Are the AoPS AMC 10/12 classes worth taking?

Hey, not sure if this is the right forum, but I figured I would post here anyway.

I am relatively new to contest math. I am a sophomore in high school, and as far as my experience with olympiad math goes, I dabbled around with MATHCOUNTS and similar regional competitions throughout middle school, but I never took these events seriously.

I am now looking to delve deeper into contest mathematics by improving my AMC 10 score and hopefully being able to qualify for the AIME. I blindly took an AMC 10 from the past couple of years without any preparation (2014-A I think, a relatively easy one) and managed to get a 100.5, though I want to up this score to around a 120, at least a 110. My main dilemma is that I can easily cruise past the first 14-15 problems without any difficulty but I usually end up getting roadblocked by around question 16 or so, as the complexity of the problems tend to increase substantially around then. I did purchase the AoPS Volumes 1 and 2 textbooks and have been doing some problems out of the first one, though I am looking to get some actual instruction to accompany this and add some structure to my study regimen as February 2, 2016 draws closer.

Have any of you had any experience with Art of Problem Solving’s online classes, especially those pertaining to the AMC and olympiad preparation in general? Would you say that they are worth the $255?

I have overall heard plenty of great commendations about AoPS; this is why I spent $80 on the books in the first place. However, I want a second opinion to help me decide as to whether I want to enroll in the class.

Thanks a lot!

I remember taking a AMC 8/10 series when I was in 8th grade. Also, I’ve read a lot about what others think of the AMC courses on AoPS. I think the good thing about these classes is that you will get a lot of structured practice with a community to discuss problems with. However, you have to be willing to put in a lot of time to get the most of them. There are 50-60+ kids in one class and it’s easy to sort of just cruise in the background without being actively engaged in the class.

You can definitely improve with these classes, but it’s also possible just by doing problems by yourself and reading the books (which I personally love). The classes might help force you to practice and do problems regularly though.

Well it depends, I would just review or study algebra 1 and 2 in depth with a little in geometry. It depends because the classes are bit complicated to follow for me not saying for you probably. Doing this i got a 109.5 on amc 10b. For amc 12, you can make aime getting all 14/15 questions right and guessing the rest. The classes in my opinion are good but complicated

@lolkar @imbep49 Hmm, okay. From my practice, I realized that I mostly need practice with my thought process, as I all around seem to know the material well. My main concerns are the problems with factorials and probability–my teacher in 6th grade (I think) completely skipped the unit on probability and combinatorics when we were supposed to learn it, something that screwed up my foundation of contest math in years to come. Also, I just do not seem to understand how factorials work on their own and with probability, either. These are the types problems I usually get totally wrong.

What would you guys recommend I do as to learning these sorts of problems?