New selection process for the 2012 USA IMO team

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0 replies

jlacosta

Apr 2, 2025

0 replies

9 Which math contest is your favorite?

mdk2013 61

N 26 minutes ago by mdk2013

links for details on each comp

https://alphastar.academy/amc-8/
https://www.mathcounts.org/
https://alphastar.academy/amc-10-12-info-and-preparation/
https://alphastar.academy/aime/
https://alphastar.academy/cemc-contest/
https://www.hmmt.org/
https://maa.org/student-programs/amc/
https://www.randommath.com/tournaments/cemc#:~:text=What%20is%20CEMC%3F,for%20the%20more%20advanced%20grade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_America_Mathematical_Olympiad#:~:text=AMC%2010%20based.-,2010,be%20invited%20to%20the%20JMO.
https://www.imo-official.org/
https://www.bamo.org/

i think thats all the major ones, comment if you have any more that i forgot to include

upvote if you're like me and you think MATHCOUNTS is obv better!

EDIT: i forgot ARML and JBMO, comment if you like those

61 replies

mdk2013

Mar 30, 2025

mdk2013

26 minutes ago

usamOOK geometry

KevinYang2.71 93

N an hour ago by Bonime

Source: USAMO 2025/4, USAJMO 2025/5

Let $H$ be the orthocenter of acute triangle $ABC$ , let $F$ be the foot of the altitude from $C$ to $AB$ , and let $P$ be the reflection of $H$ across $BC$ . Suppose that the circumcircle of triangle $AFP$ intersects line $BC$ at two distinct points $X$ and $Y$ . Prove that $C$ is the midpoint of $XY$ .

93 replies

KevinYang2.71

Mar 21, 2025

Bonime

an hour ago

2025 Math and AI 4 Girls Competition: Win Up To $1,000!!!

audio-on 21

N 3 hours ago by mkwhe

Join the 2025 Math and AI 4 Girls Competition for a chance to win up to $1,000!

Hey Everyone, I'm pleased to announce the dates for the 2025 MA4G Competition are set!
Applications will open on March 22nd, 2025, and they will close on April 26th, 2025 (@ 11:59pm PST).

Applicants will have one month to fill out an application with prizes for the top 50 contestants & cash prizes for the top 20 contestants (including $1,000 for the winner!). More details below!

Eligibility:
The competition is free to enter, and open to middle school female students living in the US (5th-8th grade).
Award recipients are selected based on their aptitude, activities and aspirations in STEM.

Event dates:
Applications will open on March 22nd, 2025, and they will close on April 26th, 2025 (by 11:59pm PST)
Winners will be announced on June 28, 2025 during an online award ceremony.

Application requirements:
Complete a 12 question problem set on math and computer science/AI related topics
Write 2 short essays

Prizes:
1st place: $1,000 Cash prize
2nd place: $500 Cash prize
3rd place: $300 Cash prize
4th-10th: $100 Cash prize each
11th-20th: $50 Cash prize each
Top 50 contestants: Over $50 worth of gadgets and stationary

Many thanks to our current and past sponsors and partners: Hudson River Trading, MATHCOUNTS, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Automation Anywhere, JP Morgan Chase, D.E. Shaw, and AI4ALL.

Math and AI 4 Girls is a nonprofit organization aiming to encourage young girls to develop an interest in math and AI by taking part in STEM competitions and activities at an early age. The organization will be hosting an inaugural Math and AI 4 Girls competition to identify talent and encourage long-term planning of academic and career goals in STEM.

Contact:
mathandAI4girls@yahoo.com

For more information on the competition:
https://www.mathandai4girls.org/math-and-ai-4-girls-competition

More information on how to register will be posted on the website. If you have any questions, please ask here!

21 replies

audio-on

Jan 26, 2025

mkwhe

3 hours ago

Question about USAMO, self esteem, and college

xHypotenuse 25

N 3 hours ago by anticodon

Hello everyone. I know this question may sound ridiculous/neagtive but I really want to know how the rest of the community thinks on this issue. Please excuse this yap session and feel free to ignore this post if it doesn't make sense, I don't think I really have a sane mind these days and something has gotten into my head.

I want your advice on what I should do in this situation. It has been my dream to make usamo since ~second semester of 9th grade and I started grinding from that time on. Last year, I qualified for the aime and got a 5. This year I really wanted to qualify for the olympiad and studied really hard. I spent my entire summer working on counting and probability, the subject I suck at the most. And yet, on amc 12, I fumbled hard. I usually mocked ~120-130s on amc 10s but on amc 12 this year, I got really mediocre scores ~100. So I had no chance of making usamo.

So during winter of 2024-2025 I kinda gave up on aime studying and I was like "hey, if I can't get into usamo, maybe ill qualify for usapho." Since I was pretty good at physics at that time. So I spended my winter hard grinding for f=ma and guess what? The test had stupid and ridiculous questions and I only got an 11. What really sucks is that even with the stupid amount of cheaters in f=ma, if I changed all of my "D" guesses to "C," then I would have qualified. Since I solved 10 actually and guessed the rest. Absolutely unfair that only 1 of my guesses were correct.

And also since I didn't study for aime, I ended up being super rusty and so I only got a 7. Solved 9 tho. (I usually can consistently solve 10+ on aimes).

And now here's my senior year and ofc I want to apply to a prestigious college. But it feels stupid that I don't have any usamo or usapho titles like the people I know do. I think I will have good essays primarily due to a varied amount of life experiences but like, I don't feel like I will contribute much to the college without being some prestigious olympiad qualifier. So this led to me having a self esteem issue.

This also led me to the question: should I study one last year so that I can get into usamo in my senior year, or is there no point? Since like, colleges don't care about whatever the hell you do in your senior year, and also, it seems just 'weird' to be grinding math contests while the rest of the people from my school are playing around, etc. So this time around I've really been having an internal crisis between my self esteem (since getting into usamo will raise my self esteem a lot) and college/senior choices.

I know this may seem like a dumb question to some and you are free to completely ignore the post. That's fine. I just really want advice for what I should do in this situation and it would really help bring my life quality up

Thanks,
hypotenuse

25 replies

+1 w

xHypotenuse

Yesterday at 2:03 AM

anticodon

3 hours ago

No more topics!

New selection process for the 2012 USA IMO team

AMCDirector 145

N Nov 29, 2012 by AMCDirector

For the 2012 IMO team from the USA the AMC is adopting a new team selection process. The details are enumerated on the AMC website in the Frequently Asked Questions, MOSP #5
http://amc.maa.org/faq/faq.shtml#mosp
and it is repeated at the end of the announcement about the 2011 IMO team
http://amc.maa.org/imo/2011imo.shtml

Steve Dunbar
MAA Director. American Mathematics Competitions

145 replies

AMCDirector

Jun 23, 2011

AMCDirector

Nov 29, 2012

New selection process for the 2012 USA IMO team

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AMCDirector

851 posts

AMCDirector

#1 h Jun 23, 2011, 9:39 PM • 21 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 19 other users

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AIME15

7892 posts

AIME15

#2 h Jun 23, 2011, 10:35 PM • 3 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

Are all students at MOP taking the TSTST?

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JSGandora

4216 posts

JSGandora

#3 h Jun 23, 2011, 10:46 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Does this mean that people can only make the IMO team if they took the TSTST the year before?

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g.c.boxd

181 posts

g.c.boxd

#4 h Jun 23, 2011, 10:48 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

^^If JSGandora is right, this pretty much eliminates all the upcoming seniors who did not qualify for mop this year (and who may be pretty smart)...right?

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zephyredx

430 posts

zephyredx

#5 h Jun 23, 2011, 11:03 PM • 6 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 4 other users

g.c.boxd wrote:

^^If JSGandora is right, this pretty much eliminates all the upcoming seniors who did not qualify for mop this year (and who may be pretty smart)...right?

I raised this issue at MOP. Historically, this would not have changed much, as most team members had gone to MOP at least once before making the team.

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AIME15

7892 posts

AIME15

#6 h Jun 23, 2011, 11:13 PM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

Also, how will this affect the MOP selection process for 2012?

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Yongyi781

2142 posts

Yongyi781

#7 h Jun 23, 2011, 11:40 PM • 5 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users

zephyredx wrote:

g.c.boxd wrote:

^^If JSGandora is right, this pretty much eliminates all the upcoming seniors who did not qualify for mop this year (and who may be pretty smart)...right?

I raised this issue at MOP. Historically, this would not have changed much, as most team members had gone to MOP at least once before making the team.

Like MOP sophomore year, no MOP junior year, and MOP senior year? Oh noes...

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g.c.boxd

181 posts

g.c.boxd

#8 h Jun 23, 2011, 11:57 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Ok and also Zeb Brady (according to the movie Hard Problems, a documentary of the 2006 imo team) came out of nowhere with scores high enough to make the team. He also ended up getting a gold medal at the IMO.
This leads me to believe that that Zeb had never made Mop before (i couldnt find any facts to support this though), and if he were trying to make the team under these rules, he wouldnt be eligible. (of course, I could be wrong and he COULDVE made mop before)

Hard Problems wrote:

Zuming is intrigued by Zeb Brady, who came out of nowhere with scores high enough to make the team

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caracat

29 posts

caracat

#9 h Jun 24, 2011, 12:26 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

JSGandora wrote:

Does this mean that people can only make the IMO team if they took the TSTST the year before?

Well, the final selection seems to be based on voting rather than raw score, so maybe if you do something really awesome like get 42 on USAMO they'll consider you even if you didn't take the TSTST? I'm probably wrong though

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shtsxc12

41 posts

shtsxc12

#10 h Jun 24, 2011, 12:52 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

zephyredx wrote:

g.c.boxd wrote:

^^If JSGandora is right, this pretty much eliminates all the upcoming seniors who did not qualify for mop this year (and who may be pretty smart)...right?

I raised this issue at MOP. Historically, this would not have changed much, as most team members had gone to MOP at least once before making the team.

Historically, some juniors were qualified for MOSP, but they had to give up MOSP for RSI, some of those could be very good. What about those students, are they not going to have another chance in senior year ?

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themorninglighttt

789 posts

themorninglighttt

#11 h Jun 24, 2011, 1:10 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

g.c.boxd wrote:

Hard Problems wrote:

Zuming is intrigued by Zeb Brady, who came out of nowhere with scores high enough to make the team

There's also Calvin Deng from last year, who I believe did not make MOP the year before (8th grade).

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Bacteria

256 posts

Bacteria

#12 h Jun 24, 2011, 4:13 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

themorninglighttt wrote:

There's also Calvin Deng from last year, who I believe did not make MOP the year before (8th grade).

Confirmation of that fact. He had a score high enough if he was in Grade 9 to make the lowest form (Green I think), but he was in Grade 8 and did not get the invite.

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BOGTRO

5818 posts

BOGTRO

#13 h Jun 24, 2011, 4:26 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10 and 1 other user

So it is established that it is impossible to make IMO without having made MOSP the previous year? Also, as AIME15 said, how/will this affect MOSP qualification, and who takes the TSTST?

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not_trig

2049 posts

not_trig

#14 h Jun 24, 2011, 7:42 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Bacteria wrote:

themorninglighttt wrote:

There's also Calvin Deng from last year, who I believe did not make MOP the year before (8th grade).

Confirmation of that fact. He had a score high enough if he was in Grade 9 to make the lowest form (Green I think), but he was in Grade 8 and did not get the invite.

Hmm, "Green" didn't exist back then.

Not sure what to think of this... it's the "free USAMO qualification" that MOPpers have been asking for for a while, but sort of excludes the possibility of "unknowns" suddenly rising to the IMO team. Sucks especially for rising seniors (though again, I doubt AMC has much reason to believe that they can beat existing MOPpers ~_~).

But the extra training and score data is good (what happened to those handouts Zuming used to send...), and hopefully the US can select an IMO team more effectively this way. Time will tell.

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gauss202

4854 posts

gauss202

#15 h Jun 24, 2011, 12:28 PM • 5 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users

Notice that it does not say that a student must have gone to MOSP the previous year to be selected for the IMO team. If a student did not go to MOSP the previous year, but does better than other students on the tests for that year, I'm sure they will still get consideration for the team based on those results. But they will have to really prove themselves on the USAMO and TSTs of that year.

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mathlearner

146 posts

mathlearner

#132 h Nov 17, 2011, 4:05 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

"from djmathman: I understand the issues of late-bloomers arising"

No, djmathman - from my understanding of the new policies, NOT jut "late-bloomers" are potentially negatively affected; as I'm pretty sure others have pointed out, what about a Junior who has been studying/preparing for and performing well on the various AMC's - up the ladder, starting with AMC 8 - then 10, then 12, then USAMO, and MOP - who as a junior gets an opportunity to go to a program like RSI and who although schedule wise could possibly do both MOP and RSI if both programs allowed, but since they now don't, this "junior" now has to make one of the hardest decisions of their lives - and even worse than in prior years, they are not just making a decision that will affect them for one year, but now, if they choose RSI (or comparable program) over MOP - they are automatically "out of the running" for a potential spot on the IMO team for their senior year :-(( - a goal they set and worked super hard for since elementary school?! Sure, you may say this individual is in the minority, but like anyone else who has ever been on the minority end of something -- if it were YOU, you'd feel VERY strongly about. So, how about some empathy for all the students who might be negatively impacted by the new policy changes?

And pythag011, how can you state or imply that a student in the above circumstances isn't being negatively affected?

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pythag011

2453 posts

pythag011

#133 h Nov 17, 2011, 5:09 AM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

EDIT: Actually, it'll be safest just to say "I'm being intentionally vague" once again. But said situation, I'm pretty confident that certain other factors will affect it in certain ways.

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mathlearner

146 posts

mathlearner

#134 h Nov 17, 2011, 6:30 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

To Cortana who wrote: "The point of taking the AMC's and higher tests is to improve your knowledge and love of math and build upon what you already know....."

People's perspectives and reasons about "why" they do something extracurricularly may be vastly different from someone doing the same activity. In this case, many who take the AMC tests, especially those who perform best on them, developed a "love of math" way, WAY before they ever took their first AMC. In fact, this may come as a surprise to some, but for some it is PRECISELY their love of math which propelled them or their parents to advocate within their school(s) to even administer the AMC series of tests to begin with. So, while many students take the AMC tests to challenge themselves and for the mere "fun of it", I hope you can respect that many others who enjoy, like, or "love" math, view the tests in an entirely different manner, which is that they are the means to challenging themselves and competing at the very highest of levels that a young student can - which would be to ultimately compete in an International Olympiad. So, to make rules which can deny some dedicated and proficient students the opportunity that they worked for many years to achieve (I won't go into the details of which circumstances this refers to as it's been done in other posts on this thread), but to deny these students that chance in their junior and/or senior years - especially current juniors who in some cases, were already negatively impacted by the prior change from only USAMO to USJMO (again, you can go back to the many posts from a year or so ago to review those negative impacts), but to deny these students such a chance is extraordinarily unfair.

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drew2000

5 posts

drew2000

#135 h Nov 17, 2011, 10:46 PM • 5 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 3 other users

.........................

This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by drew2000, Nov 4, 2012, 11:51 PM

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greatwhiteshark98

1017 posts

greatwhiteshark98

#136 h Nov 18, 2011, 5:18 AM • 1 Y

Y by Adventure10

How is the change "outrageous"? Please explain. While it might be unfair to those affected, it certainly isn't "shockingly bad" or "wildly exaggerated."

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rdj5933mile5

235 posts

rdj5933mile5

#137 h Nov 18, 2011, 5:59 PM • 3 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

greatwhiteshark98 wrote:

How is the change "outrageous"? Please explain.

This is a math website not an English website. I believe his message was pretty clear that he didn't like the TSTST and wanted to change it. Although I'm not really taking a position on this issue anymore, I don't think drew2000 deserved a response like that.

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AwesomeToad

4535 posts

AwesomeToad

#138 h Nov 18, 2011, 6:49 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Frankly, the petition doesn't deserve any more attention. It is almost certain (this should be fairly obvious to everyone) that the CAMC's decisions will be made independently of the results of a petition (or 100). If the petition is more than just some individual plus a few others venting uselessly about their opinion of the new policy, then it just defeats the purpose of AMC as "improving knowledge and love of math" even more. (I apologize for lack of clarity)

About RSI vs MOP: It's not like the CAMC (or anyone, for that matter) will be able to please everyone. To put it simply, no everyone will go unnaffected. Then it is more desireable to make a decision that will affect the least number of people and cause the least amount of trouble. Obviously, the CAMC thought that their reasons for the policy change (which have been mentioned multiple times above) were worth the negative consequences.

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Cortana

404 posts

Cortana

#139 h Nov 18, 2011, 8:41 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Funny how the MAA change the selection criteria for the IMO right after the U.S places 2nd in the IMO 2011.

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drew2000

5 posts

drew2000

#140 h Nov 18, 2011, 8:55 PM • 2 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247

Cortana wrote:

Funny how the MAA change the selection criteria for the IMO right after the U.S places 2nd in the IMO 2011.

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This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by drew2000, Nov 4, 2012, 11:51 PM

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MathTwo

541 posts

MathTwo

#141 h Nov 18, 2011, 9:42 PM • 3 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 1 other user

Well, maybe the U.S. will place first after the new selection process is implemented

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AMCDirector

851 posts

AMCDirector

#142 h Nov 18, 2011, 10:26 PM • 6 Y

Y by The Archer, Adventure10, and 4 other users

Quote:

Funny how the MAA change the selection criteria for the IMO right after the U.S places 2nd in the IMO 2011.

That statement is false, and the verification is easy. You will see that I posted the new policy on June 23, 2011 in the first post in this thread. The results for the 2011 IMO could not have been known until July 22, 2011 at the IMO. Of course, planning for the change took place in the year between June 2010 and June 2011, which makes the distinction in time even greater.

Steve Dunbar
MAA Director, American Mathematics Competitions

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not_trig

2049 posts

not_trig

#143 h Nov 19, 2011, 12:40 AM • 17 Y

Y by rdj5933mile5, GlassBead, greatwhiteshark98, Zhero, airplanes1, AwesomeToad, jjl2357, math154, Adventure10, Mango247, and 7 other users

As someone who made both RSI and MOP junior year (but didn't have a chance at the IMO), I find all this talk... rather amusing.

It seems that everyone is arguing with this policy on the grounds that it could negatively affect $\le 1$ student per year. (Yes, that is basically the number of people who qualify for both Blue/Black MOP and RSI junior year. In fact, I don't think any of RSI 2011 made Blue/Black; in 2010 there was 1, in 2009 there was 1, and in 2008 there was 1.) I'm not sure why everyone feels the need to protect this one poor soul--someone who, if he/she could've made the IMO under the previous system, would likely be chosen by Zuming's special selection to be in the team. (And look: 1 person affected by the new policy, and 1 person specially selected by the IMO coach...!)

If instead, you're arguing about the few guys who seemingly rise out of nowhere [did not go to MOP the previous year] to make the IMO team (because they massively improved that year, and a) screwed up in a previous year or b) were pretty young in a previous year), like Calvin, Zeb?,... who else? Remember, this process has nothing to do with MOP selection--only team selection. It can only help the US team to have a broader series of qualifying tests: more data points means more confidence, and prospective team members are forced to stay sharp the whole year. Those who make MOP the year before have proven themselves to be at least somewhat in shape math-wise; if you're instead worried about the few very strong contestants who make MOP in 10th but not 11th grade, that set is virtually empty as well. Plus, previous MOPpers still in high school will likely be allowed to take the various other Olympiads during the year to increase their chances (I think you had to be a MOPper the previous year to take the APMO at one point, but I mysteriously got an invitation my senior year... don't quote me on this though, as I'm not sure about the official policy.)

If you think that this somehow goes against the AMC's values of promoting mathematics among high-school and middle-school students, you're probably still wrong. I can think of maybe one counterexample: in the past, a very small set of juniors and seniors who had never made MOP before worked their butts off to try to make the IMO, and actually came close (Holden comes to mind.) Few succeeded.

For those few upperclassmen who are actually discouraged by this policy, I'd suggest not focusing on contests anymore, and instead focusing on learning higher math or other things. In college, your Olympiad career isn't really what sets you apart; though there's a correlation between Olympiad winners and smart people, there are plenty of ridiculously smart scientists and mathematicians (like this guy) who never even made the USAMO. If you're one of those affected, your life is what you make of it: you don't have to go to the IMO to be great (or even to get into college). Plus, you can still try to make MOP regardless.

For the rest of you out there, you have time and you have hope; take advantage of it. Stop whining and do math. Learn math, talk about math, ask about math, read about math, live math, breathe math. Maybe you'll make the IMO one day; maybe not. It doesn't actually matter that much, if you're actually smart, whether you make MOP or IMO or whatever. It's validation, sure, but guess what? There are greater things to achieve. Go, find those greater things, and do them.

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rrusczyk

16194 posts

rrusczyk

#144 h Nov 19, 2011, 2:20 AM • 8 Y

Y by Mrdavid445, rdj5933mile5, Binomial-theorem, Adventure10, Mango247, codegirl2013, and 2 other users

We have removed a couple posts from this discussion that were not respectful and contributed nothing to the conversation. Please keep the discussion of this topic civil and thoughtful.

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jmerry

12096 posts

jmerry

#145 h Nov 19, 2011, 3:49 AM • 4 Y

Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users

not_trig wrote:

Yeah, these people will get noticed and accommodations will be made for them to compete. I asked about Alex Song (possible immigrant from the Canadian team) earlier in the thread... and got the response that he had already taken the first round in this new system.

not_trig wrote:

If instead, you're arguing about the few guys who seemingly rise out of nowhere [did not go to MOP the previous year] to make the IMO team (because they massively improved that year, and a) screwed up in a previous year or b) were pretty young in a previous year), like Calvin, Zeb?,... who else? Remember, this process has nothing to do with MOP selection--only team selection. It can only help the US team to have a broader series of qualifying tests: more data points means more confidence, and prospective team members are forced to stay sharp the whole year.

From the records and my SoCal connection, here's what I know of Zeb's story:
2004, 9th grade: No known math competition results.
2005, 10th grade: USAMO qualifier, went to a non-math Olympiad training camp.
2006, 11th grade: USAMO HM, did well enough on the TST to make the IMO team.
2007, 12th grade: USAMO qualifier.

If you had said at any time prior to the 2006 TST that a SoCal student would make the IMO team, anyone familiar with the region would have guessed that it would be Tedrick. Zeb making the team was a fluke; he came from mostly outside the math competition system and then had a few really good days at the right time.

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AMCDirector

851 posts

AMCDirector

#146 h Nov 29, 2012, 2:35 AM • 7 Y

Y by yuler1818181818, v_Enhance, HamstPan38825, Adventure10, and 3 other users

Quote:

is said tradition to have the AMC 10/12 A on the closest Tuesday to e day and the AIME I on the closest Thursday to pi day?

Actually, scheduling close to e day and pi day is a pleasant coincidence, but the reality is a lot harder:

1. The IMO occurs in July each year, but at variable times ranging from early to mid-July. In order to be able to get to IMO with a trained team, MOSP has to be June, ending before July 4 because we don't have full residence-hall services over the sometimes three-or-four 4th of July holiday.

2. To accommodate MOSP in June (and some other MAA activities), the USAMO Ceremonies have to be the first Monday in June. Scheduling the venue in Washington DC has to be done far in advance, so the date has be known a year in advance.

3. In order to get USAMO winners and families to Washington DC for the USAMO ceremonies, we have to have USAMO scores finished in early May.

3. AP Exams are the first 2 weeks in May (this year May 2 to May 13), USAMO has to be before AP testing, otherwise there are too many conflicts. Hence this year USAMO is April 30-May 1.

4. It takes about 1-2 weeks to get AIME II scored and qualifiers notified, and schools and teachers need a week to schedule USAMO testing locations and proctors and get paperwork retunred to us, hence AIME II is April 3 this year.

5. AIME I is at least 13 days before AIME, allowing us just enough time to finish scoring and report to schools before AIME II. Hence AIME I is March 14 this year. Purely coincidence it is also Pi day.

6. We have to have AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B at least 3 weeks before AIME I in order to get the contests scored and reported in time to have schools make arrangements for the AIME test location and procotrs.

7. The AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A are 15 days before the B-date. Again the fact that it happens to fall around E day is purely a pleasant coincidence.

8. We know from both experience (in 2004, I recall) and from polling of teachers that most schools cannot accommodate A-date testing in January.

9. Besides all this we also make an effort to weave around religious holidays (for all major religions) and all federal holidays.

As you can see there is much more to consider than just tradition.

Steve Dunbar
MAA Director, American Mathematics Competitions

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