Y by Adventure10, Mango247, and 2 other users
Now a senior in high school, I have participated in competitive math for 6 years. After reading forum posts and discussions about the similarity between #12 on the AIME II 2014 and a question on one of this year's AMC Advantage tests, I am extremely disappointed in the MAA. I will no longer promote the AMC competitions in the state of Hawaii, nor ever recommend this discipline to future generations. I have no malice toward AMC Advantage users, bur rather toward the greed and deception of the MAA. You can attribute my feelings to a shortcoming of USAMO (9 on AIME 1, so close!), and while this may be partially true, you cannot hold the MAA innocent for this incident. Nearly verbatim problems that occur within such a short time period? Please. What happened to the supposedly innovative, thought-provoking questions that the AMC tests are commended for? From their website, "the AMC program identifies, recognizes, and rewards excellence in mathematics through a series of national contests." They do not reward excellence; they reward expenses toward their corrupt AMC Advantage. I fear for the future of competitive math. I have been deceived for 6 years.