Bad AMC score... should I bother putting it in?

<p>Hello everyone in the MIT board :-) Yeah I've been filling out the app and I'm wondering if it would hurt me more to enter in my bad AMC score (88.5), or to just leave it blank. Every time I've taken this test my IQ seems to have gone down about thirty or so points... lol. Thanks in advance for any advice. Btw I'm SERIOUSLY going to score 115+ next time out of annoyance with myself.</p>

<p>is that on the amc 12 or the amc 10?</p>

<p>On the AMC 12.</p>

<p>not bad, go ahead.</p>

<p>I would omit an 88.5, but that's just me... I guess it probably depends on your major.</p>

<p>Dont omit it...that would look like you never took it...and if they know your school offers it, they might say your not taking initiative, although i doubt itll really affect your decision</p>

<p>I went to a super nerdy high school that required everyone to take the AMC. When I saw that there was a spot for my score on the application, I asked some math teacher to dig around and find my score- I didn't even know what it was offhand, all I know is that I never qualified for anything and was really not very good. I put it on anyway, and you should really do the same. It's such an optional test that most people don't take anyway, they're not going to hold it against you or anything.</p>

<p>haha i went to a super nerdy school that didn't require everyone to take AMC
but 750 people signed up and paid $3 to take it anyways...... they had to come before school started too!!
I think 88.5 isn't bad, especially since if it was the A from last year since the cut off for that was a lil lower than 100. Having it there is definitely better than nothing!</p>

<p>Wow, awesome turnout of responses! Looks like I'll definitely put it in the app, thanks :-) And yeah it was the 12A.</p>

<p>It's a respectable score, but it obviously won't win you any points at a place like MIT. From what I remember, the test is in early February and the results come out pretty quickly. If you get a new score that's 100 or better, I would mail it in. Even though it's multiple choice, I think the best strategy is not to guess on the test even if you have narrowed it down to two choices. In my experience, people usually hurt their scores by guessing because of the penalty. </p>

<p>I agree with others that you should put it on the application if you go to a school that requires you to take it. It might look weird if every other applicant from your school has the AMC score and you don't. If you were from a school that doesn't require it, I would leave it off.</p>

<p>It's not bad; send it in. :)</p>

<p>It shows that you are interested enough in math to bother. I don't know how the scoring works, but from others' comments, it sounds like it would not indicate that you are too untalented to do MIT work. So it doesn't seem like there's a reason not to include it, unless your app is so packed with better stuff that you don't have room.</p>

<p>^^I wouldn't say the score suggests that the OP can't handle MIT work either. I just don't think it will help the application at all. </p>

<p>FYI, if the test is like it used to be, there are 30 questions. For a right answer you get 5 points. A wrong answer is -2 or -3, I don't remember exactly. And an omission is 0 points. If you get 20 out of 30 correct and omit the remaining 10, you get a score of 100 (out of possible 150) and you qualify for AIME. So the OP was like 3 questions away from qualifying.</p>

<p>Actually, they changed the scoring a bit. If I remember right from February, each question right was 6 points, each question not answered was 2.5 points, each question answered wrong was 0 points. There were only 25 questions, and anything over 100 qualified except for the AMC 12A this year, apparently they lowered it to 97.5 or something. </p>

<p>I actually got an 84 and put it on the MIT application, though I had a bit of a story regarding AMC... but I would definitely put it on there - at least you took it.</p>

<p>its 6/1.5/0 for right/omitted/incorrect</p>

<p>if I were you I'd omit it. putting an 88.5 cannot help you, but might hurt you.
unless you go to a well-known school where admissions people definitely know AMCs are offered, leaving it off might just lead them to assume your school doesn't offer it.</p>

<p>It will not hurt you. It's not even a required test! All it shows was that you had the ambition/drive/interest in math to take the test.</p>

<p>and this year... no more calculator T_T i am gonna miss my ti 89
okay for the AMC series... >.<
both AMC 10 and AMC 12 are 25 questions with 75 minutes.
6 for an right answer
1.5 for omitted (used to be 2.5 before 2007)
0 for wrong answers.
120 in AMC 10 and 100 in AMC 12 to qualify for AIME ( except in specially cases, when the qualifying score is a bit lowers)
Last year about 8000+ people made the AIME (from all grades)
AIME is 15 question -3 hours. integer answers from 0-999
and to qualify for USAMO you get your AIME score x10 + your highest AMC score and if that is above a certain cut off which is different every year. there used to be only 250 people that qualify for the USAMO, now they expanded to 500 people. that is about 200 USAMO qualifiers every graduating year.
88.5 can't hurt you</p>

<p>I would put it on. It is only a couple questions from AIME qualifying.</p>

<p>while everyone is talking about scores...do you think that having 1 yr C (...for an AP class) on my grade report will destroy my chances. I got a 4 on the AP exam.</p>

<p>just wondering</p>

<p>^^depends on which class.</p>