<p>Hi I was wondering if there was anyone you know who qualified for the United States Math Olympiad with being in Ap calc Bc or lower ? What math level should you be to do good on the USAMO? Does math level matter or not?</p>
<p>First, realize that you don't need to qualify for USAMO just to get into a "good" (aka prestigious) school. It's not a requirement, and even if you do get in (which is indeed a good honor that I can never dream of) it will not guarantee admission, though it may help. </p>
<p>Ok. The AMC series of tests (AMC 12, AIME, USAMO etc) has no requirement as to what kind of math level class you should enroll in. They test everything that's precalculus and lower ... however the tests are difficult in that you need to really know how to apply your knowledge. It's not how much you know that counts, but how well you know your stuff that matters. </p>
<p>In US schools, you're not really taught how to apply your knowledge in math class, because usually you're asked to "make a calculation" or to "plug-and-chug." That's not what the AMC wants. Of course there are resources to help you prep for the AMC, but ultimately you need to learn to think like the test. A good starter is the Art of Problem Solving books. The concepts in the book may sound familiar and sometimes "easy," but when you see their practice problems taken from various competitions around the world your jaws will drop because you'll struggle at first, but you'll eventually get the flow. The AMC website, I believe, also has some practice problems for you to work on. Just google for it.</p>
<p>I hope this helps, and good luck on qualifying for the USAMO.</p>
<p>Oh one more thing: Why I talked about the AMC 12 and AIME is that you'll need to pass (meet a certain qualifying score) on both the AMC 12 and the AIME in order to qualify for the USAMO. The first two tests are already very difficult tests. And make sure you're a US citizen, because the USAMO is a qualifying test that if you do well on you'll get a place on the US team for the IMO. (of course that's waaay out there)</p>
<p>I qualified for USAMO when I was in Pre-Calc, as long as you’ve studied Algebra, Geometry, and Trig, you should be fine…</p>