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AMC Policies

Contents

Lost or Delayed Packages

In order to receive your score report and any certificates earned, answer sheets must be received by the MAA AMC office by the date stated in the Teacher's Manuals. The MAA AMC is not responsible for lost or delayed answer sheets. Answer sheets received after these deadlines will not be scored. This means that students will not be eligible to qualify for the additional invitational competitions, and their scores will not appear on the MAA AMC website.

The AMC Office is not responsible for replacing lost competition materials. 

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Inclement Weather and School Cancelation Policy

If school is canceled on the day that the AMC 8 was scheduled, the competition manager can administer the AMC 8 on a different day as long as it falls within the AMC 8 competition period noted in the Teacher’s Manual. The AMC 8 cannot be administered after the final day of the competition period.

If school is canceled on the day of the AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A or the AIME I, the competition manager must contact AMC customer service immediately at amcinfo@maa.org to register the school for the AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B or the AIME II. If school is canceled on the day of the AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B or the AIME II, the competition manager can administer the competition at an alternative location such as a local place of worship, a different school, university, or library. The competition manager must receive approval from the school administration before offering the competition at an alternative location. Additional competition dates are not offered for the AMC 10 B, AMC 12 B, and AIME II if school is canceled on these dates.

If there is a natural disaster declared by FEMA, and the school offering the competition is located within the affected counties, the school may request a full refund for materials.

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American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) Qualification

The MAA AMC program will determine the cutoff indexes that will qualify students to participate in the AIME each year. Once the cutoffs are set and announced, they will not be changed. Qualification parameters for the AIME depend on the results of the AMC 10 and AMC 12 competitions. For the AMC 10, at least the top 2.5% of all scorers from the A and B competition dates are invited, and for the AMC 12, at least the top 5% of all scorers on each version are invited.

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USA Mathematical Olympiad and USA Junior Mathematical Olympiad Qualification

After the AIME I and AIME II are scored, the MAA AMC program will determine the cutoff indexes that will qualify students for USAMO or USAJMO participation. Each year the MAA AMC program selects approximately 500 students total for the two Olympiads. Once the indexes are set and announced, they will not be changed. The USAMO and USAJMO indexes are calculated as follows:

USAMO Index = AMC 12 Score + 10 x AIME Score
USAJMO Index = AMC 10 Score + 10 x AIME Score

If a student’s scores qualify them for both the USAMO and the USAJMO, they will be invited to take the USAMO. Only students currently attending school full-time in the United States or Canada are eligible to participate in the USAMO and USAJMO. The MAA AMC Office reserves the right to invite additional students to participate for the purposes of IMO and EGMO team selection.

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Competition Administration:

The MAA AMC is hosted by math and education organizations, including schools, colleges/universities, Math Circles, and learning/tutoring/enrichment centers. The competition is administered by a competition manager. This person must be affiliated with the host organization and needs to demonstrate this affiliation as well as the legitimacy of the organization during registration. Competition managers are adults who are not related to any of the participants. Under no circumstances may a parent or guardian of a student taking the AMC to be involved in the administration of the competition. Home schools are not allowed to register to administer the competition. A fee for students taking the MAA AMC may be charged to cover the cost of administering the competition. Failure to follow MAA AMC registration policies will result in disqualification.

The competitions must be administered during their valid competition window by competition managers. The valid competition window for this cycle is 8:00 AM to 11:59 PM Eastern Standard time (GMT +5) on the official USA competition dates. See competition dates. Competition managers may choose to administer the competition at separate times to different sections of students; however, for competition integrity and security, the MAA AMC strongly encourages competition managers to administer the competition to all participating students at the same time.

Registration Categories and Requirements

Schools and Colleges/Universities
Schools and colleges/universities should register under the appropriate institution categories (Elementary, Middle School, HS/JR, High School, College/University). Competition managers registering a school or college/university must register with a school email address and provide a link to the school website. The MAA AMC must be administered at the registered school or college/institution unless cleared by the MAA AMC Office or following the inclement weather and school cancelation policy.

Math Circle
Math Student Circles and Math Teachers’ Circles that are registered with the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) and appear on the respective website may administer the MAA AMC. Materials for competition administration by a Math Circle cannot be mailed to a residential address and must be mailed to the location where the competition is to take place. Acceptable locations where the MAA AMC may be administered include schools, universities, libraries, or community centers. Competition managers registering a Math Circle must demonstrate that the Math Circle is registered with AIM, provide a link to the Math Circle website, and provide the email address of an individual associated with the competition location who will be responsible for receiving the competition materials.

Learning Centers
Learning/Tutoring/Enrichment Centers must be able to provide a link to the learning/tutoring/enrichment center website and provide a valid tax ID form upon registering. Materials for competitions administered by a learning/tutoring/enrichment center cannot be mailed to a residential address and must be accepted at the business address. The MAA AMC must be administered at the registered learning/tutoring/enrichment center.

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AIME Administration Location:

Students must take the AIME at the same competition location where they took the AMC 10 or AMC 12. This is to ensure that a student’s AMC 10 or AMC 12 score can be matched with their AIME score for USA Mathematical Olympiad qualification. In the event that the competition manager is unable to offer AIME I or II or a student absolutely cannot take the AIME at the same competition location, it is the competition manager’s responsibility to reach out to nearby schools listed on the Additional Competition locations webpage, make arrangements with a different competition manager for their student, complete the Change of Venue Form and send the form to the Service Center (amcinfo@maa.org).

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International Qualification for AIME:

Any student who takes the AMC 10/12 internationally is eligible to qualify for the AIME, and our international partners are licensed to administer the competition. For all of our competitions that are offered internationally, students' results are not included in our system, and their names will not be reported online when we announce award winners such as honor roll and honor roll of distinction recipients. The exam must be taken at the same time as students in the U.S., and students taking that competition abroad must adhere to the same rules and regulations as their peers taking it domestically.

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AIME II Registration

Students who qualify for the AIME will automatically be registered to take the AIME I. If a competition manager cannot administer the AIME I and needs to administer the AIME II instead, they must complete the AIME II registration form and pay the associated fees by the stated deadline.

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Refund/Credit Policy

If your school is unable to take the competition, please use the materials as practice sets to prepare for next year’s competition or as supplemental classroom materials. We cannot give refunds or credits after registration. 

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IMO Team Selection

The road to the International Mathematical Olympiad begins with the AMC 10/12. Students hoping to qualify for the IMO must first take the AMC 10 or AMC 12. Top-performing students in those competitions are then invited to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). Students who do exceptionally well in those two competitions are then invited to participate in the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) or the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO). About 60 of the top-performing students are then invited to attend the Mathematical OIympiad Program, where they begin a series of team selection tests that determine the final six students that the United States will go on to send to the International Mathematical Olympiad.

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Eligibility Requirements

Age Requirements

  • To participate in the AMC 8, a student must be in grade 8 or below and also under 14.5 years of age on the day of the competition.
  • To participate in the AMC 10, a student must be in grade 10 or below and under 17.5 years of age on the day of the competition.
  • To participate in the AMC 12, a student must be in grade 12 or below and under 19.5 years of age on the day of the competition.

A student may only take one competition per competition date. Students are permitted to take the A version of any competition and the B version of any competition if they meet the age and grade requirements. For example, a student can take the AMC 10 A and AMC 12 B, or the AMC 10 A and AMC 10 B. However, that student may not take the AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A.

Additional Requirements

  • For the US-domestic AMC 8, AMC 10/12, AIME, and USAMO/JMO students must be enrolled at a US or Canadian school full-time.
  • For MOP, students must be enrolled at a US school full-time.
  • For the IMO, EGMO, RMM, TSTSTs, and TSTs, students must be US citizens or US permanent residents enrolled at a US or Canadian school full-time. Visas are not a valid substitute.

Scoring Errors

If you believe that a scoring error has been made, please use the Rescore Request Form to request a review of the student’s answer sheet. There is a $35.00 charge for each student answer sheet that is re-scored. The answers that are re-scored will be the ones blackened on the answer form. In cases where errors are encountered after scores have already been posted, changes may not be reflected on the MAA AMC website. However, the MAA AMC office can provide supporting documentation with the correct score to the student. All student answer forms returned for grading will be recycled 80 days after the competition date.

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Permitted Materials

AMC 8
For digital administration of the competition, a student may use a laptop or tablet with one tab open to the competition. Otherwise, the only materials that students are allowed to have on themselves during the competition are writing utensils, blank scratch paper, rulers, and erasers. NO CALCULATORS OR PHONES AND SIMILAR ELECTRONIC DEVICES OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED. No questions require the use of a calculator.

AMC 10/12 - AIME
For digital administration of the competition, a student may use a laptop or tablet with one tab open to the competition. Otherwise, the only materials that students are allowed to have on themselves during the competition are writing utensils, blank scratch paper, rulers, compasses, and erasers. NO CALCULATORS OR PHONES AND SIMILAR ELECTRONIC DEVICES OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED. No questions require the use of a calculator.

USAMO - USAJMO
For digital administration of the competition, a student may use a laptop or tablet with one tab open to the competition. Otherwise, the only materials that students are allowed to have on themselves during the competition are scratch paper, rulers, compasses, and erasers. NO CALCULATORS OR PHONES AND SIMILAR ELECTRONIC DEVICES OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED.

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Use of Translation Dictionaries

Students learning “English as a Second Language” (ESL) may use a hard-copy, nontechnical dictionary to translate between their native language and English. The dictionary must be given to the school competition manager to examine and retain for the 24-hour period preceding the competition. No additional time will be given to students using a translation dictionary.

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Cheating

All disqualifications, cheating accusations, and suspicious behavior are taken seriously by the MAA AMC office and must be reported to AMCHQ@maa.org.

Disqualifications by Competition Manager

If it is clear to the competition manager from personal observation that a participant has cheated, the competition manager must disqualify the participant. After the participant is disqualified, the competition manager must notify the AMC of the disqualification for further action.

Submitting a cheating accusation or suspicious behavior:

It is critical to support the claim with facts or documentation. If the competition manager receives an allegation or obtains indirect evidence of cheating, the competition manager must immediately report all evidence of the situation to the MAA AMC Office at AMCHQ@maa.org. The MAA AMC Office reserves the right to disqualify scores if it determines the rules and procedures were not followed.

Disqualified students:

If a student is found to have cheated on the AMC 8 or AMC 10/12, they will be disqualified from the competition for the rest of the cycle. If this happens a second time, they will be removed from the competitions program and cannot participate in future cycles. 
 
If a student is found to have cheated on the AIME, USAMO, USAJMO, or any other olympiad-level competitions, they will be disqualified for the rest of the competition cycle and unable to compete in future cycles. 
 
In both instances, all scores will be eliminated from MAA Competitions' historical data immediately, and the student will not be eligible for cycle awards in either case.