By Jason He
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2007, The OG, news & student awards

STUDENTS FROM ALL grades traversed through snowy conditions Feb. 6 to take the AMC 10 or AMC 12, nationwide mathematics competitions administered annually by the Mathematical Association of America.

Fifty-three students showed up for the American Mathematics Contest 10, and 44 for the American Mathematics Contest 12. All but three students who registered for either exam took a test.

Math executive teacher Craig Russell today announced the results of the exams. Junior Alex Zhai, a veteran of last year's U.S. team in the International Mathematical Olympiad, led all Uni students with a perfect score in the AMC 12.

Zhai and eight other students qualified for the next round of the competition, the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, as a result of their performance on the AMC 12.

A sign posted near the south entrance directs

students to AMC contest rooms. (photo by Jason He)

The other qualifiers are:

— Michael Belmont
— Alex Cahill
— Andrew Chen
— Benjamin Hyman
— Daniel Ito
— Tomasz Kalbarczyk
— Annie Liang
— Yuv Pathuri

Last year, 32 Uni students qualified for the AIME.

Sophomore Alan Liang was this year's school winner in the AMC 10.

According to the MAA's Web site, both the AMC 12 and AMC 10 follow the same 25-question multiple-choice format and can be understood and solved with concepts from precalculus courses.

Students are given 75 minutes to answer as many questions as they can; incorrectly answered problems are awarded zero points, but omitted questions are awarded 1.5 points. Correct answers are awarded 6 points, and thus a perfect score on either contest is 150 points.

According to Russell, students qualified for the AIME if they scored at least 97.5 on the AMC 12-A or 117.0 on the AMC 10-A.

The AIME is a 15-question, three-hour exam. Top scorers on the AIME are invited to take the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. From there, selected students advance to the final selection stage for the American team in the International Math Olympiad.

Last year, Zhai earned the second-highest score in the country on the USAMO. In July he won a silver medal at the IMO.

This year, he hopes to make the team again.

“I have to work to stay ahead in the competition for this year's six IMO spots,” says Zhai. “I suppose the perfect score is a good start psychologically, but the AMC 12 is really only the first of many steps. There's still plenty of training to be done, since my AMC score will ultimately have no effect on the most important selection stage, which is the USAMO in April.”

RELATED

Alex Zhai's road to the 2006 International Mathematical Olympiad

— Feb. 20, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: More than 30 Uni students advance in national math competition

— April 2, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: Alex Zhai invited to compete in USA Math Olympiad

— April 25, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: Alex Zhai earns second-highest score in 2006 USA Math Olympiad

— June 3, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: Alex Zhai wins $15,000 scholarship

— June 19, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: Alex Zhai to represent U.S. at International Math Olympiad

— July 16, 2006, Gargoyle coverage: Zhai wins silver medal at International Math Olympiad

— Sept. 22, 2006, Gargoyle first person by Alex Zhai: IMO a milestone, but not the end