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Contests & Programs AMC and other contests, summer programs, etc.
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k a June Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Yesterday at 3:57 PM
Congratulations to all the mathletes who competed at National MATHCOUNTS! If you missed the exciting Countdown Round, you can watch the video at this link. Are you interested in training for MATHCOUNTS or AMC 10 contests? How would you like to train for these math competitions in half the time? We have accelerated sections which meet twice per week instead of once starting on July 8th (7:30pm ET). These sections fill quickly so enroll today!

[list][*]MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Basics
[*]MATHCOUNTS/AMC 8 Advanced
[*]AMC 10 Problem Series[/list]
For those interested in Olympiad level training in math, computer science, physics, and chemistry, be sure to enroll in our WOOT courses before August 19th to take advantage of early bird pricing!

Summer camps are starting this month at the Virtual Campus in math and language arts that are 2 - to 4 - weeks in duration. Spaces are still available - don’t miss your chance to have a transformative summer experience. There are middle and high school competition math camps as well as Math Beasts camps that review key topics coupled with fun explorations covering areas such as graph theory (Math Beasts Camp 6), cryptography (Math Beasts Camp 7-8), and topology (Math Beasts Camp 8-9)!

Be sure to mark your calendars for the following upcoming events:
[list][*]June 5th, Thursday, 7:30pm ET: Open Discussion with Ben Kornell and Andrew Sutherland, Art of Problem Solving's incoming CEO Ben Kornell and CPO Andrew Sutherland host an Ask Me Anything-style chat. Come ask your questions and get to know our incoming CEO & CPO!
[*]June 9th, Monday, 7:30pm ET, Game Jam: Operation Shuffle!, Come join us to play our second round of Operation Shuffle! If you enjoy number sense, logic, and a healthy dose of luck, this is the game for you. No specific math background is required; all are welcome.[/list]
Our full course list for upcoming classes is below:
All classes run 7:30pm-8:45pm ET/4:30pm - 5:45pm PT unless otherwise noted.

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0 replies
jlacosta
Yesterday at 3:57 PM
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
What happened at ARML?
VPAK   20
N 2 minutes ago by ConfidentKoala4
I'm seeing a few things online that at ARML this past weekend they had to discard questions 9 & 10 from the final results. Unfortunately, I'm not "on the ground" at ARML anymore.

Is there anyone who was there that knows what happened to cause this?

20 replies
+2 w
VPAK
5 hours ago
ConfidentKoala4
2 minutes ago
The Return of Triangle Geometry
peace09   16
N 38 minutes ago by NO_SQUARES
Source: 2023 ISL A7
Let $N$ be a positive integer. Prove that there exist three permutations $a_1,\dots,a_N$, $b_1,\dots,b_N$, and $c_1,\dots,c_N$ of $1,\dots,N$ such that \[\left|\sqrt{a_k}+\sqrt{b_k}+\sqrt{c_k}-2\sqrt{N}\right|<2023\]for every $k=1,2,\dots,N$.
16 replies
peace09
Jul 17, 2024
NO_SQUARES
38 minutes ago
f(1)f(2)...f(n) has at most n prime factors
MarkBcc168   40
N an hour ago by shendrew7
Source: 2020 Cyberspace Mathematical Competition P2
Let $f(x) = 3x^2 + 1$. Prove that for any given positive integer $n$, the product
$$f(1)\cdot f(2)\cdot\dots\cdot f(n)$$has at most $n$ distinct prime divisors.

Proposed by Géza Kós
40 replies
MarkBcc168
Jul 15, 2020
shendrew7
an hour ago
smallest a so that S(n)-S(n+a) = 2018, where S(n)=sum of digits
parmenides51   3
N an hour ago by TheBaiano
Source: Lusophon 2018 CPLP P3
For each positive integer $n$, let $S(n)$ be the sum of the digits of $n$. Determines the smallest positive integer $a$ such that there are infinite positive integers $n$ for which you have $S (n) -S (n + a) = 2018$.
3 replies
parmenides51
Sep 13, 2018
TheBaiano
an hour ago
Frustration with Olympiad Geo
gulab_jamun   16
N an hour ago by gulab_jamun
Ok, so right now, I am doing the EGMO book by Evan Chen, but when it comes to problems, there are some that just genuinely frustrate me and I don't know how to deal with them. For example, I've spent 1.5 hrs on the second to last question in chapter 2, and used all the hints, and I still am stuck. It just frustrates me incredibly. Any tips on managing this? (or.... am I js crashing out too much?)
16 replies
gulab_jamun
May 29, 2025
gulab_jamun
an hour ago
ABC is similar to XYZ
Amir Hossein   55
N 2 hours ago by Mr.Sharkman
Source: China TST 2011 - Quiz 2 - D2 - P1
Let $AA',BB',CC'$ be three diameters of the circumcircle of an acute triangle $ABC$. Let $P$ be an arbitrary point in the interior of $\triangle ABC$, and let $D,E,F$ be the orthogonal projection of $P$ on $BC,CA,AB$, respectively. Let $X$ be the point such that $D$ is the midpoint of $A'X$, let $Y$ be the point such that $E$ is the midpoint of $B'Y$, and similarly let $Z$ be the point such that $F$ is the midpoint of $C'Z$. Prove that triangle $XYZ$ is similar to triangle $ABC$.
55 replies
Amir Hossein
May 20, 2011
Mr.Sharkman
2 hours ago
Mustang Math Recruitment is Open!
MustangMathTournament   20
N 2 hours ago by Snub
The Interest Form for joining Mustang Math is open!

Hello all!

We're Mustang Math, and we are currently recruiting for the 2025-2026 year! If you are a high school or college student and are passionate about promoting an interest in competition math to younger students, you should strongly consider filling out the following form: https://link.mustangmath.com/join. Every member in MM truly has the potential to make a huge impact, no matter your experience!

About Mustang Math

Mustang Math is a nonprofit organization of high school and college volunteers that is dedicated to providing middle schoolers access to challenging, interesting, fun, and collaborative math competitions and resources. Having reached over 4000 U.S. competitors and 1150 international competitors in our first six years, we are excited to expand our team to offer our events to even more mathematically inclined students.

PROJECTS
We have worked on various math-related projects. Our annual team math competition, Mustang Math Tournament (MMT) recently ran. We hosted 8 in-person competitions based in Washington, NorCal, SoCal, Illinois, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada and New Jersey, as well as an online competition run nationally. In total, we had almost 900 competitors, and the students had glowing reviews of the event. MMT International will once again be running later in August, and with it, we anticipate our contest to reach over a thousand students.

In our classes, we teach students math in fun and engaging math lessons and help them discover the beauty of mathematics. Our aspiring tech team is working on a variety of unique projects like our website and custom test platform. We also have a newsletter, which, combined with our social media presence, helps to keep the mathematics community engaged with cool puzzles, tidbits, and information about the math world! Our design team ensures all our merch and material is aesthetically pleasing.

Some highlights of this past year include 1000+ students in our classes, AMC10 mock with 150+ participants, our monthly newsletter to a subscriber base of 6000+, creating 8 designs for 800 pieces of physical merchandise, as well as improving our custom website (mustangmath.com, 20k visits) and test-taking platform (comp.mt, 6500+ users).

Why Join Mustang Math?

As a non-profit organization on the rise, there are numerous opportunities for volunteers to share ideas and suggest projects that they are interested in. Through our organizational structure, members who are committed have the opportunity to become a part of the leadership team. Overall, working in the Mustang Math team is both a fun and fulfilling experience where volunteers are able to pursue their passion all while learning how to take initiative and work with peers. We welcome everyone interested in joining!

More Information

To learn more, visit https://link.mustangmath.com/RecruitmentInfo. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at contact@mustangmath.com.

https://link.mustangmath.com/join
20 replies
MustangMathTournament
May 24, 2025
Snub
2 hours ago
Russia 2001
sisioyus   25
N 2 hours ago by cubres
Find all odd positive integers $ n > 1$ such that if $ a$ and $ b$ are relatively prime divisors of $ n$, then $ a+b-1$ divides $ n$.
25 replies
sisioyus
Aug 18, 2007
cubres
2 hours ago
conditional sequence
MithsApprentice   16
N 2 hours ago by shendrew7
Source: USAMO 1995
Suppose $\, q_{0}, \, q_{1}, \, q_{2}, \ldots \; \,$ is an infinite sequence of integers satisfying the following two conditions:

(i) $\, m-n \,$ divides $\, q_{m}-q_{n}\,$ for $\, m > n \geq 0,$
(ii) there is a polynomial $\, P \,$ such that $\, |q_{n}| < P(n) \,$ for all $\, n$

Prove that there is a polynomial $\, Q \,$ such that $\, q_{n}= Q(n) \,$ for all $\, n$.
16 replies
MithsApprentice
Oct 23, 2005
shendrew7
2 hours ago
P(z) and P(z)-1 have roots of magnitude 1
anser   16
N 2 hours ago by monval
Source: USA TSTST 2020 Problem 7
Find all nonconstant polynomials $P(z)$ with complex coefficients for which all complex roots of the polynomials $P(z)$ and $P(z) - 1$ have absolute value 1.

Ankan Bhattacharya
16 replies
anser
Jan 25, 2021
monval
2 hours ago
Sums of n mod k
EthanWYX2009   3
N 3 hours ago by Safal
Source: 2025 May 谜之竞赛-3
Given $0<\varepsilon <1.$ Show that there exists a constant $c>0,$ such that for all positive integer $n,$
\[\sum_{k\le n^{\varepsilon}}(n\text{ mod } k)>cn^{2\varepsilon}.\]Proposed by Cheng Jiang
3 replies
EthanWYX2009
May 26, 2025
Safal
3 hours ago
diophantine with factorials and exponents
skellyrah   11
N 3 hours ago by maromex
find all positive integers $a,b,c$ such that $$ a! + 5^b = c^3 $$
11 replies
skellyrah
May 30, 2025
maromex
3 hours ago
RMM 2019 Problem 2
math90   80
N 3 hours ago by bjump
Source: RMM 2019
Let $ABCD$ be an isosceles trapezoid with $AB\parallel CD$. Let $E$ be the midpoint of $AC$. Denote by $\omega$ and $\Omega$ the circumcircles of the triangles $ABE$ and $CDE$, respectively. Let $P$ be the crossing point of the tangent to $\omega$ at $A$ with the tangent to $\Omega$ at $D$. Prove that $PE$ is tangent to $\Omega$.

Jakob Jurij Snoj, Slovenia
80 replies
math90
Feb 23, 2019
bjump
3 hours ago
MOP Emails Out! (not clickbait)
Mathandski   112
N 3 hours ago by Spacepandamath13
What an emotional roller coaster the past 34 days have been.

Congrats to all that qualified!
112 replies
Mathandski
Apr 22, 2025
Spacepandamath13
3 hours ago
How to get good at comp math
fossasor   28
N May 1, 2025 by Konigsberg
I'm a rising ninth grader who wasn't in the school math league this year, and basically put aside comp math for a year. Unfortunately, that means that now that I'm in high school and having the epiphany about how important comp math actually is, and how much it would help my chances of getting involved in other math-related programs. In addition, I do enjoy math in general, and suspect that things like the AMCs are probably going to be some of the best practice I can get. What this all means is that I'm trying to go from mediocre to orz, 2 years after I probably should have started if I wanted to be any good.

So my question is: how do I get good at comp math?

This year, my scores on AMC 10 (and these are the highest I've ever gotten) were a 73.5 and an 82.5 (AMC 8 was 21/25, but that doesn't matter much). This is not good enough to qualify for AIME, and I probably need to raise my performance on each by at least 10 points. I've been decently good in the past at Number Theory, but I need to work on Geo and Combinatorics, and I'm trying to find the best resources to do that. My biggest flaw is probably not knowing many algorithms like Stars and Bars, and the path is clear here (learn them) but I'm still not sure which ones I need to know.

I'm aware that some of this advice is going to be something like "Practice 5 hours a day and start hardgrinding" or something along those lines. Unfortunately, I have other extracurriculars I need to balance, and for me, time is a limiting resource. My parents are somewhat frowning upon me doing a lot of comp math, which limits my time as well. I have neither the time nor motivation to do more than an hour a day, and in practice, I don't think I can be doing that consistently. As such, I would need to make that time count.

I know this is a very general question, and that aops is chock-full of detailed advice for math competitions. However, I'd appreciate it if anyone here could help me out, or show me the best resources I should use to get started. What mocks are any good, or what textbooks should I use? Where do I get the best practice with the shortest time? Is there some place I can find a list of useful formulas that have appeared in math comps before?

All advice is welcome!

28 replies
fossasor
Apr 10, 2025
Konigsberg
May 1, 2025
How to get good at comp math
G H J
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
fossasor
611 posts
#1 • 6 Y
Y by LostInBali, Pengu14, aidan0626, Alex-131, Aaron_Q, pi-ay
I'm a rising ninth grader who wasn't in the school math league this year, and basically put aside comp math for a year. Unfortunately, that means that now that I'm in high school and having the epiphany about how important comp math actually is, and how much it would help my chances of getting involved in other math-related programs. In addition, I do enjoy math in general, and suspect that things like the AMCs are probably going to be some of the best practice I can get. What this all means is that I'm trying to go from mediocre to orz, 2 years after I probably should have started if I wanted to be any good.

So my question is: how do I get good at comp math?

This year, my scores on AMC 10 (and these are the highest I've ever gotten) were a 73.5 and an 82.5 (AMC 8 was 21/25, but that doesn't matter much). This is not good enough to qualify for AIME, and I probably need to raise my performance on each by at least 10 points. I've been decently good in the past at Number Theory, but I need to work on Geo and Combinatorics, and I'm trying to find the best resources to do that. My biggest flaw is probably not knowing many algorithms like Stars and Bars, and the path is clear here (learn them) but I'm still not sure which ones I need to know.

I'm aware that some of this advice is going to be something like "Practice 5 hours a day and start hardgrinding" or something along those lines. Unfortunately, I have other extracurriculars I need to balance, and for me, time is a limiting resource. My parents are somewhat frowning upon me doing a lot of comp math, which limits my time as well. I have neither the time nor motivation to do more than an hour a day, and in practice, I don't think I can be doing that consistently. As such, I would need to make that time count.

I know this is a very general question, and that aops is chock-full of detailed advice for math competitions. However, I'd appreciate it if anyone here could help me out, or show me the best resources I should use to get started. What mocks are any good, or what textbooks should I use? Where do I get the best practice with the shortest time? Is there some place I can find a list of useful formulas that have appeared in math comps before?

All advice is welcome!
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
This post has been deleted. Click here to see post.
mathkidAP
57 posts
#2
Y by
as a person who is in effectively the exact same situation, i will grind mathdash when i can and finish vol 1 and the intro series. that probably could work for u but try to find a balance.
Z K Y
The post below has been deleted. Click to close.
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Andyluo
1012 posts
#3 • 1 Y
Y by Spacepandamath13
I was in a similar situation to you in 7th grade, though probably a lot more time. (I went from 81-135 or 46.5 to 135 since it sounds more impressive)

Take advantage of the summer, Mathdash is good (or even premium) and could be very helpful, especially since it helps you learn many simple "tricks".

Alcumus and the AOPS library are also useful for many small tricks and rigorous practicing on the AOPS mock contest forum.

https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c594864t179f594864h3441744_77_amc_10_41_amc_12_and_other_mocks_compiled_in_google_drive_folder (GOLDMINE)
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programjames1
3046 posts
#4
Y by
Yufei Zhao (the MIT professor that runs their Putnam seminar) has some book recommendations here:
Yufei Zhao wrote:
Book recommendations
Here are some of my book recommendations for preparing for math competitions, in roughly increasing levels of difficulty.

Introductory
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 1: the Basics
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2: and Beyond
  • Zeitz, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving

Advanced
  • Engel, Problem Solving Strategies
  • Andreescu and Enescu, Mathematical Olympiad Treasures
  • Andreescu and Gelca, Mathematical Olympiad Challenges
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Problems from the Book
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Straight from the Book
  • Djukić et al., The IMO Compendium (complete collection of IMO shortlist problems)

I would also recommend Andreescu and Gelca, Putnam and Beyond.
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fossasor
611 posts
#5
Y by
Thank you for the advice! I've just made a mathdash account, I'm gonna get started with that.
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fossasor
611 posts
#6
Y by
programjames1 wrote:
Yufei Zhao (the MIT professor that runs their Putnam seminar) has some book recommendations here:
Yufei Zhao wrote:
Book recommendations
Here are some of my book recommendations for preparing for math competitions, in roughly increasing levels of difficulty.

Introductory
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 1: the Basics
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2: and Beyond
  • Zeitz, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving

Advanced
  • Engel, Problem Solving Strategies
  • Andreescu and Enescu, Mathematical Olympiad Treasures
  • Andreescu and Gelca, Mathematical Olympiad Challenges
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Problems from the Book
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Straight from the Book
  • Djukić et al., The IMO Compendium (complete collection of IMO shortlist problems)

I would also recommend Andreescu and Gelca, Putnam and Beyond.

This looks useful. Right now, my immediate goal is making AIME: which ones would you say would be best to use for that?
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Pengu14
644 posts
#7
Y by
fossasor wrote:
programjames1 wrote:
Yufei Zhao (the MIT professor that runs their Putnam seminar) has some book recommendations here:
Yufei Zhao wrote:
Book recommendations
Here are some of my book recommendations for preparing for math competitions, in roughly increasing levels of difficulty.

Introductory
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 1: the Basics
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2: and Beyond
  • Zeitz, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving

Advanced
  • Engel, Problem Solving Strategies
  • Andreescu and Enescu, Mathematical Olympiad Treasures
  • Andreescu and Gelca, Mathematical Olympiad Challenges
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Problems from the Book
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Straight from the Book
  • Djukić et al., The IMO Compendium (complete collection of IMO shortlist problems)

I would also recommend Andreescu and Gelca, Putnam and Beyond.

This looks useful. Right now, my immediate goal is making AIME: which ones would you say would be best to use for that?

Volume 1 along with a ton of past tests and mocks should suffice.
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wittyellie
319 posts
#8
Y by
heeeyyyy im at the same situation here :blush:
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fossasor
611 posts
#9
Y by
wittyellie wrote:
heeeyyyy im at the same situation here :blush:

apparently this is more common than I thought lol

Currently working on some Mock AMC10s (untimed since it's late at night for me and I need to go to bed soon)

Thank you to everyone for your advice!
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Inaaya
423 posts
#10
Y by
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10
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fossasor
611 posts
#11
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

we should start a club lol
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NoSignOfTheta
1749 posts
#12
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

You... didn't qualify for the AMC 10?
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by NoSignOfTheta, Apr 10, 2025, 1:34 PM
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Inaaya
423 posts
#13
Y by
NoSignOfTheta wrote:
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

You... didn't qualify for the AMC 10?

yeah you can put it that way
we cannot take the amc 10 at our middle school so we contacted another testing center which flat out said that i needed to take extracurricular classes there to even be able to register
also my dad just straight up said im too stupid lol
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Runner1600
12 posts
#14
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
NoSignOfTheta wrote:
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

You... didn't qualify for the AMC 10?

yeah you can put it that way
we cannot take the amc 10 at our middle school so we contacted another testing center which flat out said that i needed to take extracurricular classes there to even be able to register
also my dad just straight up said im too stupid lol


I'm pretty sure that the high school in your district will offer the AMC 10 or 12. Or even a university near you, that is what I did.
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Inaaya
423 posts
#15
Y by
Runner1600 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that the high school in your district will offer the AMC 10 or 12. Or even a university near you, that is what I did.
No, my high school wouldn't let me take it there unless i was a student at the high school
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Pengu14
644 posts
#16
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

This was me two years ago
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pingpongmerrily
3873 posts
#17
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
Runner1600 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that the high school in your district will offer the AMC 10 or 12. Or even a university near you, that is what I did.
No, my high school wouldn't let me take it there unless i was a student at the high school

if you're near an RSM you could try taking it there
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Runner1600
12 posts
#19
Y by
Inaaya wrote:
Runner1600 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that the high school in your district will offer the AMC 10 or 12. Or even a university near you, that is what I did.
No, my high school wouldn't let me take it there unless i was a student at the high school

Or you can take it at UCLA
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Inaaya
423 posts
#20
Y by
pingpongmerrily wrote:
Inaaya wrote:
Runner1600 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that the high school in your district will offer the AMC 10 or 12. Or even a university near you, that is what I did.
No, my high school wouldn't let me take it there unless i was a student at the high school

if you're near an RSM you could try taking it there

theres a weird rundown building called ICAE where apparently all the smart kids in MI take classes and comps and stuff, but i think you need a membership to even participate in anything there
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gamerlegend
2 posts
#21
Y by
solve more problem!
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mathkidAP
57 posts
#22
Y by
fossasor wrote:
Inaaya wrote:
BRO IM IN THE SAME SITUATION EXCEPT I GOT 16 ON THE AMC 8 AND WAS TOO DUMB TO BE ALLOWED TO TAKE AMC 10

we should start a club lol
call it the mediocre mid middle schoolers or smth
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N3bula
300 posts
#23
Y by
programjames1 wrote:
Yufei Zhao (the MIT professor that runs their Putnam seminar) has some book recommendations here:
Yufei Zhao wrote:
Book recommendations
Here are some of my book recommendations for preparing for math competitions, in roughly increasing levels of difficulty.

Introductory
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 1: the Basics
  • Lehoczky and Rusczyk, The Art of Problem Solving, Volume 2: and Beyond
  • Zeitz, The Art and Craft of Problem Solving

Advanced
  • Engel, Problem Solving Strategies
  • Andreescu and Enescu, Mathematical Olympiad Treasures
  • Andreescu and Gelca, Mathematical Olympiad Challenges
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Problems from the Book
  • Andreescu and Dospinescu, Straight from the Book
  • Djukić et al., The IMO Compendium (complete collection of IMO shortlist problems)

I would also recommend Andreescu and Gelca, Putnam and Beyond.
Although these are good books they are all proof based, too hard and overall pointless at this stage
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akliu
1803 posts
#24
Y by
For qualifying for AIME specifically, I recommend looking at the Mock AMC page on the AoPSwiki and using the tests there for practice. Yes, these tests will probably vary a ton in difficulty and include some low quality problems, but I generally found them helpful for timing and improving my performance as a whole. I used past years' AMC tests sparingly; they're the actual stuff and you can only really mock a test once.
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fossasor
611 posts
#25
Y by
Now actively using my mathdash account.

Did an AMC10 and got all 5 problems right, but those are generally a bad indicator, so I'm going to start taking so bigger mocks later this week.
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Cha0s
2 posts
#26
Y by
goodluck man, im in a similar boat
my amc 8 scores was 14 and 15 and my amc 10 score was like. 50
however both were on a whim, meaning i 1. didnt study and 2. had no idea what to expect
going into my sophomore year I am trying to grind super hard to catch up haha, flipping through the textbooks rn and taking notes + mathdash + mocks, basically doing what y'all are doing :)
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fossasor
611 posts
#27
Y by
Oh my raspberries I just checked and I had somehow misremembered my scores.

82.5 wasn't my AMC10A score, it was my AMC10B score.
Likewise, 92.5 wasn't my AMC10B score, it was the cutoff for the 10A, except misremembered by me as lower than it actually was.
Just mocked a 75 on the AMC10A, so that means I'm going to need to gain like 24 points, not 15.

Grinding time :|
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BS2012
1058 posts
#28
Y by
Its possible to do a lot in comp math in 2 yrs and with enough prep you could make jmo

For starters you should read volume 1/introduction books for some basic theory, and then do problems. This is the most important step since it allows you to practice the problem solving skills needed for AMC final 10 problems and allows you to pick up some more theory while reading solutions. This will probably be the main way you learn more theory beyond the intro books.
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gavinhaominwang
92 posts
#29
Y by
How do I go from aime to jmo/amo (computational to prove)?
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Konigsberg
2239 posts
#31
Y by
To the OP: Not to recommend my self-written guide too often, but I think it's a good reference in respond to both generic and more specific queries: https://tinyurl.com/ContestGuideIntlGDrive.

A score of in the 70-80s on the AMC10 would probably be A1/A2-junior level.
Cha0s wrote:
goodluck man, im in a similar boat
my amc 8 scores was 14 and 15 and my amc 10 score was like. 50
however both were on a whim, meaning i 1. didnt study and 2. had no idea what to expect
going into my sophomore year I am trying to grind super hard to catch up haha, flipping through the textbooks rn and taking notes + mathdash + mocks, basically doing what y'all are doing :)

This is CL-A1 level, might be best to first ensure that you master school curriculum math.
gavinhaominwang wrote:
How do I go from aime to jmo/amo (computational to prove)?

See resources in the C1-C2 level, which is the borderline of computational and proof contests.
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