AMC 8 is administered by the Mathematical Association of America for students in grade 8 or below who are under 14.5 years old on competition day. It runs each January: 25 multiple-choice questions in 40 minutes, no calculator, one point per correct answer and no penalty for a wrong one, out of 25.
The syllabus stays inside middle-school mathematics — counting and probability, number theory, ratios, linear equations, plane geometry, and a heavy dose of logical word problems. The difficulty is not the content but the clock: about 96 seconds per question, with the first ten nearly routine, genuine competition thinking from roughly question 15 onward, and a final five that separate the field. Strong school grades alone rarely produce a score above 20, which is where many families first see that contest math is a separate training track.
AMC 8 sits at the bottom of a clear ladder: students move to AMC 10 around ninth grade, qualify for AIME by clearing the cutoff, and the strongest AIME performers are invited to USAJMO or USAMO. The skill set overlaps heavily with MATHCOUNTS, so many prepare for both in one winter.
One registration caveat: the MAA does not accept individual sign-ups. A teacher must register as a Competition Manager and proctor the exam. Most Irvine middle schools offer it, but availability varies, so ask early in the fall.
