How to prepare for the AMC 12

• 25 multiple-choice questions, each with five options, in 75 minutes.

• For students in grade 12 and below who are under 19½ on the day of the contest.

• Scored like the AMC 10: 6 points for a correct answer, 1.5 for a blank and 0 for a wrong one, out of 150.

• No calculators.

• Sat in two versions, the 12A and the 12B, usually in November. Strong scores lead to an invitation to the AIME.

• Sitting dates and registration change every year: check the MAA’s AMC page (maa.org) for this year’s.

About half of each AMC 12 paper is shared with the AMC 10. The rest leans on high-school topics the AMC 10 avoids:

• Trigonometry: identities, the unit circle and the laws of sines and cosines.

• Logarithms and exponents.

• Complex numbers, including roots of unity.

• Polynomials in more depth: roots, Vieta for higher degree, remainders.

• Sequences, series and functional equations.

There is no calculus on the AMC 12.

• Secure the AMC 10 foundation first: our AMC 10 practice tests and topics page are the place to start.

• Add one AMC 12 topic a week from the list above, with a few contest-style problems on each.

• The guessing rule is the same as on the AMC 10: guess only when you can rule out at least two options.

• Sit a full timed paper every two or three weeks and keep a notebook of every mistake.

Original practice tests written by Math Webb in the style of the contest, free to read, each question with its answer and a full worked solution.