<p>Since the AMC is coming up soon, I decided to make this thread. My school will be taking the test on the 5th. I'll be taking the AMC 12. I hope that this year the first half won't be too hard. I've been using the first volume of the Art of Problem Solving. Has anyone else been studying for it?</p>
<p>I’m taking AMC 12! But I haven’t done any practice and I have like almost no math competition experience…am I completely screwed? I’d be completely happy with a ~100 score though.</p>
<p>I have a math team class at school, and we’ve been working past AMC 10 tests. Hopefully I’ll do better than last year 
Personally my weak points in probability and the AMC 10/12 always has 2 or 3 questions on it. </p>
<p>A 100 on AMC 12 should qualify you for AIME.</p>
<p>I have literally no math competition experience. My school doesn’t even have a math club so I have to go to a college 85 miles away to take it.</p>
<p>How should I study/practice? I know there’s practice on aops, but any other ideas?</p>
<p>I’m taking the AMC 10 A and B and I’m nervous…I’m a sophomore so it’s my last chance to take them and try to qualify for AIME because…well, let’s just say I failed last year 
OP, I’m also using the first book of AOPS!! :)</p>
<p>I’m taking the AMC 10 again. I didn’t do too well last year.</p>
<p>Took AMC 10 last year, qualified for AIME.
I have to take AMC 12 this year. I feel like it’s a lot harder than AMC10.
Best of luck to everyone! :)</p>
<p>I took an AMC 12 prep class that lasted a few months. I’m going to try to make USAMO this year!</p>
<p>Which prep class did you take? How helpful is it?</p>
<p>@zhexilu: It’s harder, but the cut-off is more lenient. I know someone who took AMC 12 as a freshman, got into AIME, but then took AMC 10 as a sophomore, and didn’t make AIME (granted, she was really sick the day of her AMC 10)</p>
<p>I’m taking AMC 10 A and B this year, really hoping for AIME qualification…last year I missed the cut-off by 3 points…
And this year I missed the cut-off for CMO (Canadian) by 2 points.</p>
<p>I’m so stressed about the AMC 12. I never heard about the AMC until this year when I saw how many admits to the schools I like did it. It hadn’t been hosted at my school for years. I got it going again, and I’ve been doing like 1-2 hours every other night in studying past exams. I’ll be eternally ****ed if I don’t get the magical 100.</p>
<p>Senior year. Maybe I’ll do better this year… My AMC 12 A was bad last year but my 12B was a question narrowed down to two answers’ guess away from qualifying. I get better every year and this may be the one to do it. </p>
<p>Arr! And yes, I’ve done the so-called “easy” test back in 2010 and “qualified” for the AIME on practice matters. Practicing the 13-14-15-16-17 range problems I think should be an approach in the time being. I never got my hands on a copy of AOPS or a class.</p>
<p>~After doing #10 on last year’s 12B, I feel bad for blanking out on it back then -.-
Got everything up through 14 except for that… And got a 94.5 by missing 15.</p>
<p>Could you answer 14 problems correctly, omit 11, and still get 100+?
I’m not sure I entirely understand the scoring.</p>
<p>6 for correct, 1.5 for unanswered, 0 for incorrect. 14 correct and 11 omit would thus be 84+16.5= 100.5</p>
<p>Correct me if I’m mistaken</p>
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<p>The AoPS one. It’s very helpful - I’m now aiming for a 130+ (as opposed to barely getting 100 a year ago).</p>
<p>I’m taking the 12A and 12B this year. Last year, I took the 10A and 12B, but I didn’t qualify for AIME. I haven’t studied much this year, either, so I don’t expect to qualify. However, since I have two chances, maybe I’ll be able to squeak by on the second.</p>
<p>Does anyone have tips for last-minute preparation? Should reviewing 5-10 past AMC 12 tests be sufficient for a decent chance at qualifying?</p>
<p>EDIT: I also have the “First Steps for Math Olympians” book. Should I study through that instead?</p>
<p>What’s the best number to answer to break 100 on the AMC12?</p>
<p>If I can answer 14/14 correctly and leave 11 blank then I get 100.5, but if I get one wrong then I go down to 94.5.
If I answer 14/15 correctly and leave 10 blank then I get 99, which isn’t over 100 but will probably still qualify for AIME.
If I get 15/15 correctly and leave 10 blank then I obviously qualify.</p>
<p>The best number to attempt if you want a surefire way to qualify would be a 19 for the AMC 10 and a 14 for the AMC 12, assuming you can figure out a significant portion of the questions in the allotted time and only answer ones that you know you got right for sure. Also, for those who don’t know, there are free online resources such as the Art of Problem Solving website. I would look at past AMC 10 and AMC 12 exams within the past few years. Make sure you know how to do most of the test items that appear before either question 15 or 20, depending on whether you’re looking at the AMC 10 or the AMC 12. Although fairly recent items are highly unlikely to show up again in a subsequent exam, some of the problems might be similar or might require similar methods for solving them.</p>
<p>Of course, if you’re aiming for something higher than the minimum qualifying score, you would probably want to know how to solve most, if not all of them. I would also try to recognize some basic formulas or axioms, especially ones that have showed up in possible solutions to prior exam problems, or some from a class which contains material that you haven’t used in a while, such as Geometry or Algebra II. The logarithmic and exponential identities, formulas for the “handshake rule”, numbers of diagonals in a polygon, permutations & combinations, sum of angles in a polygon, surface area, volume, infinite & finite arithmetic/geometric series, quadratic equations, and the area of more obscure figures (trapezoids & polygons with more than 4 sides) might be worth looking over again. It’s assumed that you have completed math at least up to Algebra II.</p>