Last updated 12 November 2026
Australian Maths Competition (AMC): A Parent's Guide
A note from the parent who built this: I’m prepping my own son for the 2028 Year 7 round across three different boards, and everything on this site gets tested on him before it goes live.
The Australian Maths Competition, usually called the AMC, is the biggest maths competition Australian school students sit. It is one paper, sat at school on one day in August, from Year 3 to Year 12. Many children sit it because their school enters a whole class. This guide explains how it works, how it is marked, and how to help your child get the most from it.
Who sets it, and who sits it
The AMC is set by the Australian Maths Trust, which first ran it in 1978. New problems are written every year by teachers and academics. Students are split into five divisions, each covering two school years:
| Division | Years | Time | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Middle Primary | 3 and 4 | 60 min | 30: 25 multiple choice, 5 whole-number answers |
| Upper Primary | 5 and 6 | 60 min | 30: 25 multiple choice, 5 whole-number answers |
| Junior | 7 and 8 | 75 min | 30: 25 multiple choice, 5 whole-number answers |
| Intermediate | 9 and 10 | 75 min | 30: 25 multiple choice, 5 whole-number answers |
| Senior | 11 and 12 | 75 min | 30: 25 multiple choice, 5 whole-number answers |
A child sits the division for the year they are in, and only one division. The Trust also piloted an Early Primary division for Years 1 and 2 (25 questions, 50 minutes, online only), and says it becomes a standard part of the AMC from 2027.
How to enter
Families cannot enter a child directly. A school, a registered home school or a coaching clinic sets up an account with the Trust and registers its students. Students must sit the paper at that registered place, supervised in person by a teacher or staff member. Parents are not allowed to supervise, and the paper cannot be sat at home.
In the 2026 cycle the competition ran from 4 to 6 August, and each school picked its day inside that window. Paper entries in Australia and New Zealand closed on 3 July and online entries on 31 July. Schools pay the Trust a fee per student ($9.30 on its AMC page when we checked), and whether that is passed on to families is up to the school. Dates change each year, so check the Trust’s AMC page or ask your school early in Term 2.
What is on the paper
Every division has the same shape. The first 25 questions have five choices, A to E. The last five ask for a whole number from 0 to 999, with no choices to pick from. The questions get harder as the paper goes on, and the last few are meant to stretch the strongest students in the division.
The Trust lists the topics as arithmetic, fractions and ratios, algebra and pre-algebra, geometry, measurement, statistics and probability, and problem solving, including counting arrangements. It does not say how many questions each topic gets. Much of the paper rewards careful thinking more than school content, so a Year 3 child can solve many questions with no formal algebra at all.
The paper can be sat online or on a printed paper, as the school chooses. Pocket or scientific calculators are allowed in Middle and Upper Primary only. From Junior up, no aids are allowed except a language dictionary.
How it is marked, and the awards
The paper is out of 135, and the marks rise with the difficulty:
- Questions 1 to 10: 3 marks each.
- Questions 11 to 20: 4 marks each.
- Questions 21 to 25: 5 marks each.
- Questions 26 to 30: 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 marks.
A wrong answer loses nothing, so a blank is always a wasted chance. Awards are given by comparing a child with others in the same year level and region, not against a fixed score:
| Award | Roughly who gets it |
|---|---|
| Prize | Usually no more than 1 in 300 in a year level and region |
| High Distinction | Top 3% (top 5% in Senior) |
| Distinction | Top 20% (top 25% in Senior) |
| Credit | Top 55% (top 60% in Senior) |
| Proficiency | Reached a score set in advance |
| Participation | Sat the paper |
The Trust does not publish the cut-off scores ahead of time, as they move each year. Secondary students can also win AMC Medals and other national awards, and a perfect score earns its own award.
How to prepare
- Sit a full paper against the clock. Sixty or seventy-five minutes for 30 questions feels long until the last ten. One timed paper shows your child how fast the early questions need to go.
- Answer everything. With no penalty for a wrong answer, an educated guess on a five-choice question is worth making. Teach your child to cross out answers that cannot be right first.
- Practise the whole-number questions. Questions 26 to 30 carry 40 of the 135 marks and have no choices to check against. Working a problem to an exact number, then checking it, is its own skill.
- Learn a few strategies by name. Draw a diagram, make a list, look for a pattern, work backwards, try a smaller case. Most AMC problems give way to one of these.
- Go over mistakes, not just scores. Reading why an answer is right teaches more than another paper does. Pick two or three missed questions after each practice and solve them again a few days later.
- Keep it light. The AMC is a competition, not an entry test. A Credit or Participation is a good result for many children, and the best outcome is a child who enjoys a hard problem.
Practice in the AMC style
Our AMC practice has a paper for every division, Middle Primary to Senior. Each one follows the competition’s shape: 30 questions in 60 minutes for the primary divisions and 75 minutes from Junior up, 25 with five choices and then 5 where your child types a whole number from 0 to 999. It is marked the AMC way, 3 to 10 marks a question, out of 135. Every paper is new when your child starts it, and every question is explained afterwards. Your child can also drill one kind of question at a time at easy, medium or hard.
To be clear about what these are: papers we wrote in the AMC style, not real AMC questions, and no question comes from a past paper. We are not connected with the Australian Maths Trust. The Trust does not publish how many questions each topic gets, so our mix is our own. Our mark is out of 135 the AMC way, but it is not an award or a predicted result, because awards depend on how everyone in the year level does. A free account includes 3 practice tests, and the AMC pack opens unlimited papers in every division with the answers and worked solutions.
What’s next
Start with the AMC practice page. If your child is in Years 4 to 6 and enjoys problem solving, the maths olympiad practice comes with the same pack, and our post on maths olympiad questions for Years 5 and 6 works through five sample problems two ways each.
Frequently asked questions
- Who runs the Australian Maths Competition?
- The Australian Maths Trust (AMT). It has run the AMC since 1978 and writes new problems every year. Schools enter their students and run the competition on the day.
- Can my child enter the AMC from home?
- Not on their own. A school, a registered home school or a coaching clinic has to register with the Trust and enter the student. Every student must be supervised in person by a teacher or staff member, and parents cannot supervise. If your child's school does not enter, ask it to.
- How is the AMC marked?
- Out of 135. Questions 1 to 10 are worth 3 marks each, 11 to 20 are worth 4, and 21 to 25 are worth 5. The last five take a whole-number answer and are worth 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. There is no penalty for a wrong answer, so a child should answer every question.
- What score do you need for a High Distinction?
- There is no fixed score. High Distinction goes to roughly the top 3% of students in the same year level and region (5% in Senior), Distinction to the top 20% and Credit to the top 55%. The cut-off scores move every year.
- Are there AMC past papers?
- The Australian Maths Trust sells past papers and gives free sample problems with worked solutions for each division. Practice papers from other publishers, including ours, are written by those publishers. Ours are AMC-style papers we wrote, and we are not connected with the Australian Maths Trust.