<p>Are the AMC's worth it? even the 8th grade one (AMC8)? and how can you take it without your school administering it?</p>
<p>They are worth it if you like math 
By the 8th grade one, do you mean AMC 8? There’s good info on the MAA’s website [MAA</a> American Mathematics Competitions - AMC](<a href=“http://www.unl.edu/amc]MAA”>http://www.unl.edu/amc) about how to register if your school doesn’t use it. I’m too lazy to find it now, but if you can’t find it, tell me.</p>
<p>It’s a fun test. I took the AMC 12 this year and qualified for AIME. I didn’t really prepare, so I knew I wasn’t going to get an amazing score or anything, but it was still fun. If you’re young it may be worth putting in some effort so you can qualify for USAMO by 11th grade and put it on college apps.</p>
<p>You don’t do things because their “worth it,” you do things either because you’re obliged to or because it’s fun.</p>
<p>The academic olympiads are done and won by people who enjoy working on that subject. If you do well, it means you’re in the top percentage of students across America and (if you’re really good) the world, and that certainly counts for something.</p>
<p>I want to do it… but i don’t know if it is worth the effort and money to buy ALL the tests for my school just so i can take the test.</p>
<p>Wait, YOU would have to pay for ALL the tests? huh?</p>
<p>you would if your school doesn’t administer it.</p>
<p>You sure the school won’t pay? Find other people, split the cost. It’s like 80 dollars or something. (Of course, you still need to find a proctor to administer the test).</p>
<p>Or, you could see if a local university administers the test (the site will post a list of participating institutions closer to the test date). I didn’t have to pay to take the B test at KU.</p>
<p>If you’re good at math, and invest some time studying, I think it’s well worth it.</p>
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<p>Yeah, I took it for free at UCLA.</p>
<p>We used to take the AMC in my school but we all used it as an excuse to miss class and not study for tests - we’d get like 56 and be like Whoa! I didn’t get a 0!
*Our school is no longer administering the test LOL !</p>
<p>Ya it’s totally worth it!!! If it was not for the AMC 8, theres no way I would have found out about any of these high school math competitions. By taking the AMC in 8th grade, I then found about Art of Problem Solving (after googling AMC), and a ton of amazing math things online, and that with lots of studying + doing problems from that website/math class, it basically changed my life because now I want to major in something math related in college instead of something in biology (as I thought in middle school). Basically, I am really thankful that my middle school offered the AMC 8 because without my middle school offering it, there’s no way I would have made USAMO now in high school, as I discovered my love for math then.</p>
<p>It’s not only fun, but it’s very challenging and it makes you think outside of the box.</p>
<p>EDIT: if you want to study, just type in AOPS into google.</p>