<p>Hey, all! </p>
<p>How hard is the AMC/AIME? Is it mostly a test of what you know or is it more of a "thinking creatively/outside the box" type test? How hard is it relative to SAT I and SAT II maths? </p>
<p>I ask because I'd really like to try taking it, but I'm not sure if there's any chance I'd get to AIME...</p>
<p>-Arachnotron</p>
<p>What's AMC/AIME?</p>
<p>American Mathematics Competition</p>
<p>bump, anyone? antimmy, you're the resident math expert...what do you think of the AMC and/or AIME?</p>
<p>They are more thinking out of the box type tests. The questions are deceptively easy - I understand them just fine and it's been 30+ years before I had to do anything harder than use simple trig, the answers however aren't so easy to come up with. The AIME is similar just harder. My son never got even half correct although he was one of the best math students in his highschool. There are sample questions on the AMC site. Here are the archives for the AMC12. AMC</a> 12</p>
<p>What did your son get on his SAT/SAT II math?</p>
<p>^ SAT math is not an indicator of how well you will do. AMC is much, much harder.</p>
<p>I think people who do well on the AMC/AIME [and above] generally would score close to 800 on the SAT-M because they're used to seeing tricks and stuff in the questions. Multiple times, I've incorrectly answered AIME questions just because I misread the question. Sounds silly, but when you have 3 hrs to solve 15 Qs (AIME format) without a calculator, your mind thinks differently.
The level of math needed to solve the majority of the questions on both the AMC and AIME require nothing advanced other than algebra, geometry, trig. It's just the way to solve it takes forever to figure out sometimes.</p>
<p>For comparison, i got 800 SAT-M and SATII-M2. But a little over 100 (/150) on the AMC12 and a 3 (/15) on the AIME the first time. Last year, I got about 110/150 and 6/15 (my third year!). They're a real challenge</p>
<p>My school doesnt participate in AMC/AIME =[</p>
<p>Hah, we don't have anything. My college app is going to look pretty empty.</p>
<p>AMC and AIME = way harder than SAT Reasoning/SAT Math II, but this is in part because both SAT math tests are complete jokes.</p>
<p>I don't participate in AMC or AIME unfortunately.
I, however, am involved with UIL Number Sense and UIL Mathematics.</p>
<p>From my experience with these two, these types tests are basically based on your reasoning ability.
It is not straightforward like Math II. You have to use what you know to figure out how to do a specific problem.</p>
<p>As tomjonesistheman and sam31591 said, it is alot harder.</p>
<p>btw, I really madmire this kid, he got a perfect 150 on the AMC twice in a row.
AMC</a> results: Alex Zhai earns perfect score on AMC 12 for second straight year | Online Gargoyle</p>
<p>The AMC was kind of easy (well for me, anyway. I took Linear Algebra and MVC as a sophomore).</p>
<p>AIME is pretty tough, though.</p>
<p>AMC is definitely more "thinking outside the box" type of stuff. I'm sure you know all the tools; it's just that for the AMC, you have to apply said tools in clever ways. AMC-10 doesn't go past Algebra 2, I think. AMC-12 doesn't either, really, but it's just generally tougher.</p>
<p>AIME is the second round, if you qualify after the AMC. It's kind of tough. They take your AIME score and combine it with your AMC score to see if you qualify for the 3rd round, the USAMO.</p>
<p>I've taken the test for 2 years now, and I haven't gotten to the USAMO either time. Unfortunate.</p>
<p>Wow that Alex kid is crazy. How can you even get close to 100% ?? I'm sweating just to get into AIME..</p>
<p>I took the AMC 8 twice, 10 once, and 12 three times, all seemed pretty easy, I got whatever award there was for the 8 both years, I missed the cut when I took the 10, and got around a 120 all 3 times I took the 12. On the three AIME's I took, I got a 1, 4, and 6 in consecutive years. But this year (Class of 08) we had 2 people take the USAMO from our school, and they claim that that was even more impossible than AIME, AMC.</p>
<p>The AMC and AIME are significantly more challenging than the SAT & SATII.</p>
<p>AMC is pretty easy.
AIME is super hard.</p>
<p>I do believe there is some calc on AIME...but both of these competitions (you take amc to qualify for aime) are easy math curriculum-wise...but insanely difficult in problem solving technique. You basically need an overall sense of fluency in mathematics to succeed more than being able to get an A+/4.0 in a hard math class. Classes promote curriculum; AMC promotes critical thinking skills. So it wouldn't surprise me to see AMC students getting 800s on the SAT math section.</p>
<p>Anyways, to answer your question more explicitly: yes, it is a "thinking creatively/outside the box" type test. Relative difficulty is hard to say...I believe that the amount of math curriculum tested is around SAT Math II level, although AIME goes a little higher.</p>
<p>Okay, cool. I like tests that emphasize creativity. I think I'll give it a shot. Thanks, all!</p>
<p>Arachnotron, if you have time, check out the sample exams at the AMC site. My son was greatly helped also by having done MathCounts in middle school.</p>
<p>To add: I agree SAT is a very different kettle of fish. He got 790 on the Math 1 subject test, an 800 on the Math 2 subject test and his best score on the SAT 1 in math was a 770. (He made really dumb mistakes both times he took the SAT 1, misread questions or forgot steps on easy problems.)</p>
<p>I think he got a 129 on the AMC-12 and a 5 was the best score he got on the AIME.</p>
<p>bdDBer: There is no calc on the AMC, AIME, USAMO, or IMO. In fact, hardly any high school math competitions contain any calculus--the only exceptions I know of are Stanford/Rice and Harvard/MIT, and those have an event devoted entirely to calculus that is optional.</p>
<p>Your reference to "an overall fluency in mathematics" is right on the money. At the lower levels (about the first half of the AMC12), the questions are basically testing what you know, but before you can use what you know, you have to recognize what kind of problem you're dealing with, and what techniques you can bring to bear on it. This can seem very hard at first, but with good practice becomes natural. The second half (approximately) of AMC12 and all of the AIME are "thinking out of the box" questions, in which you have to apply what you know in completely new ways. For that reason, the AIME can be a very big jump in difficulty when you first take it. That also gets better with practice, though; by my last year taking the AIME, the first 3-5 problems didn't seem like that big of a jump over the last 5 on AMC12.</p>