 I took AIME six times in high school, highest score was 11.
I agree with @myfuture09 - AoPS has a wealth of resources for AIME prep, although with the test in two days, there isn’t really that much you can do besides the usual “get a good night’s sleep,” etc.
Here’s an important tip: when you do work/calculations, write neatly and be organized. I got an 8 on AIME one year when I easily could’ve gotten a 12, and one of my mistakes was writing a “2” instead of a “3” when evaluating a polynomial on a harder problem, and another was forgetting to divide by 3 on a counting problem.
Of course, bring snacks and water, but nothing too sugary.