I was the coach of the Good Counsel H.S. Math Team in 1998-99, and gathered a little information on math competitions for high school students that might be of general interest to math coaches.

Nationwide High School Math Competitions:

In 2000, the contest formerly known as the American High School Math Exam (AHSME), sponsored by American Math Competitions, is being renamed the AMC=>12.  This is to distinguish it from a new contest, the AMC=>10, which is open to students below the 11th grade.  These tests are the first round of competitions that qualify students for the Math Olympics, which may make them the most prestigious (and difficult) math competitions.  Contact them early in the year to get details and sample exams, for which there is a fee.  There is also a fee for the exam itself:  $30 to register for one or both contests, and $12 for a packet of 10 AMC=>12 tests.  The first bundle of 10 AMC=>10 tests is free for 2000; subsequent bundles are $10.  The test(s) are administered at your high school by one of your teachers (probably yourself), on the Tuesday before the third Monday in February (February 15, 2000).  The exam is mailed to you, but you are not to unseal the questions until one hour before it is given.  You must unseal it in the presence of the principal, who must sign an attestation to that effect.  The completed exams must be postmarked within 24 hours.  In other words, there are lots of rules for you to read carefully.

The test is 75 minutes long and consists of 25 questions.  Your students also need to understand the scoring system, which awards 6 points for correct answers and 2 points for questions left blank, to discourage guessing.  In past years the AHSME has had some really interesting problems on it, and their solutions are unspeakably clever.  You will enjoy reading them.  Students who score over 100 on the AMC=>12, or in the top 1% on the AMC=>10, can take the American Invitational Math Exam (AIME), and students whose combined scores on both tests exceed 150 (if I remember right) compete for the honor of representing the US at the Math Olympics.

The Math League sponsors a math contest for high school students.  Registration is required by the end of September.  I haven’t dealt with it, but my information says it consists of “a set of six 30-minute, 6 question short-answer contests.”  There is a fee of $65 for 6 contests.

I learned about the Colorado Math Olympiad after leaving Good Counsel and so haven’t dealt with it.  From the webpage it looks like an interesting contest, and is open to students from all over.  It’s held at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs in April, so there is the transportation issue.

Illinois and Chicago High School Math Competitions:

The Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) sponsors regional math competitions for Illinois high schools.  The dates for 2000 are February 19 and 26, depending I think on the region and/or the division.  My experience is with the Chicago-area competition, but I think most of the following information holds downstate as well.  There is a $100 entry fee, and a registration form is due at the end of October.  For an additional fee you can get copies of tests from previous years.  Smaller schools generally choose to compete in Division A and larger schools are required to compete in Division AA; I think the cutoff is 750 students.  Some of the winners continue to a statewide competition in April, which has been held at Illinois State University in Normal, but one of the organizers there was retiring and so it might move.  (I have been told that it will be in Champaign this year.)  The Chicago-area regional competition for Division A, to which I’ve gone for several years with students from Good Counsel HS, is always scheduled to take place at North Central College in Naperville, and a few weeks before the competition it is always rescheduled to Marmion Academy in Aurora.  (I am not making this up.)  It has always been fun.

The Math Teachers Association (MTA) sponsors a math competition for Chicago-area Catholic high schools.  The school becomes eligible by joining the MTA; dues are about $30.  The competition is held at Loyola University in Rogers Park.  The contest takes place in February.

If you know of other competitions for high school math students, please let me know.

Questions, corrections, comments:  Send me e-mail at  markthom@flash.net