The American Mathematics Competition has become almost standard in university applications to top engineering schools such as MIT in the United States. Therefore, if you are a math/science student interested in applying to American Universities, you should definitely look into this contest. Although much more difficult than its Canadian counterpart, the AMC is rewarding and is also scored on a scale of 150. A score of 100+ is usually considered very solid. The AMC 12 is the third of the open AMC exams.

AMC 12 students who rank in the top 5% nationally (or score at least 100) will qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME). AMC 10 students who rank in the top 1% nationally (or score at least 120) will also qualify for the AIME. A very difficult contest of 15 questions, the AIME is often looked for in university applications by American Universities. All problems on the AIME can be solved by pre-calculus methods.