In November, many Mu Alpha Theta members and other West students competed in the American Mathematical Competition (AMC), the first of a series of tests to eventually determine the USA Mathematical Olympiad team. Eight West students along with three students from Northwest Junior High qualified for the next round, the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME).
This is a highly selective test, with only the top 5% of contestants from the AMC invited to take the AIME. Both contests test students’ mathematical problem-solving skills without utilizing any calculus. The AIME is much harder than the AMC; it is no longer multiple choice and has a time limit of three hours compared to AMC’s 75 minutes.
The next qualifying round after the AIME are the United States of America Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAJMO) for underclassmen and the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) for upperclassmen. Typically, 500 students nationwide make it to this round.
West has historically seen several students make it to this level and beyond. Catherine Xu ’26 has already qualified for the USAJMO twice, and Edward Li ’26 has made it past the USAJMO to attend the Math Olympiad Program, a group of the 60 top students. The Mathematical Association of America will announce the cutoffs and qualifiers for the next round in early March.
