AMC 10/12 2026: Dates, Registration, Scoring, and How to Qualify for AIME
- Lydia Park
- Mar 29, 2023
- 9 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
If you love taking high-level math courses and think that the SAT and ACT math is too easy, then you may be interested in taking up the ultimate math challenge for high schoolers – the AMC 10 and 12.
As one of the most well-known math-focused competitions in the world, the AMC tests are an excellent way to exhibit your problem-solving and analytical skills, along with providing a gateway into more exclusive and prestigious opportunities. If you are interested in excelling in the AMC, read this article to learn more!
The AMC 10 and AMC 12 are the entry point to competition math in the United States, and the gateway to AIME, USAJMO/USAMO, and eventually the International Mathematical Olympiad. They're also the competition students most often miss out on for a boring reason: you cannot register yourself. Your school has to register, and the deadline is weeks before the exam.
For 2026: AMC 10 A and 12 A are November 5, AMC 10 B and 12 B are November 13, and the regular school registration deadline is October 15. Here's how the exams work, how scoring and AIME qualification actually function after MAA's recent rule change, and how to prepare.
Key Takeaways
AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A: November 5, 2026. AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B: November 13, 2026. Schools must register by October 15, 2026 at standard pricing, with a late deadline of October 28 open only to returning competition managers.
Students cannot register directly with MAA. Registration goes through your school or an approved competition manager. Ask your math department in September, not October.
Both exams are 25 multiple-choice questions in 75 minutes, out of 150 points. Correct answers are 6 points, blanks are 1.5 points, wrong answers are 0. Calculators are banned.
AIME qualification is now purely percentile-based. Roughly the top 2.5% on AMC 10 and top 5% on AMC 12 qualify. MAA removed the old fixed score floors of 120 and 100 in August 2025, so "score 100 and you're in" is no longer true.
You can sit both A and B, and you can sit AMC 10 and AMC 12 in the same cycle, but not on the same day. Each sitting needs its own student license.
What are the AMC 10 and AMC 12?
The American Mathematics Competitions are administered by the Mathematical Association of America. They're the first stage of the pathway that ultimately selects the U.S. team for the International Mathematical Olympiad.
AMC 10: open to students in grade 10 or below who are under 17.5 years old on competition day.
AMC 12: open to students in grade 12 or below who are under 19.5 years old on competition day.
Both run twice each cycle, as an A version and a B version on different dates, so a school can pick whichever fits its calendar or offer both.
The AMC began in 1950 with 200 schools and 6,000 students in New York, and now reaches 300,000 students in over 4,000 schools!
What is the AMC 10/12 2026 schedule?
Date | Event |
Oct 15, 2026 | Regular registration deadline, $75 fee. Final deadline for new competition managers |
Oct 28, 2026 | Late registration deadline, $115 fee. Returning competition managers only |
Nov 4, 2026 | Additional bundle deadline for the A competitions |
Nov 5, 2026 | AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A |
Nov 12, 2026 | Additional bundle deadline for the B competitions |
Nov 13, 2026 | AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B |
Jan 22, 2027 | AMC 8 |
Feb 2027 | AIME I and AIME II [NEEDS VERIFICATION: 2027 dates not yet published. In the previous cycle AIME I was Feb 5 and AIME II Feb 11.] |
Mar 2027 | USAJMO and USAMO |
AIME invitations typically go out from mid-November to early December, after MAA finalises scoring.
How do you register for the AMC 10/12?
Here's a quick checklist on how to register!
Students do not register themselves. A school or approved competition manager registers, then distributes student licenses. The practical implications:
Ask your math department in September. School internal deadlines are usually earlier than MAA's, because managers have to order materials and finalise rosters.
If your school isn't hosting, you need to find an approved local testing site. Some universities host public sittings for a proctoring fee.
Homeschooled students need either an approved testing site or a parent who registers as a competition manager.
The October 28 late deadline is not a safety net for most people. It's open only to returning competition managers, so if your school has never hosted, October 15 is a hard stop.
Cost structure: the school pays a $75 registration fee per competition ($115 late). Student licenses come in bundles of ten for $30. A student sitting both AMC 10 A and AMC 10 B consumes two licenses. Many schools absorb the cost entirely; others pass on a per-student fee.
Can you take both the AMC 10 and the AMC 12?
Yes, you can register for both the A and B versions of the same exam, so a 10th grader can sit AMC 10 A on November 5 and AMC 10 B on November 13. You can also sit AMC 10 and AMC 12 in the same cycle if you're eligible for both.
What you cannot do is sit AMC 10 and AMC 12 on the same day, because the contests overlap. So a valid combination is AMC 10 A on November 5 and AMC 12 B on November 13, but not AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A.
Each sitting requires its own student license, so plan the bundle count with your competition manager.
How is the AMC 10/12 structured and scored?
Both exams: 25 multiple-choice questions, 75 minutes, maximum score 150.
Correct answer: 6 points
Unanswered: 1.5 points
Incorrect: 0 points
That scoring makes blind guessing actively costly. Leaving a question blank is worth more than a 20% shot at 6 points. Once you've eliminated enough choices that your odds beat roughly 1 in 4, guessing becomes worthwhile.
Calculators are not permitted. You get the exam booklet, an answer sheet, and scratch paper, and everything goes back to the proctor. Only the answer sheet is scored.
Content difference: AMC 10 covers material expected of 9th and 10th graders — elementary algebra, basic geometry, elementary number theory, elementary probability. AMC 12 adds trigonometry, advanced algebra, and advanced geometry. Neither requires calculus.
How do you qualify for the AIME?
This is where the rules changed, and it matters.
AIME invitations go to roughly the top 2.5% of AMC 10 takers and the top 5% of AMC 12 takers. Percentile is now the only pathway: MAA removed the old fixed score floors of 120 (AMC 10) and 100 (AMC 12) in August 2025. If you've read anywhere that scoring 100 on the AMC 12 guarantees an AIME invitation, that's out of date.
Because cutoffs are percentile-based, they move every year with exam difficulty and the strength of the cohort. A counterintuitive consequence: AMC 10 cutoffs usually sit higher than AMC 12 cutoffs, because the qualifying percentage is half as generous even though the problems are easier.
Students qualifying via AMC 10 A or 12 A sit AIME I; those qualifying via the B versions sit AIME II. There is no difference in difficulty or value between them.
What awards can you win on the AMC 10/12?
Two named distinctions, both percentile-based:
Distinction — awarded to top scorers, at a lower threshold than Honor Roll
Honor Roll — the higher bar, awarded to approximately the top 1%
Regional certificates may also be awarded for strong performance within a school or district.
[NEEDS VERIFICATION: exact percentile definitions and current-year thresholds for Distinction and Honor Roll. Note that in the most recent cycle at least one AMC 12 Honor Roll cutoff was reportedly set at a perfect 150.]
How does the pathway to the International Math Olympiad work?
The sequence, in order:
AMC 10 or AMC 12 in November
AIME in February, for those who qualify
USAJMO (from AMC 10) or USAMO (from AMC 12) in March, for those who qualify on a combined index
Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP), a summer training program
U.S. team selection for the International Mathematical Olympiad
One detail worth knowing if you're modelling your chances: for the 2025-26 cycle onward, the USAMO/USAJMO qualifying index changed from (AIME score × 10) + AMC score to (AIME score × 20) + AMC score. That weights AIME performance twice as heavily as it used to, which changes the optimal preparation split for anyone targeting olympiad qualification.
[NEEDS VERIFICATION: MOP invitation numbers and the exact mechanism of IMO team selection. Team selection runs through a Team Selection Test series rather than a single exam. Confirm current details with MAA before publishing specifics.
How should you prepare for the AMC 10/12?
1. Get the foundation from coursework first. Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-calculus. The AMC tests high school material at unusual depth, not material beyond high school.
2. Work past papers under real conditions. Art of Problem Solving hosts every past exam with multiple worked solutions, often showing a slow approach and a fast one. Sit them with a 75-minute timer, no calculator, then compare against that year's cutoff. AoPS also maintains dedicated AMC 10 and AMC 12 problem archives.
3. Redo the ones you got wrong, not the ones you got right. Retaking a whole paper you already scored well on mostly measures recall. Rework the specific problems that beat you, then find three more of the same type.
4. Train pacing explicitly. 25 questions in 75 minutes is three minutes each, but the difficulty ramps steeply. Most strong scores come from banking the first 15 quickly and spending real time on the back half. Practise the skip-and-return decision, because that's the skill the clock actually tests.
5. Learn the scoring maths. Know before you sit down that a blank is 1.5 points. Decide your guessing rule in advance rather than in the last four minutes.
6. Use formula references for review, not memorisation. Compilations like Formulas for Pre-Olympiad Math and Coach Monk's High School Playbook are useful for spotting gaps in what you know. Don't try to memorise them end to end.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the AMC 10/12 in 2026? AMC 10 A and AMC 12 A are on November 5, 2026. AMC 10 B and AMC 12 B are on November 13, 2026. AMC 8 follows on January 22, 2027.
How do you register for the AMC 10/12? You don't register yourself. Your school or an approved competition manager registers with MAA and then assigns you a student license. The regular school deadline for 2026 is October 15, with a late deadline of October 28 available only to returning competition managers.
How much does the AMC 10/12 cost? The school pays a $75 registration fee per competition, or $115 for late registration, plus $30 for each bundle of ten student licenses. Many schools cover this entirely; where a per-student fee is passed on, it's usually a small amount. A student sitting both A and B needs two licenses.
What score do you need to qualify for the AIME? There is no fixed score. Roughly the top 2.5% of AMC 10 takers and top 5% of AMC 12 takers qualify, and the cutoff is recalculated each year. MAA removed the old fixed score floors in August 2025, so the previously cited "100 or above on AMC 12" pathway no longer applies.
Can you take both the AMC 10 and the AMC 12? Yes, if you're eligible for both, but not on the same day since the contests overlap. You can sit AMC 10 A on November 5 and AMC 12 B on November 13, for example. You can also sit both the A and B versions of the same exam.
Should a 10th grader take the AMC 10 or the AMC 12? Usually the AMC 10, because the back-half problems demand less precalculus, so a comparable skill level lands closer to the cutoff. The tradeoff is that AMC 10 requires a higher absolute score to qualify for AIME, since only the top 2.5% advance versus 5% on AMC 12.
Are calculators allowed on the AMC 10/12? No. Calculators are prohibited on both exams. You get the booklet, an answer sheet, and scratch paper, all of which are collected at the end.
How is the AMC 10/12 scored? 25 questions, 150 points maximum. Six points for a correct answer, 1.5 points for a blank, zero for a wrong answer. The blank credit is why random guessing is a bad strategy.
Can homeschooled students take the AMC 10/12? Yes, but you need an approved testing site, or a parent who registers as a competition manager. Some universities host public sittings for a proctoring fee. Arrange this well before the October registration deadline.
One other option—the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research, consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4,000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
Lydia is currently a sophomore at Harvard University, studying Molecular and Cellular Biology. During high school, she pursued engineering activities like attending the Governor's School of Engineering and Technology. In her spare time, she likes to create digital art while listening to music.
Image source: MAA