Students excel in American Mathematics Competition series

After taking the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) 10/12, 33 students qualified to take American Mathematics Invitational Examination (AIME) on March 3, a 15-question, 3-hour test.

Those students ranked in the top 2.5 percent in AMC 10 or in the top 5 percent in AMC 12. In addition, 10 Redwood Middle School math club students had qualifying scores and also took the AIME.

“AMC is likely the largest math competition series in the U.S.,” math club co-president senior Sean Shi said. “It is of fairly high quality and legit, and [problems vary in difficulty] throughout the series of competitions.”

The qualifiers all received scores of an AMC 12-A score of 92.0 or an AMC 10-A score of 110, or by achieving an AMC 12-B score of 100 or an AMC 10-B score of 110.

Shi and math club co-president senior Celine Liang received a perfect 150 points on the AMC 12B on Feb. 17, a 25-question, 75-minute multiple-choice test for students in 12th grade or below. On the same day, freshman Catherine Wu received a school-wide high score of 144 on the AMC 10B, a 25-question, 75-minute multiple choice test in 10th grade or below.

Shi and Liang also had the highest scores among SHS students for the AMC 12A on Feb. 2, with scores of 136.5 and 132, respectively. Nevin Liang, an eighth grader at Redwood Middle School and Celine’s younger brother, received a perfect score of 150 on the AMC 10A.

“I’m pretty proud of my brother because he’s doing better in these math competitions than I was at his age,” Celine said. “And I’m also really excited to get a perfect score on the AMC 12 because it's my last year taking it and the last time I ever will take the AMC contest, so I'm feeling pretty lucky to be able to get a full score on my last try.”

After taking the AIME, about 270 students in 12th grade or below with the top combined scores of AMC 12 and AIME will qualify to take the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) on April 19-20, and about 230 students in 10th grade of below with top combined scores of AMC 10 and AIME will qualify to take United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO).

“The USAMO/USAJMO is the final step in the selection process for the Math Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP),” Liang said. "If you [place in the] top 12 within either contest, then you can get put onto this ‘winner list’ and it's pretty prestigious.”

Liang placed in the top 12 and attended MOSP the summers of 2014 and 2015. But now in her final months of high school competition, instead of worrying too much about her placing, she wants to cherish her time in math club.

“Ideally, I’d like to end my high school competition math career on a high note, but honestly I'm not super concerned with final results as the year draws to a close,” Liang said. “I'll probably just ride it out and enjoy the last few competitions before everything is finally over.”