Students Can Easily Qualify for the AIME Through the AMC 12 During 11th and 12th Grades

Most of our students who are in the 10th grade and below qualify for AIME, even those who are in the 6th grade. Only a few students did not qualify for AIME who are in the 10th grade, because they happened to join our classes too late. However, all of them successfully did so with our help when they came back as 11th graders. Actually, 10th graders who did not qualify for AIME in 10th grade should not worry or feel disappointed. It is much easier to qualify for AIME through the AMC 12 than AMC 10 because the curve for the AMC 12 is much more generous. Any student who scores in the top 2.5% on the AMC 10, or in the top 5% on the AMC 12 is invited to take the AIME. 10th graders still have a great chance at qualifying in 11th grade!

The AMC 12 cutoff scores for AIME qualification ranged from 88.5 to 100, while the AMC10 scores from 106.5 to 120, between 2009 to 2016. Qualification parameters for AIME vary with the results of the AMC 10/12 competitions. The exact cutoffs depend on the difficulty of each competition. See more at:

• Cutoff scores for AIME qualification in 2016
• AMC 10/12 Historical Results

Even for a student in grades 10 and below, who is familiar with trigonometry and precalculus, it easier to score a 100 on the AMC 12 than to score a 120 on the AMC 10. Even if the AMC 12 problems are harder, the difference in 20 points is over three problems. To qualify for AIME through the AMC 10, the minimum correct answers needed is 19. For the AMC 12, however, you only need at least 14 correct answers. Furthermore, the AMC 12 questions have about at least 9 questions out of the first 14 that are the same as the AMC 10’s and they do not get significantly harder until after Problem 16. Thus, it is much easier to qualify for the AIME through the AMC 12 than the AMC 10. See more at:

• AMC 10 versus AMC 12
• The AMC 10 and AMC 12 Have 10-15 Questions in Common
• Online Intensive AMC 10/12 Prep (for 7th to 12th Graders) Winter Weekend Course
• AMC 10/12 Prep (for 7th to 12th Graders) Winter Weekend Course
• Online AMC 10/Mathcounts Prep (for 5th to 9th Graders) Winter Weekend Course
• AMC 10/Mathcounts Prep (for 5th to 9th Graders) Winter Weekend Course

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