St. Mary’s International School hosted the AMC Math Competition on November 14th, 2025. Selected students participated and competed against each other on that day. After the test, interest in the competition was focused.
The AMC, short for the American Mathematics Competition, is the preeminent math competition for students K-12 that was founded in 1950. Three different competitions for AMC exist. One is the AMC 8, which is the competition for grades 8 or below. Another is AMC 10, which is the competition for grades 10 or below. The AMC 12 is for grades 12 or below. However, the ranking system is a bit different. Even though grades 9 and 10 take the same test, they are ranked in separate lists. In other words, 9th graders compete with 9th graders, and 10th graders compete with 10th graders.
The AMC competition is a very beneficial competition for students. According to Mr. Donea, a high school math teacher in St. Mary’s, just participating in the competition would prove that the student has high mathematical skills. Furthermore, when students earn a good grade will receive a diploma. The diploma will potentially help the student get accepted to their target university. When the student makes it to the top 10%, they are allowed to participate in the AIME, which is another math competition even more difficult than the AMC.
Unfortunately, not all students have the qualifications to participate in the competition. In order to participate, students need to score over 90% in extended classes. The selected group now gains permission to compete in the competition. There is a reason for this strict selection. It is because the questions are highly difficult, incomparable to normal school work. Students might need to use formulas and logic that were never taught in school classes before. Due to the terribly advanced difficulty of the competition, just participating proves the participants’ mathematical skills.
Even though students do not get a good ranking in the competition, there is no need to be depressed. Being part of the competiton already proves that their skills are above average.
