21+4 Strategy: If your goal is to make the AIME

This is the most well-known AIME-qualifying strategy. Take 21 shots (basketball analogy), blank 4, make 19 and you're in. This will bring your score to exactly 120.

This fixed strategy does have its repercussions. Firstly, just because you find the test to be easy doesn't mean you should give up after solving 21! I strongly encourage you to challenge some of the hardest problems even if you finish 21 shots. Also, be very careful in your early questions (pre-15). Although you should be able to get no more than 1 of these wrong, DO NOT sink on one question! If you do, game over. As you're taking mock tests, get the habit of skipping these questions no matter how desperately you want to solve it.

23+2 and 25-All Strategies: If your goal is to make the AIME

If you're the type of person who's really good at guessing answers (finding approximations, analyzing answer choices, consider these two strategies. The 23+2 Strategy is esp. good because it aims towards 20 right answers. However, if you find yourself stuck on the harder problems, you can easily switch back to the 21+4 Strategy.

The 25-All Strategy should be used if you're confident that you got 18 questions right and simply can't find a 19th question that you can solve. Time is running out and you want to make or break. Then why not answer all remaining 7 questions, making the most educated guesses you can and pray for that extra 2 correct answers.

Things to watch out for:

These two strategies are "harder" to incorporate into your game plan because they're not as straightforward as the 21+4 plan.

22-8-Make Strategy: If your goal is to make the JMO (This is the strategy I'll most likely be using)

As the name suggests, this strategy is applied when you want to make the JMO on a 8/15 AIME.

The strategy is simple. GET 22 RIGHT. Easier said than done. However, 22 right is a huge weight off your shoulder. Answer 25 (educate guess if you have to), and you get a 3-question buffer. Answer 24 (allowing you to cross out the question you think is the hardest) and you get a 2-question buffer. Same applies to 23.

In other words, no matter what, the min score you'll get is a 132. A 132+80=212 is a solid index (as long as we don't get a high index like last year), but not the safest. However, note that this is the LOWEST score you can get with this strategy, so this strategy obviously has its merits.

Last-resort Alternative: 21-4-8-Make Strategy

This should only be used if you're having struggle answering 23 solid questions (and you suck at guessing). Also, if you realize that you're sitting happily on 21 solid answers and is struggling to get the idea of the 4 hardest questions, then you should stop wasting time trying to solve the hard problems, and bet your life on answering the 21 questions correctly. This puts your max index at a 132.

If you're bad at speed contests compared to the AIME: JMO Qualifying Strategy

If you simply can't be fast at solving problems on the AMC 10, and think the previous two strategies are not feasible enough, then you should be betting on the AIME, where the time limit is much more comfortable. If you're willing to bet on getting a 9 on the AIME, then this gives you a lot more breathing room on the AMC. Even if you scrape by with a 120 AMC 10 score, you're still in the ball park. The best strategy here is the 23+2 Strategy (which aims you at a 123 as said before), the 24+1 Strategy (which aims you at 121.5 or 127.5, yes, risky, but worth a consideration) or the 25 Strategy.

I personally like the 25 Strategy the best, answering every question. You get a 4-question buffer and you'll end up with a 126, leading to a 216 index, a very solid index. If you suddenly think it's not worth guessing all the questions, you can immediately blank a question and drop back to the 23+2 or the 24+1 Strategies.