<p>I'm not quite sure if this is the correct place to be posting this, but I can't find anywhere better.</p>
<p>My EC's right now are almost entirely music. Don't get me wrong, I love music, but I'd like to expand my horizons in order to keep me stimulated and show colleges that I utilize my academic aptitude outside of school. I always see posters talk about AIME and other math competitions, and I'm very interested. A little info about my math education:</p>
<p>Last year, while taking Pre-Calc, I self studied Calculus AB and got a five on the exam. This year I'm taking IB Mathematics HL, and I'm self studying for the AP Calc BC, AP Statistics, and AP Comp Sci A exams. I've tutored peers in math since 7th grade, and I've gotten straight A's for a long time. Additionally, I read about math a lot (mostly discrete mathematics) and love it. </p>
<p>How can I get involved in national math competitions? Which ones should I do? I know I'm not a prodigy or anything, but I'd like to at least try.</p>
<p>Mu Alpha Theta is one math competition. A lot of schools participate in it. </p>
<p>The only problem is that you can only participate in the math you are currently studying. You can’t be taking Calculus and partake in the Algebra I competition :p. And the competitions start around January … </p>
<p>But you won’t have completed your math course by January. So - you pretty much have to know all of Calculus by January if you even want to have a chance. If you don’t know all your Calculus, you are dead in the water. Don’t even bother showing up. </p>
<p>But since you are really smart, I’m sure you’ll have Calculus down in a couple months, before the MAO competitions :). </p>
<p>Make sure to look at the past tests as well. Below is the Florida MAO test bank. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply! I checked out the link, and a lot of the calculus tests are well within my range of knowledge. I’m definitely going to try to finish the Calc BC material by October and either further my studies during the year or just practice until it becomes second nature. I’m new to my school this year, so I’m not entirely sure of the pacing of Math HL, but I know that it covers up through diff. equations by the end of year 2. </p>
<p>Are most competitions with teams? Or are any individual competitions?</p>
<p>The American Mathematics Contest (AMC) is probably the most recognized math competition. Search up how to get your school to participate. If you do well at AMC (school-wide level), then you can go to AIME (regional) and then USAMO (national, bound for hyp level).</p>
<p>The AMC, AIME, and USAMO are all part of the national math olympiad exams, so technically the AIME is a national test still. I know that most of the time schools make students take the AMC in school and AIME qualifiers in a region will take the AIME, but the AIME still counts as a national test. It is very difficult to qualify for USAMO (you first have to pass the AMC to the AIME and score well on the AIME so your selection index is high enough). A few hundred thousand students take the AMCs every year and around 10000-20000 (varies by year) qualify to take the AIME, with around 270 students qualifying for USAMO and 230 qualifying for USAJMO. </p>
<p>Go to the AMC website and take some practice AMC tests to see how you’ll do. If you can easily do well on those then work on AIME practice tests. It’s a lot of work to make USAMO but it is definitely fun and rewarding. I think the average score on the AIME is a 3/15 and the qualifying AIME score for the AMC 12 is usually 100. Good luck, and have fun!</p>
<p>^In the last two years, the AMC 12 qualifying scores have been 88.5, 88.5, 93.0, and 97.5. These years’ exams have been significantly more difficult than the ones in years before, and we can expect that to continue. The AIME I also became more difficult this year, so the average score was probably around 1 or 2. We don’t know if that’s going to continue, though - AIME II was significantly easier than AIME I, so it could have just been a fluke.</p>