I am a freshman and I took the AMC 10 for the first time last month. Before this school year, I had never done any contest math, but this year I joined my school’s math team. I did pretty well on the ICTM regional test (34), but ended up doing very badly on the AMC 10-with little preparation. Since then, I have started Art of Problem Solving’s Intro to Algebra B course, and done several practice contests. My scores have gone up slightly, usually around 75-90. I was wondering if it would be better to take the AOPS AMC 10 course, buy one of their books, or if there is a better alternative. I am aiming to get around 100-110 next year.
Update: My highest score is now 101, instead of 90
To do better on the AMCs there are many things you can do. For starters, I think you should sign up for the AMC 12 Problem Series offered by AoPS. Since there is a long time till next year’s AMC, I recommend you practice problems from other contests such as Purple Comet, HMMT, PUMaC, MMATHS, etc (as you can see, there are a TON of resources).
By the time September hits, I recommend you start doing all the tests. You should finish all of them comfortably about two weeks before the test so that you can review everything. I can’t stress this enough, but make sure that you COMPLETELY understand every solution offered by AoPS regardless of whether you got the answer right or wrong. This is crucial.
As you start getting better, I recommend you start practicing AIMEs, for they also give tricks and insights into AMC problems (a lot of AMC problems are shortlisted or modified AIME problems).
It’s definitely possible to work hard enough and qualify for USA(J)MO within a year and I know people who have done it (I personally was pretty close to doing this). In any case, good luck with your endeavors in competitive math! Make sure to enjoy it.