Introduction by Mr Shane O’Connell, Math Teacher
13 of our mathletes from Elsa High School took part in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) on Monday morning. Since 1950, the AMC has challenged middle schoolers worldwide with 25 multiple-choice math questions.  No calculators, just pure problem-solving skills. Every year, AMC reaches over 300,000 students across thousands of schools, building mathematical analytical thinking for the future. 

John, Grade 8 This year, I participated in the AMC 8 Math Competition, my first time joining this competition. I found that the questions were cleverly designed to combine logical and creative thinking, which was very interesting. The last five questions were very challenging, and I missed two because I rushed through them. The preparation process improved my critical and creative problem solving, and taught me how to draw diagrams and conduct small-scale tests. Although my score wasn't very high, this competition greatly boosted my confidence and clarified my direction for future practice. 

Micah, Grade 8 Taking part in the AMC 8 this year was significantly more challenging - the questions were way more difficult than the ones I've completed in the previous competition, which was the Kangaroo competition. Although the questions were difficult, I was able to adapt to the patterns of each problem presented. I would definitely take part in the next AMC 10 as the competition involved diverse ways to solve each question and this experience helped me develop problem solving skills.