[2] Before the 1999-2000 academic year, the AMC 8 was known as the AJHSME (American Junior High School Mathematics Examination), and the AMC 12 was known as the AHSME (American High School Mathematics Examination).
Students who perform exceptionally well on the AMC 12 and AIME are invited to the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), while students who perform exceptionally well on the AMC 10 and AIME are invited to United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO).
The AMC 8 is a 25 multiple-choice question, 40-minute competition designed for middle schoolers.
The AMC 8 is scored based on the number of questions answered correctly.
Ranking[5] Based on questions correct: Awards The AMC 10 and AMC 12 are 25 question, 75-minute multiple choice competitions in secondary school mathematics containing problems which can be understood and solved with precalculus concepts.
[6] High scores on the AMC 10 or 12 can qualify the participant for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).
From 1974 until 1999, the competition (then known as the American High School Math Examination, or AHSME) had 30 questions and was 90 minutes long, scoring 5 points for correct answers.
When the competition was shortened as part of the 2000 rebranding from AHSME to AMC, the value of a correct answer was increased to 6 points and the number of questions reduced to 25 (keeping 150 as a perfect score).
For example, prior to this change, on the AMC 12, a student could advance with only 11 correct answers, presuming the remaining questions were left blank.
After the change, a student must answer 14 questions correctly to reach 100 points.