A ONE Institute
Jun 12, 2024
Today, let’s discuss the AMC and AIME, which can be a plus factor for college admissions. Please put aside the vague idea that only gifted students challenge the AMC and focus on the story I’m about to tell you.
There are various types and levels of math competitions, and among them, I prepared this post to let you know that ordinary students can sufficiently challenge up to the AIME. If you prepare steadily, it’s not difficult to advance to the AIME! The reason we emphasize AMC, AIME is because colleges like students who are good at math. Then why do they like students who are good at math? Let me give you an example. If you were a hotel manager and accidentally double-booked the last remaining room and two groups of guests came at the same time, what should you do… What would be the hotel manager’s choice in this situation?
There could be several ways to solve this problem. Just like when facing a problem, assuming various situations and finding a way to solve the problem is exactly the same as solving a math problem. Whether it’s a university or a company, the reason they prefer students who are good at math is because of problem-solving ability! The series of processes to solve a problem is similar to math. You have to check the existence of a solution to the problem, think about the methodology of the solution, and go through the verification process for that method. Like a hotel manager, thinking about a solution and simulating various solutions is directly related to solving a math problem. That’s why colleges prefer students who are good at math.
In the scientific community, the Nobel Prize is given to people who have researched for a long time or who have proposed solutions to problems that have not been solved for a long time. There are many competitions that give awards to challengers who show the possibility of solving social or environmental problems. Let me introduce one of the newly created competitions with a large prize money.
The EATHSHOT Prize is a competition for adults, but it is a competition created by Prince William of the UK and some organization to propose ways to solve environmental problems.
In 2022, it was held in Boston and the topics are divided into five categories such as environmental conservation, air pollution, and ocean pollution. They select 15 teams from the finalists and choose 5 teams from them to give the prize money, which is a whopping 1.2 million won, more than 1.45 billion won. Computer Science, which is popular these days, can also be seen as problem-solving ability.
Let me tell you about an incident related to the CompSci algorithm that happened in our academy. I will explain using our academy’s platform ‘Solple’ as an example. This platform is a learning program that shows the answer or recommends similar problems when students take pictures of math or science problems they don’t know. They also give prize money to those who tell the answer, but they encountered a few problems in the way of recommending similar problems. Math problems are divided into ‘plain text’ and ‘formula’ problems, and when finding similar problems, whether to divide the two types of problems or to find them together, we tried four ways to find a reasonable problem.
The first attempt was to put both plain text and formula at once to find similar problems, but it took too long to find similar problems even though the accuracy was high.
The second attempt was to search only for plain text, but the speed was fast but the accuracy was low.
The third attempt was to search only for formulas, but again the accuracy was low.
The fourth attempt was to search for plain text in certain conditions while searching for formulas in parallel, which seemed most reasonable.
In this way, you will continue to face problems in order to solve one problem. The various methods of trying to solve the problems you face are closely related to mathematical ability.
AMC, AIME Roadmap
Let me tell you how to prepare for the AMC in earnest. There are AMC 8, which can be taken by students in 8th grade or below, AMC 10, which can be taken by students in 10th grade or below, AMC 12, which can be taken by students in 12th grade or below.
To go to AIME after AMC, you have to take AMC 10/12, not AMC 8, and 2.5% of AMC 10 test takers and 5% of AMC 12 test takers will advance to AIME. Among the students who took the AIME, 230 people are selected in the order of high combined scores of AMC 10 and 270 people are selected in the order of high combined scores of AIME and AMC 12 to advance to USAJMO and USAMO.
If you set the goal not at the tremendous national representative level of math, but at the AIME test, it is possible even without mathematical talent. I will introduce the preparation process of the students in our academy who went to AIME. At our A-One Institute, we prepare for the AMC with our own 12 books, each book is about 100-120 pages.
In the AMC 8 section,
A: Numbers and Operations
B: Figures and Measurement
C: Rules and Logics
D: Probability and Statistics We study from 4 books on these topics for 4-6 months.
In the AMC 10 section as well,
A: Numbers and Operations
B: Figures and Measurement
C: Rules and Logics
D: Probability and Statistics We study from 4 books on these topics, focusing on more difficult problems, for 6-8 months.
In the AMC 10 preparation, and beyond,
A: Numbers and Operations
B: Algebra
C: Geometry
D: Statistics
We study from 4 books on these topics for 6-8 months.
You need to finish 8 books to get good results in AMC 8 and 12 books to get good results in AMC 10. If you start the first process from September of 6th grade, you will be able to reach the level to take AMC 8 in September of 7th grade, and after 6-8 months, you will have the skills to get good results in AMC 10 in 8th grade. Then in 9th grade, 10th grade, you can aim to get good grades and advance to AIME. During the preparation, you will have a summer period at least once, and if you study more tightly during that period, you can shorten the preparation period. If you study according to the consistently organized schedule from the beginning, you can advance to AIME even without mathematical talent. If you start preparing from 5th grade, it will be a year faster, so you can take the AMC 10 test in 7th grade and get another opportunity, so it will be a competition worth challenging. If you study and prepare steadily like this, you can advance to AIME through AMC.
Our A-One Institute is one of the centers recognized by the AMC official organization, MAA, so we have the advantage of being able to take the test at the academy. Don’t think of AMC as far away and think it has nothing to do with you, but if you prepare according to the plan, you can aim for AIME, so I would like to tell you to definitely challenge. Since colleges like students with mathematical problem-solving abilities, AMC, AIME can be a plus factor for college admission, so don’t hesitate and start.
If you have any questions about AMC, AIME, please contact us, A-One Institute. We will answer in detail. Thank you.