What is the AMC 8?
What is the AMC 8?
The AMC 8 is a national mathematics competition for students in Grade 8 and below written and scored by the Mathematical Association of America(MAA) and proctored by a local middle school. The AMC 8 tests a variety of topics, such as basic probability, elementary geometry, and topics taught in Algebra I. It is a 25 question competition with a 40 minute time limit. Each question has five answer choices, and each correct answer is worth one point. Incorrect or blank answers receive zero points.
What is the award system?
The AMC 8 issues three categories of distinctions.
Perfect Score: Awarded to students who achieve a perfect score of 25/25. Each year, only around 100 students in the entire country get a perfect score.
Distinguished Honor Roll: Awarded to students who score in the top 1% of contestants. The cutoff can vary by year, but is usually between 21 and 23 correct.
Honor Roll: Awarded to students who score in the top 5% of contestants. This cutoff also varies by year and is usually between 17 and 20.
How do I prepare?
There are two main parts of preparing for the AMC 8.
1. Learn the content: it is crucial to master and understand the concepts being tested. Books I recommend for learning the material on the AMC 8 are Competition Math for Middle School by Jason Batterson and AoPS Volume One by Sandor Lehoczky and Richard Rusczyk.
2. Practice: 40 minutes is not a lot of time, so taking timed mock tests is a great way to prepare. You can find past tests and solutions here.
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Good luck!
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- Olympiad Insider
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