American Mathematics Contest 12 — AMC 12

The American Mathematics Contest 12 (AMC 12) is the first exam in the series of exams used to challenge bright students, grades 12 and below, on the path toward 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). Two different versions of the contests are given on two dates, about two weeks apart, in February. All USA, USA embassy, Canadian, and foreign school students in grade 12 or below are eligible to participate as long as they are under 19.5 years of age on the day of the contest.

The AMC 12 used to be the American High School Mathematics Examination from 1951 to 1999.

Format

The AMC 12 is a 25 question, 75 minute multiple choice test. Problems generally increase in difficulty as the exam progresses. Ever since 2008, calculators have been banned from use during the test; however, calculators were never required to solve any problems, and students who do 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 score over 100 points or in the top 5% of the AMC 12 contest are invited to take the AIME.

Curriculum

The AMC 12 tests mathematical problem solving with arithmetic, algebra, counting, combinatorics, geometry, number theory, and probability and other secondary school math topics. Problems are designed to be solvable by students without any background in calculus. The AMC 12 is a 25-question, 75-minute, multiple choice examination in secondary school mathematics containing problems which can be understood and solved with pre-calculus concepts.

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