Anyone's kids taking the AMC 10 or 12 today?

[MBM]

Does anyone else have a kid who's taking the AMC 10 or 12 today? My son is taking the 12 after school but is ready having gotten a good night's sleep and a breakfast that he thinks helps him think best -- peas, bacon, blueberries and kefir. Bleh. LOL.

 

I'm not sure how he'll do. So far, with practice tests he's followed the pattern of good score, low score, good score, low score... He's doing the same with the Mandelbrot. Well, I guess we'll see.

 

Will your kids also be taking another AMC on the 22nd?

 

Anyway, best of luck to all who are taking it today! I have a feeling that a few here might be doing MOSP one of these summers. Very exciting.

 

:thumbup1:

[snowbeltmom]

I just returned from the library where ds had the test proctored. I purchased a copy of a book with prior years' AMC 12 tests. Ds decided to crack open the book last night.:glare:

 

Ds did better than I think he expected today. He has scored high enough to be recognized by the AMC for scoring above 90 on the AMC 12 as a 10th grader, but I don't know if his score is high enough to advance to the AIME since his score was below 100.

 

Regardless of whether he advances, he is happy with his score.

[MBM]

I just returned from the library where ds had the test proctored. I purchased a copy of a book with prior years' AMC 12 tests. Ds decided to crack open the book last night.:glare:

 

Ds did better than I think he expected today. He has scored high enough to be recognized by the AMC for scoring above 90 on the AMC 12 as a 10th grader, but I don't know if his score is high enough to advance to the AIME since his score was below 100.

 

Regardless of whether he advances, he is happy with his score.

 

Woo-hoo! 90 is a good score on the 12! At this point, I think they have to wait until the scores come in from both tests before determining the AIME cut-off. At least your son knows his score. My son's school doesn't let them know right away, and they don't let them take anything home. Oh, well.

 

Heh. My son decided to watch TV last night. I give up.

 

I have to go pick him up and make a mad dash over to the other campus soon. It's only about 2-3 miles away, but it takes FOREVER to drive over there because of all the traffic. Ugh.

 

Will your son be taking the test on the 22nd? My son will be taking the 10. Hopefully, that will be easier.

[snowbeltmom]

 

Will your son be taking the test on the 22nd? My son will be taking the 10. Hopefully, that will be easier.

 

I debated about signing him up for the 10 for that test date, but it is expensive as a single test taker and decided against it.

 

Good luck to your son both today and in a couple of weeks!

[Laura in CA]

My son (14) is taking his fourth (and last :sad:) AMC 10 today. He hasn't studied as much as I wish he had (Minecraft obsession :glare:), but he's cautiously hoping for USAJMO (no way he'd make MOSP!). He did make AIME last year on both the AMC 10 and 12, missing USAJMO by a fairly small number of points, but frankly he doesn't seem to have improved much since then, so I wouldn't even be surprised if he doesn't make AIME this year ... We'll see!

 

He's taking the 12B on the 22nd ... he briefly toyed with taking both the 12A and the 12B but he knows he has no chance for USAMO, so he thought he'd better try for USAJMO again since it's his last year.

 

You know, it's situations like this that make me wonder if skipping him up a grade (which they did in ps in kindergarten) was such a good idea ... if he had a whole 'nother year to do the AMC 10, he'd be in such a good position next year ... Maybe I should have him flunk 10th grade and do 10th grade over again next year :lol:

 

Oh, and he'll basically know his score right after the test. I can't remember if they get to bring home the question booklet, but I know there is a very spirited debriefing/discussion/argument (as the teacher himself calls it!) right after the test, where the kids find out (if they've made a record of which answers they chose) which ones they got right. My son *loves* this part of the test. He's doing both the 10 and the 12 in the next town over, just a few miles away but LIGHT YEARS ahead of our local school district (which isn't even offering either test this year! :glare:). There will be at least 30 focused, high-level math nerds taking the test with my son today (some of whom won national MATHCOUNTS a few years ago and got to meet President Obama). Good company in which to take the test! if rather intense :001_smile:

 

Anyway, best wishes to everyone taking the AMC test today!

Edited February 7, 2012 by Laura in CA

[KAR120C]

Not his best score... a couple silly mistakes and a little too free with the guessing. He gets a do-over on the B date - already signed up to take it with the local (ish) Univ.

[snowbeltmom]

 

You know, it's situations like this that make me wonder if skipping him up a grade (which they did in ps in kindergarten) was such a good idea ... if he had a whole 'nother year to do the AMC 10, he'd be in such a good position next year ... Maybe I should have him flunk 10th grade and do 10th grade over again next year :lol:

I hear ya...ds' previous school skipped him up a grade as well, which we maintained when we started homeschooling 4 years ago. Overall, we are happy with the decision. The biggest negative for ds has been in sports...his ranking would be much higher if he were with his age peers.

 

Good luck to your son, and congratulations on such stellar results last year.

[MBM]

Lo and behold, the school graded the test right away. My son got an 85, actually an 85.5 according to him, which I think is wrong, but anyway! He's happy with his score and knew how to do some of the problems he got wrong but needed more time.

 

Before the test began, the kids sat around and decided which letter they'd use to guess for problems they didn't know. Not a good idea, but they're silly. One kid used that letter on three problems and got all of them correct! Maybe that's not such a bad idea afterall.

 

Laura, my son is also 14 and a huge former Minecraft player. His career abruptly ended after he piddled away most of winter break playing that instead of studying for finals. Dad made him delete his account. Today, however, he 'fessed up and told me that he can still play for about an hour each month because they send monthly updates that allow him to do so. LOL.

 

You are in a really competitive area. Have your son sit next to the Math Counts winner so he can steal his math energy. Hee hee. We sat our kids in between the two best teams at Math Counts regionals one year and told them we were going to steal their energy -- and we ended up beating them! It was so funny. I think I might have scared them.

 

Do any of your kids participate in the Mandelbrot? I love that one because it's only about 40" or so, about five times per year, and is like a mini AMC. There are two levels, and I think it's easy to register for it. Something to keep in mind in case your kids might be interested.

 

Anyway, congrats to everyone! :)

[Tattarrattat]

AoPS will hold a MathJam today at 7PM EST discussing AMC 10A/12A.

 

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/mathjams.php

 

10A answers are here:

 

http://amc.maa.org/amc1012/2012/2012_AMC10A_Answers.pdf

 

12A answers are here:

 

http://amc.maa.org/amc1012/2012/2012_AMC12A_Answers.pdf

[Laura in CA]

I hear ya...ds' previous school skipped him up a grade as well, which we maintained when we started homeschooling 4 years ago. Overall, we are happy with the decision. The biggest negative for ds has been in sports...his ranking would be much higher if he were with his age peers.

 

Interesting! Yes, most of the time it seems like a no-brainer ... just times like this (and with MATHCOUNTS) I fantasize about another year of eligibility :001_smile:. I can see with sports it would be similar.

 

Lo and behold, the school graded the test right away. My son got an 85, actually an 85.5 according to him, which I think is wrong, but anyway! He's happy with his score and knew how to do some of the problems he got wrong but needed more time.

 

 

Good job! :001_smile:

 

The teacher at the school where my son took the 10A at goes over the answers right afterwards, with lots of chatter and kibitzing from the kids (which he loves). He thinks he got the first 21 questions right, but he had no clue on the last 4, so he left them blank. (Interesting strategy of picking a certain letter!) So he *thinks* his score is 132. He was able to bring the test booklet home, so I think I'll go have a look at the last four problems. He said he had time (!), but like I said, no clue how to attack them. On practice tests he has usually been able to do all but #25, so that did surprise him. I'm not sure he'll have time for the math jam this afternoon (he has track and then an evening CC math class, haha), but it would be interesting to see if they were harder than usual ...

 

Laura, my son is also 14 and a huge former Minecraft player. His career abruptly ended after he piddled away most of winter break playing that instead of studying for finals. Dad made him delete his account. Today, however, he 'fessed up and told me that he can still play for about an hour each month because they send monthly updates that allow him to do so. LOL.

 

Oh, that's TOO funny -- about being a *former* player, and 'fessing up :lol: ... Sounds like my son!

Yes, we've threatened to take it off his computer if he doesn't get his mind back on schoolwork more. In my more paranoid moments I see him squandering of all his potential and ending up living in someone's basement, playing Minecraft all day :tongue_smilie:

 

You are in a really competitive area. Have your son sit next to the Math Counts winner so he can steal his math energy. Hee hee. We sat our kids in between the two best teams at Math Counts regionals one year and told them we were going to steal their energy -- and we ended up beating them! It was so funny. I think I might have scared them.

 

LOL!

 

Do any of your kids participate in the Mandelbrot? I love that one because it's only about 40" or so, about five times per year, and is like a mini AMC. There are two levels, and I think it's easy to register for it. Something to keep in mind in case your kids might be interested.

 

I've heard great things about Mandelbrot but was confused how to participate. Can homeschoolers do it at home? :confused:

[Julie in MN]

My son did the AMC12 yesterday morning. It must depend on where you live? And it was my understanding that the answer key could not be opened until the student tests had been mailed. But of course discussing theories amongst the participants was fun :)

 

I heard a rumor that all the high school tests this year were on the hard side? My son and the other gal I drove wished their coach had allowed the 10th graders on the team to chip in for the 10, instead of having them all take the 12. I'll have to tell him you guys seem to be saying that the take grade into consideration?

 

He did NOT properly rest beforehand, so I didn't get much schoolwork out of him the rest of the day. He said his brain was tired :)

 

Julie

[snowbeltmom]

Interesting! Yes, most of the time it seems like a no-brainer ... just times like this (and with MATHCOUNTS) I fantasize about another year of eligibility :001_smile:. I can see with sports it would be similar.

Same here with the Mathcounts. Ds made it to the State level the 1st year he participated, but could not compete the following year even though he met the age cut-off. I wish Mathcounts and AMC would go by age and not grade in school. But in the grand scheme of things, it is not that big of a deal.

 

Sports has been harder for my son as he wants to play at the college level. However, he is finding that as he gets older, the age difference does not seem to make as much of a difference as the kids older than him seem to have reached close to their maximum height and he is starting to catch up height and strength wise.

[Laura in CA]

My son did the AMC12 yesterday morning. It must depend on where you live? And it was my understanding that the answer key could not be opened until the student tests had been mailed. But of course discussing theories amongst the participants was fun :)

 

I heard a rumor that all the high school tests this year were on the hard side? My son and the other gal I drove wished their coach had allowed the 10th graders on the team to chip in for the 10, instead of having them all take the 12. I'll have to tell him you guys seem to be saying that the take grade into consideration?

 

 

Well, both the AMC 10 and the AMC 12 can be offered the same day, BUT the test administrators have to order -- and pay for -- the tests separately, so I can see that there would be a financial incentive to keep it simple and just order the 12. At the school where my son took it, quite a few of the kids taking the 12 were 9th or 10th graders. Perhaps these kids will be taking the 10 on the other testing day (this school district offers both tests both days), since that is the only way to qualify for the USAJMO. Or perhaps they'll take the 12 both days. (Actually, I suppose I could check, since the math team coordinator sent out a list of kids, grades, and which test they're taking which day!) Like I said, my (10th-grade) son ultimately decided to take the 10 and the 12. Traditionally (except they keep tweaking the rules!) it was easier to qualify for the AIME on the AMC 12 (top 5%, vs. top 1% on the AMC 10), but of course it's a harder test ... Last year they loosened up the AMC 10 eligibility (top 2.5%???), and I haven't even looked at this year's rules ...

 

And yes, they take grade into consideration in the sense that it's easier to qualify for USAJMO, BUT you have to have taken the AMC 10 (at least last year that was true!). Of course the USAMO is more prestigious; we know local 9th-graders (and even an exceptional 5th-grader!!) who made USAMO ... Perhaps you can "game" the system by taking the AMC 10 even if you're really more suited for the AMC 12, but it all is too complicated for my little brain, and my son is not in those stratospheric levels anyway, so we just went with AMC 10A (his last year for the 10) and AMC 12 on the "B" date. Next year it will be simple -- just the AMC 12A and 12B :D.

 

Perhaps Kathy in Richmond can shed light on the whole matter ... Please? :001_smile:

[Kathy in Richmond]

Congrats to all of the excellent problem solvers! It always makes me happy to see so many homeschoolers getting involved. Our little homeschool was certainly blessed over the years by the opportunity to participate and learn from AMC math.

 

But...it sounds like you guys had all the fun without me this year! It's the first time since 2002 that I haven't been involved in AMC contests at all, and it sure felt weird yesterday to be missing out. I had to go over to the AoPS boards earlier today to get my fix.:D There's already a lot of chat about yesterday's tests /perceived difficulty levels/guesses about this year's cutoff scores, and there was a MathJam tonight discussing the solutions to both tests. If you missed it, just check for the transcript of the chat later tonight or tomorrow.

 

Laura- You summarized the rules better than I could have. They've changed a lot lately! There was no USAJMO when my kids were 10th grade & under, so I never had to deal with figuring that out. I did notice today that there are good, clear summaries of all the tests and advancement requirements stickied on the top of the AMC section on the AoPS forums. Basically, you move on to the AIME invitational level by either scoring 120+ OR being in the top 2.5% on the AMC-10, or by scoring 100+ OR being in the top 5% on the AMC-12. You just have to wait till they score all of the exams in Lincoln before you'll find out what the cutoffs are this year.

 

After the AIME, the student gets a USAJMO index score of AMC-10 score + 10 * AIME score, and/or a USAMO index score of AMC-12 score + 10*AIME score. Advancement to the USAJMO goes to roughly the top 230 USAJMO index scores; advancement to the USAMO goes to roughly the top 260 USAMO index scores.

 

Laura, I did as you & had my kids take one AMC 10 and one AMC 12 through their tenth grade years. My daughter sometimes would advance to AIME based on the 12, but not the 10.:tongue_smilie: But now that they take 2.5% of the AMC 10 test takers (instead of the old 1% rule), it should be a little easier to move forward from that exam. And mine also had a habit of doing better in the years they *didn't* study particularly hard...

 

 

I've heard great things about Mandelbrot but was confused how to participate. Can homeschoolers do it at home? :confused:

 

L did the Mandelbrot as a homeschooler, but she had to be part of a homeschool team, even to participate in the individual test & rankings. I can't remember exactly, but I think that there had to be a minimum of five kids or so on the team. It was one of those wonderful times when someone else was in charge of the arrangements for a change, and we just played along.:) It's a terrific test, though! I loved it for the reasons that MBM mentioned: it's high quality and not time-intensive. Once a month & under an hour & fun. Sam V, who creates and administers the Mandelbrot, is one cool guy according to my daughter. He was a visiting prof at MathPath last summer (sometimes he teaches classes in how to write good math problems at the summer camps), and he often hung out after hours with the college-aged counselors. Funny, cool, and brilliant at creating math problems.

[Tattarrattat]

I had to go over to the AoPS boards earlier today to get my fix.:D

 

DS and I couldn't wait for that AoPS board to be unlocked this morning :D. I couldn't believe I myself was as excited as my kid to read all the comments. DS voted the test "hard" for 10A, and it seemed to be hard indeed, at least for him. He did a practice run using a prevous test the day before and scored really well-almost reaching AIME qualification level. For yesterday's test, he only needed less than one correct problem to get in achievement roll:001_huh:. But I'm still very proud of him.:). I'm not sure if he's more excited about taking the test or more excited about the opportunity to share comments about the test with other kids, or maybe both:)

[MBM]

My son and the other gal I drove wished their coach had allowed the 10th graders on the team to chip in for the 10, instead of having them all take the 12.

 

He did NOT properly rest beforehand, so I didn't get much schoolwork out of him the rest of the day. He said his brain was tired :)

 

Will your area offer the 12A and 12B next year? If not, maybe you can convince them to do so. My son's high school only offers the 12A (not the 10A) and the 10B and 12B. I'm pretty sure homeschoolers are welcome to take it with the other students.

 

So he *thinks* his score is 132.

 

Woo-hoo! Sounds like he's on to AIME and he still has yet another test. The force is with him. :)

 

I've heard great things about Mandelbrot but was confused how to participate. Can homeschoolers do it at home? :confused:

 

I don't know if it they allow teams of less than five but it might be worth asking. Maybe some of your son's friends would be willing to take the test -- you could bribe them with food. Do imaginary friends count? ;) I would suppose that if a team is less than five, then they couldn't count as a team but maybe individual would be okay?

 

If you do decide to participate, they sell a problem book. Some of them are real doozies. AoPS sells it. (I think Richard Rusczyk and Sam Vandervelde are buddies.)

 

Also, the national level test is harder than the non-national test. My son takes non-national and finds it tough.

 

 

********

:seeya: Hi Kathy! Nice to see you!

[MBM]

DS and I couldn't wait for that AoPS board to be unlocked this morning :D. I couldn't believe I myself was as excited as my kid to read all the comments. DS voted the test "hard" for 10A, and it seemed to be hard indeed, at least for him. He did a practice run using a prevous test the day before and scored really well-almost reaching AIME qualification level. For yesterday's test, he only needed less than one correct problem to get in achievement roll:001_huh:. But I'm still very proud of him.:). I'm not sure if he's more excited about taking the test or more excited about the opportunity to share comments about the test with other kids, or maybe both:)

 

Fantastic!

The AoPS board was really buzzing, wasn't it? My son was on it last night while also texting a girl. Hmmm...

[Kathy in Richmond]

The cutoff scores for progressing to AIME from the AMC 10A and 12A have now been posted on the AoPS forums here.

[Tattarrattat]

Thanks Kathy.

 

It's also posted on MAA's website:

 

http://amc.maa.org/

[Julie in MN]

Someone mentioned stats on 10th graders taking the AMC12. Is there somewhere that separates it out by grade? It might encourage my son, who would rather have taken the AMC10 :)

 

Julie

[Kathy in Richmond]

Someone mentioned stats on 10th graders taking the AMC12. Is there somewhere that separates it out by grade? It might encourage my son, who would rather have taken the AMC10 :)

 

Julie

 

More detailed statistics are usually published later in the spring on the MAA website. To give you a general idea, here's a link that includes the score breakdowns by grade level for the 2010 exams. The website will also have detailed state by state stats eventually.

[snowbeltmom]

Thanks, Kathy for the post. Ds missed the cut-off on the AMC 12 by three points - he didn't guess on any questions (left those blank) and got all the ones that he did answer correct. He'll be happy to know he was close to the cut-off.

[Julie in MN]

More detailed statistics are usually published later in the spring on the MAA website. To give you a general idea, here's a link that includes the score breakdowns by grade level for the 2010 exams. The website will also have detailed state by state stats eventually.

 

Thanks for the info. Too funny, though - the average score for 10th graders is actually higher :)

[Laura in CA]

Thanks for the info. Too funny, though - the average score for 10th graders is actually higher :)

 

That *is* funny, but it makes sense -- a lot of the 10th-graders taking the AMC 12 are going to be your typical overachievers :001_smile:.

 

It's considered more prestigious, at least in the math-nerd subculture of the Bay Area, to take the AMC 12 even if (or especially if) you're still eligible to take the 10. If you *do* take the 10, it's considered an "epic fail" not to get a perfect score on it ... :tongue_smilie:. Luckily my son isn't into that mindset, although he almost spurned taking the 10 at all :001_smile:.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Thanks, Kathy for the post. Ds missed the cut-off on the AMC 12 by three points - he didn't guess on any questions (left those blank) and got all the ones that he did answer correct. He'll be happy to know he was close to the cut-off.

 

Ahh...so close!! It's great that he didn't flub it up and miss due to careless errors, though. My son was like that & had a couple of frustrating years where one more correct answer would have advanced him to the next level. When my daughter missed advancing, it was typically due to something goofy like missing question #1.:)

 

Thanks for the info. Too funny, though - the average score for 10th graders is actually higher :)

 

Oh, wow, I didn't even look carefully at the numbers before posting that link. I think that Laura in CA hit the nail on the head as to why that happened. It's a shame that your coach didn't also order the AMC 10 packet, especially if you were willing to cover the costs. It wouldn't have added any extra proctoring work since they can be given at the same time and place.

[MBM]

It's considered more prestigious, at least in the math-nerd subculture of the Bay Area, to take the AMC 12 even if (or especially if) you're still eligible to take the 10. If you *do* take the 10, it's considered an "epic fail" not to get a perfect score on it ... :tongue_smilie:.

 

Oh, my! I do believe you, though, considering it's the Bay Area.

 

Good luck to your kids who are taking the B tests this Wednesday. My son will be taking the 10-B bright and early at 7:00 am.

 

:)

[KAR120C]

Oh, my! I do believe you, though, considering it's the Bay Area.

 

Good luck to your kids who are taking the B tests this Wednesday. My son will be taking the 10-B bright and early at 7:00 am.

 

:)

Good luck to your son too!!

[Laura in CA]

Good luck to your kids who are taking the B tests this Wednesday. My son will be taking the 10-B bright and early at 7:00 am.

:)

 

Ouch! I'm not sure my son could spell his own name at 7 a.m. :001_smile:

He's taking the 12B at 3 p.m.

 

Best wishes to all the test-takers! :001_smile:

[snowbeltmom]

After not wanting to pay another $60+ to have ds take the 12B exam, I found a school in an adjacent county that let him take it there for free since they had extra copies.

 

Anyway, ds scored a little higher on this exam, but he was surprised to see that he got question #12 marked wrong: he chose D when the correct answer was E. He is still convinced that D is the correct choice, and based on the blog posts on the AoPS forum, he is not alone.

 

According to some of the posts on AoPS, some of the kids' teachers have petitioned the MAA to count both D and E as correct choices. Has this ever happened before? Has the MAA ever accepted more than one answer as correct?

 

This question is the difference between scoring over 100 or being in the 90's. Ds never will be Olympiad material, but it would be nice to make AIME.

[Laura in CA]

Anyway, ds scored a little higher on this exam, but he was surprised to see that he got question #12 marked wrong: he chose D when the correct answer was E. He is still convinced that D is the correct choice, and based on the blog posts on the AoPS forum, he is not alone.

 

According to some of the posts on AoPS, some of the kids' teachers have petitioned the MAA to count both D and E as correct choices. Has this ever happened before? Has the MAA ever accepted more than one answer as correct?

 

This question is the difference between scoring over 100 or being in the 90's. Ds never will be Olympiad material, but it would be nice to make AIME.

 

Interesting-- I'm glad you posted! ... I just asked my son what he chose for 12, and he looked and said D! :001_huh: Thanks for pointing this out. Also not Olympiad material here, but might as well get all the points earned! He thinks he got 102 without #12, and 108 if he does get credit for D on #12 ... In the former case he would have just squeaked by for AIME, using the 100-point cutoff.

 

However, my son says the 5% cutoff will probably be lower than 100, so your son might make it either way ... It sounds like you look at the AoPS boards more than we do, and I'm sure you saw the (opinion) poll about possible AIME cutoff -- it was in the mid-90s, I think. Ha - just went to the AoPS boards, which I do far too infrequently -- the last post on the AMC board was in the thread about Q.12, and the next thread down is the AMC 12 cutoff poll.

 

Back to the question, haha -- no, we've never appealed, but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has. I would suspect/hope that if a teacher appeals successfully, they (the MAA) would use that grading standard for all the kids, even those who haven't appealed. Perhaps this is partly why it takes several weeks to get the scores back ...

Edited February 24, 2012 by Laura in CA

[snowbeltmom]

Interesting-- I'm glad you posted! ... I just asked my son what he chose for 12, and he looked and said D! :001_huh: Thanks for pointing this out. Also not Olympiad material here, but might as well get all the points earned! He thinks he got 102 without #12, and 108 if he does get credit for D on #12 ... In the former case he would have just squeaked by for AIME, using the 100-point cutoff.

...

Congratulations to your son for qualifying for AIME! Realistic case (with #12 wrong), my ds has 94.5. We'll see if that is high enough.

[Laura in CA]

Congratulations to your son for qualifying for AIME! Realistic case (with #12 wrong), my ds has 94.5. We'll see if that is high enough.

 

Ouch! The extra six points would let him clear 100! I hope that 94.5 is high enough anyway. :001_smile:

[snowbeltmom]

"In consultation with AMC Contest Chairs, former Contest Chairs and

current and former Committee members, I have reached the decision that

for 2012 AMC 12 B, Problem 12 we will score both answers (D) 380 and (E)

382 correct. The AMC has the capability of scoring more than one

correct answer for a problem. We will do so here...."

 

Provided ds bubbled in the answer sheet correctly, this decision will push him over the 100 points needed for AIME!

[Laura in CA]

Oh, whew! Congratulations to your son! And how nice not to have to wait for the cutoff to be announced! :001_smile:

 

(My son posted in a thread on the AoPS boards (about problem 12) that the obvious solution would be for the MAA to give credit for both D and E. He was immediately attacked on the board, told via PM to ignore the attacks, etc. ... Such drama in the nerdy math world! :svengo: LOL)

[snowbeltmom]

Oh, whew! Congratulations to your son! And how nice not to have to wait for the cutoff to be announced! :001_smile:

 

(My son posted in a thread on the AoPS boards (about problem 12) that the obvious solution would be for the MAA to give credit for both D and E. He was immediately attacked on the board, told via PM to ignore the attacks, etc. ... Such drama in the nerdy math world! :svengo: LOL)

Now I am just worried that he bubbled correctly.:tongue_smilie:

 

I didn't read all of those posts in the AoPS thread, but I was amused to see that it grew to about 10 pages or so.

[snowbeltmom]

Ds got his official results today, and he bubbled correctly. He just made the cut-off for the AIME:001_smile:

[Laura in CA]

:party: Yay!

 

Off to AIME-land!!! :auto:

 

My son is doing their AIME seminar right now -- it's being led by Richard Rusczyk and David Patrick. I don't think they held it last year.

 

BTW you are talking about his 12B score, right? We haven't gotten my son's B score yet. I might have to email the math team leader at the school where he took it ... one problem with being a "floater"! :001_smile:

[snowbeltmom]

:party: Yay!

 

Off to AIME-land!!! :auto:

 

My son is doing their AIME seminar right now -- it's being led by Richard Rusczyk and David Patrick. I don't think they held it last year.

 

BTW you are talking about his 12B score, right? We haven't gotten my son's B score yet. I might have to email the math team leader at the school where he took it ... one problem with being a "floater"! :001_smile:

My son is doing the AIME seminar now as well! He qualified with his B score; he was 3 pts short on his A score. I just received the e-mail this morning. The cut-off for the 12B was 99.

 

Good luck to your son on the AIME!

Edited March 3, 2012 by snowbeltmom

[MBM]

My son also qualified for AIME by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin (10B). He is very happy about it.

 

Ds is taking an AIME series class, too. Is that the same as the seminar? It's the class that meets on Wednesdays, except most of the time he has to read the transcript due to time constraints.

 

Well, good luck to everyone on the AIME! :)

[snowbeltmom]

My son also qualified for AIME by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin (10B). He is very happy about it.

 

Ds is taking an AIME series class, too. Is that the same as the seminar? It's the class that meets on Wednesdays, except most of the time he has to read the transcript due to time constraints.

 

Well, good luck to everyone on the AIME! :)

The seminar was just a weekend event - three hours on Sat. and three hours on Sunday.

 

Has your son enjoyed the AIME classes? I am thinking of signing ds up for them next year.

[MBM]

The seminar was just a weekend event - three hours on Sat. and three hours on Sunday.

 

Has your son enjoyed the AIME classes? I am thinking of signing ds up for them next year.

 

Yes, the class has been very helpful. I just looked it up and it's on Wednesdays with Justin Bae. Justin does a great job getting the kids to think of approaches and thinking of other possibilities.

What my son really wants to take is Olympiad Geometry in summer. He has been having trouble finding a nice, tidy resource of upper-level geometry. I know he's been finding some good problems from old USAMTS tests which Kathy recommended (thank you, Kathy :)). The AoPS class will probably be a toughie but something should stick (I hope).

Another good resource is the Paul Zeitz book The Art and Craft of Problem Solving. Kathy recommended it, and it's been a huge hit with my son.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Craft-Problem-Solving/dp/0471789011

 

Is your son taking WOOT or planning to? I hear that's supposed to be outstanding. My son is hoping to do it next year.

[snowbeltmom]

My son has never done WOOT - he is not at that level now, and I am not sure he ever will be at that level. I just hope he is able to answer a couple of the questions on the AIME next week.

 

I think I will sign him up for at least one of the AIME classes next year. He has done the intro level classes, Alg III and is finishing up the pre-calc this week.

 

I think it is a great testament to the rigor of AoPS that ds even qualified for AIME. A friend of his attends one of the most prestigious private schools in our area (at $25K per year:scared:) and told my son that the school only had one kid in the entire school qualify for AIME, and he was a 12th grader.

[Laura in CA]

My son has never done WOOT - he is not at that level now, and I am not sure he ever will be at that level. I just hope he is able to answer a couple of the questions on the AIME next week.

 

My son got a 3 last year on the AIME and we were thrilled! :001_smile: I also had fun telling folks who know nothing about these exams that my son "got a 3"! :001_huh: :D

 

The AIME seminar was eye-opening to him -- so many questions that look hard/undoable, and yet with the right insight, are easily solvable. That's given him incentive and confidence ... now we'll see if he has enough tools in his tool chest ...

 

I think I will sign him up for at least one of the AIME classes next year. He has done the intro level classes, Alg III and is finishing up the pre-calc this week.

 

Hmmmm ... this is giving me good ideas for next year! I hadn't really considered the AIME class, just the weekend AIME seminar (which my son LOVED).

 

I think it is a great testament to the rigor of AoPS that ds even qualified for AIME. A friend of his attends one of the most prestigious private schools in our area (at $25K per year:scared:) and told my son that the school only had one kid in the entire school qualify for AIME, and he was a 12th grader.

 

Wow! Ouch! Yes, AoPS is such an amazing resource for mathy kids -- both homeschooling and in B&M schools. The public high school where my son took the 12B had FOURTEEN AIME qualifiers this year (last year: 13 AIME, 2 USAJMO and 1 USAMO) ... but I know many of them are AoPS regulars, even board moderators. Yay AoPS! :thumbup1: