For Irvine students entering the 2026-27 math competition season, the first step is the AMC 10 / AMC 12 on November 5 and November 13, and the regular deadline for testing sites to register is October 15. Once the season moves into 2027, five rules change, the most significant being that AIME becomes a computer-based exam at Pearson testing centers and that USAMO selection now relies on AIME scores.

What happened

On August 26, 2026, the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) announced that the 2027 American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) will be given at Pearson testing centers across the United States and Canada. The MAA’s competition FAQ adds details on fees, a minimum age, the number of attempts, and how USAMO qualifiers are chosen. Site registration for the season opened on September 2.

The AMC 10 and AMC 12 themselves are unchanged. The MAA states that the 2026 contests run as they did in 2025, and eligible students may take the A contest on November 5 and the B contest on November 13.

What it means for Irvine families

This section covers what families need to do now and which rules affect plans after February.

Find a testing site first. The MAA states that students and parents do not register with the MAA directly. Students take the AMC through a school, university, math circle or learning center registered as a Competition Manager. On the MAA’s public list of 2026-27 sites, six AMC 10 / AMC 12 sites list Irvine as their city, all of them outside public schools. The list includes only sites that agreed to be listed, so families should ask their school’s math teachers or math club whether the school is hosting.

New sites cannot register after October 15. Site registration for the AMC 10 / AMC 12 has three tiers:

Deadline Site fee Who
September 30, 2026 $55 Early bird (closed)
October 15, 2026 $75 Regular; final deadline for new sites
October 28, 2026 $115 Late; returning Competition Managers only

After registering, a site buys student licenses at $30 per bundle of ten for either contest. Each sitting of the A or B contest uses one license. Additional bundles must be ordered by November 4 for the A contest and November 12 for the B contest.

Eligibility and dates

This table lists who can take each contest this season and when.

Contest Eligibility Date
AMC 10 Grade 10 or below, under 17.5 years old on contest day A: November 5, 2026; B: November 13
AMC 12 Grade 12 or below, under 19.5 years old on contest day Same days as AMC 10
AIME 100 or above on AMC 10, or 85 or above on AMC 12, plus other eligibility rules February 5 or 6, 2027
USAMO / USAJMO Invited mainly on AIME scores March 20–21, 2027

Students may not take the AMC 10 and the AMC 12 on the same day. The AMC 8 for middle school students runs January 21–27, 2027, and is separate from this pathway.

Five changes for 2027

This section summarizes the adjustments the MAA has published for AIME and USAMO.

  1. AIME moves to Pearson centers. AIME becomes a computer-based exam in English at Pearson Professional Centers. The MAA says there are more than 200 such centers in the United States and Canada. The format stays at 15 questions in two 90-minute parts, with each answer an integer from 0 to 999.
  2. Students register and pay on their own. Qualifiers receive an invitation at the email address on file in the MAA competition portal, choose a center and time on Pearson’s site, and pay an $85 registration fee plus any applicable tax. The MAA says financial help is available for the fee and for families who must travel a long distance.
  3. Students under 13 cannot take the 2027 AIME. The MAA says no alternative is available this year. This matters most for middle school students who reach the AMC 10 cutoff early.
  4. One attempt, no make-up. There is no longer an AIME I and AIME II. Each student may test once in the February 5–6 window, and there are no make-up dates or exceptions.
  5. USAMO and USAJMO selection relies on AIME. For 2027, qualification is based primarily on AIME scores, and AMC scores are no longer a factor. The MAA invites more than 400 students to the two olympiads each year. They take place only at designated sites, and qualifiers are invited to register at a nearby site once AIME scoring is complete. In 2026, the first year with official sites, 31 institutions hosted.

Each olympiad runs two days with three proof problems per day and 4.5 hours per session, from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Pacific). Top performers are invited to the summer Mathematical Olympiad Program (MOP), which feeds selection for the U.S. International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) team.

EDUBUS recommendations

In EDUBUS’s view, this season’s key actions fall at two points.

  • Confirm a testing site before October 15. New sites close that day. If the school is not hosting, contact listed sites early to confirm they accept outside students and offer both contests.
  • Register for both the A and B contests. AIME eligibility rests on a fixed cutoff, and two attempts reduce the effect of one bad day. Format and score targets are covered in the AMC 10 preparation guide.
  • Check age for younger students. A student under 13 on February 5, 2027, cannot sit this AIME even after reaching the AMC 10 cutoff, so training should target the following season.
  • Shift AIME practice to computer-based conditions from December. Practice reading problems on screen while working on scratch paper to reduce transcription errors.
  • For USAMO hopefuls, focus on AIME. AMC scores no longer count toward selection, so each additional AIME answer matters directly.

Full rules are on the AMC 10 / AMC 12 competition page, and EDUBUS’s staged training plan is on the math competition program page.

Sources

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