AMC 12
The American Mathematics Contest 12 (AMC 12), along with the AMC 10, are the first exams in the series of exams used to challenge bright students on the path towards choosing the team that represents the United States at the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO).
High scoring AMC 12 students are invited to take the more challenging American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).
The AMC 12 is administered by the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). Art of Problem Solving (AoPS) is a proud sponsor of the AMC.
The AMC 12 used to be the American High School Mathematics Examination from 1950 to 1999.
AMC 12 |
Region: USA |
Type: Multiple Choice |
Difficulty: 2-4 |
Difficulty Breakdown:
Problem 1-10: 2 |
Format
The AMC 12 is a 25 question, 75 minute multiple choice test. Problems generally increase in difficulty as the exam progresses. Since 2008, calculators have been banned from use during the test; however, calculators were never required to solve any problems, and students who did not use calculators were not disadvantaged.
The AMC 12 is scored in a way that penalizes guessing. Correct answers are worth 6 points, incorrect answers are worth 0 points, and unanswered questions are worth 1.5 points, to give a total score out of 150 points. From 2002 to 2006, the number of points for an unanswered question was 2.5 points and before 2002 it was 2 points. Students that are in the top ~6% of the AMC 12 are invited to take the AIME.
Curriculum
The AMC 12 tests mathematical problem solving with arithmetic, algebra, counting, geometry, number theory, and probability and other secondary school math topics. Problems are designed to be solvable by students without any background in calculus.
Resources
Links
- The MAA's official webpage for the AMC
- The AoPS Wiki's AMC 12 Problems and Solutions page
- The AoPS Contest's AMC 12 Problems folder
- Statistics for the past AMC and AIME exams
- The AoPS Contests & Programs Forum for contest related discussions
- AoPS User created mock AMCs, an abundance of mocks designed to mimic real AMC tests, also compiled in the AoPS Mock Contests Compilation folder
- Evan Chen's Math Contest Platitudes blog, a guide to contest preparation, and Math Contest FAQs
Books
- The Art of Problem Solving Volume 1 by Sandor Lehoczky and Richard Rusczyk
- The Art of Problem Solving Volume 2 by Richard Rusczyk and Sandor Lehoczky
- Introduction to Algebra by Richard Rusczyk
- Introduction to Counting & Probability by Dr. David Patrick
- Introduction to Geometry by Richard Rusczyk
- Introduction to Number Theory by Mathew Crawford
- Intermediate Algebra by Richard Rusczyk and Mathew Crawford
- Intermediate Counting & Probability by David Patrick
- Precalculus by Richard Rusczyk
- ACE The AMC 10 and 12 book (free) by Ritvik Rustagi
Classes
- The AoPS Online School, with AMC 10 preparation classes and other classes on AMC 10 topics
- The AoPS Math Jams, some of which are devoted to discussing problems of the AMC 10
- EPGY offers an AMC 12 preparation class