MAA has announced a rebuilt AIME for 2027. The exam moves into Pearson Professional Centers, runs as two electronic 90-minute parts instead of one paper sitting, admits only students aged 13 and over, and qualifies candidates on a fixed score rather than a percentile — AMC 10 at 100, AMC 12 at 85. USAMO and USAJMO qualification will now rest primarily on the AIME score, with the AMC score no longer a factor. Several policy documents are still unpublished.
This article replaces our earlier guidance on choosing an AMC test centre with your AIME venue in mind. That advice described a mechanism MAA has now retired, and keeping it up would have been worse than rewriting it. Everything below is quoted or paraphrased from MAA's own invitational competitions page, read on 26 August 2026.
What MAA changed
MAA describes the exam as “substantially the same as it has been, with the exception of four items”. In practice the four items reach further than that phrasing suggests, because they change where you sit, what you sit on, what you may carry, and who is eligible at all.
| Element | How it worked before | 2027, per MAA |
|---|---|---|
| Venue | Your school or an authorised test centre | A Pearson Professional Center; MAA counts more than 200 across the US and Canada |
| Structure | One continuous sitting of 15 questions | Two 90-minute parts with a short break — 8 questions, then 7 |
| Revisiting | All 15 available throughout | Part one cannot be reopened during part two |
| Medium | Paper | Electronic — questions delivered and answers entered on centre computers |
| Materials | Permitted list including some drawing tools | Nothing may be brought in. No compasses, no rulers. Laminated graph-paper booklets and fine-tip pens are provided, more on request |
| Leaving the room | Governed by local proctor practice | Leaving during a part ends work on that part |
| Sittings | AIME I and AIME II | No I/II split. One window, 5–6 February 2027; MAA will not say how many versions run inside it |
| Attempts | One (taking both dates was a disqualification) | One, inside the window |
| Age floor | None specific to AIME | 13 and over only for 2027 |
| Fee | Bundled through the school or centre | US$85 plus taxes, with financial assistance available |
| Proctor | A school competition manager or centre staff | Professional test administrators at the Pearson centre |
MAA gives its reason for the venue move directly: the change “continues the MAA's work to protect the integrity of its competitions”, and Pearson centres “will ensure that all students will have uniform testing conditions in a secure testing environment”.
Qualification is now a number, not a rank
This is the change with the widest reach, because it affects every AMC 10 and AMC 12 candidate rather than only those who go on to sit the AIME. MAA states it plainly: “The thresholds for qualifying for AIME will be set numbers rather than based on percentages.”
The numbers MAA gives are 100 or above on the AMC 10 and 85 or above on the AMC 12, subject to meeting the other eligibility requirements. MAA adds that full AIME policies “will be posted soon”, so treat those two figures as the announced thresholds rather than as a complete rule set.
What changes in practice is the shape of the target. A percentile cutoff moves with the paper and with the field, which is why we have always told readers that a cutoff published after marking cannot be planned against precisely. A fixed threshold can be. If you are working toward the AIME on the AMC 10, 100 out of 150 is now a stated line rather than an estimate, and the honest planning question becomes which six or seven questions get you there rather than how hard the paper turns out to be.
USAMO and USAJMO qualification drops the AMC score
MAA states that qualification for the 2027 USAMO and USAJMO “will be primarily based on AIME scores; AMC scores will no longer be a factor in qualification”. Complete criteria are among the documents MAA says will be posted soon.
If you have read older guidance describing a combined index that weighted an AMC score alongside an AIME score, that mechanism is what this sentence retires. We have carried that description ourselves and are correcting it. Until MAA publishes the full criteria, the responsible statement is that the AIME score is the primary input and the AMC score is not one — not a specific formula, which nobody outside MAA currently has.
The part China-based candidates must not assume
Almost everything above describes a route through Pearson centres in the US and Canada. It is tempting to read that as the new global process. MAA does not say that, and the distinction matters more here than anywhere else on this page.
What MAA says about international candidates is one sentence: participants in the AMC international program “should follow the policies of the International Group Leader for their country/region”. It does not say international candidates will sit at Pearson centres. It does not say they will not. It routes the question to a different authority.
So if you are sitting the AMC 10 or AMC 12 in China this November, the correct expectation today is: the AIME rules above are what MAA has published for the programme as a whole, and the arrangements that will actually apply to you are the ones your region's International Group Leader publishes. Those have not appeared yet. Anyone telling you in August that you will book a Pearson seat in February — or that you certainly will not — is filling in a blank MAA has left open.
The practical consequence is small but real: do not build a February travel or scheduling plan yet, and do ask your test centre who their International Group Leader is, so you know whose announcement to watch.
What is not changing
MAA is explicit that the November papers are untouched: “AMC 10 and AMC 12 will be administered in 2026 as they were in 2025, and eligible students are permitted to take both an A exam on November 5 and a B exam on November 13.”
One clarification we repeat every season, because it causes more confusion than any other date on this site: those are MAA's published dates. A test centre in China publishes its own sitting day inside MAA's arrangements, and the two are not the same thing and do not correct each other. Confirm the day you will actually sit with the centre entering you, not from a calendar you read here or anywhere else. Our guide to the 2026 in-person AMC rules and authorised test centres covers that distinction in full.
What to do with this now
| If you are… | What actually changes for you |
|---|---|
| Sitting AMC 10 or 12 this November | Nothing about the paper. But your target is now a stated number — 100 on the AMC 10, 85 on the AMC 12 — rather than a cutoff you find out about later. |
| Under 13 and strong enough to qualify | You will not be eligible for the 2027 AIME. MAA says it cannot offer an alternative. Plan the AMC year on its own terms. |
| Aiming past the AIME at USAMO or USAJMO | Your AMC score gets you in the door and then stops counting. The AIME performance is what carries forward. |
| Preparing AIME technique | Rehearse under the real shape: eight questions, then a hard stop, then seven. Practise without a compass or ruler, and on graph paper you did not choose. |
| Based in China | Watch for your International Group Leader's announcement before assuming any of the Pearson logistics apply to you. |
A closing note on what is still missing. MAA describes complete AIME policies, full eligibility rules and the USAMO/USAJMO criteria as forthcoming. Until those are published, the sensible posture is to treat the announced items as firm and everything adjacent to them as unsettled — and to check maa.org rather than any secondary source, this one included, before you act on a date or a threshold.
Frequently asked questions
Is the AIME still split into AIME I and AIME II?
No. MAA has replaced the two sittings with a single competition window on 5–6 February 2027, and will not say how many versions run inside it.
What score do I need on the AMC to qualify for the 2027 AIME?
MAA states 100 or above on the AMC 10, or 85 or above on the AMC 12, plus the other eligibility requirements. Full policies are still to be published.
Can I sit the AIME at my own school in 2027?
MAA's announced route is a Pearson Professional Center, scheduled by the student after an email invitation. International candidates are told to follow their region's International Group Leader instead.
Does my AMC score still count toward USAMO qualification?
No. MAA states 2027 USAMO and USAJMO qualification is primarily based on AIME scores and that AMC scores are no longer a factor.
This is an independent English-language guide to the American Mathematics Competitions, operated by Hanlin Education for China-based international-school students. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America. The changes described here were read on MAA's invitational competitions page on 26 August 2026; MAA states that several related policy documents are still to be published, and dates, thresholds and venue arrangements are restated each cycle — confirm current details on maa.org, and with your own test centre or International Group Leader, before acting on anything here. This article replaced earlier guidance of ours that described the retired AIME venue process. Errors reported to our editorial desk are corrected within 7 working days.