American Mathematics Contest
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The American Mathematics Contest (AMC) is the first of a series of competitions in high school mathematics that determines the United States Math Team, which competes in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Until 2000, it was known as the American High School Mathematics Examination (AHSME). The contest was established in 1950.
There are three levels:
- the AMC 8 is for students in grades 8 and below
- the AMC 10 is for students in grades 10 and below
- the AMC 12 is for students in grades 12 and below
Students who perform well on the AMC 10 or AMC 12 exams are invited to participate in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination.
Contents |
Rules and scoring
AMC 8
The AMC 8 has 25 multiple-choice questions and is to be taken in 40 minutes. Calculators are allowed.
The AMC 8 is scored based on the number of questions answered correctly only. There is no penalty for getting a question wrong, and each question has equal value. Thus, a student who answers 23 questions correctly and 2 questions incorrectly receives a score of 23.
AMC 10 and AMC 12
The AMC 10 and AMC 12 each have 25 questions, and each is to be taken in 75 minutes. Calculators are allowed.
Each exam is scored based on the number of questions answered correctly and the number of questions left blank. A student receives 6 points for each question answered correctly and 2.5 points for each question left blank. (Incorrect answers contribute 0 points). Thus, a student who answers 18 correctly, leaves 5 blank, and misses 2 gets 18*6 + 5*2.5 = 120.5 points. The maximum possible score is 6*25 = 150 points.
In 2000 and 2001, 2.0 points were given for each question left blank. The number was changed to 2.5 in order to increase the penalty for random guessing, and to make the scoring system more consistent with the AHSME scoring of the 1990's, in which 2 points were given for a question left blank and 5 points were given for a correct answer (the AHSME had 30 questions instead of 25, so a perfect score was still 150).
Starting in 2007, the point value for a blank response will be reduced to 1.5. According to the 2005 awards booklet, this is to discourage students from leaving a large number of questions blank in order to assure qualification for the AIME.
Note: Some of this material is taken from How to Prepare for the AMC Exams, with permission from the original author.
History
| Years | Name | No. of questions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950-1951 | Annual High School Contest | 50 | New York state only |
| 1952-1959 | Nationwide | ||
| 1960-1966 | 40 | ||
| 1967-1972 | 35 | ||
| 1973 | Annual High School Mathematics Examination | 35 | |
| 1974-1982 | 30 | ||
| 1983-1999 | American High School Mathematics Examination | 30 | AIME introduced in 1983 AJHSME introducted in 1985 |
| 2000-present | American Mathematics Contest | 25 | AHSME split into AMC10 and AMC12 |
See also
External links
- The Official AMC Home Page
- How to Prepare for the AMC Exams
- The IMO Compendium - huge collection of problems from mathematical competitions, and the most complete collection of IMO shortlists and longlists.