How to start

Course introduction and orientation

What is this course for again?

As I mentioned earlier, this course gives you one of the most important parts of AMC preparation: the fluency with fundamental knowledge that is a necessary part of a great AMC 8 score.

You don’t need to know any more math than this in order to do great.

The assumption here is that you already kind of know some or maybe even most of what’s here. Our goal is to get you to totally know everything that’s here.

(And if you don’t yet know most of this material, don’t worry. Just follow the instructions in these units, and the course will automatically adjust to an appropriate learning curve for your level of experience and knowledge.)

What should I expect to get out of this?

After finishing this course, you will have immediate and easy mental access to all the basic facts that AMC high scorers typically have. It’s the difference between “I’ve heard that before” and “I can read that to you from memory, no problem,”

How is the course organized?

There are two main parts: the book and the quizzes.

The book – this book that you’re reading now – tells you what you need to know. The quizzes make sure that you actually know it.

But the book is different from most books, and the quizzes are different from most quizzes. Here’s how:

• The book mostly does not try to teach you what you need to know. It only tells you what things you ought to know. That’s because you already have plenty of books that explain these things; you have a book or three of your own; you have access to the full internet, which is of course great for all kinds of research; and you have access to Wes and other people who can help you understand anything you can’t look up or figure out.
• The quizzes use an AI-like system that keeps track of what you do and don’t know, and re-asks you questions in a way that makes it much easier for you to retain the knowledge. The system is based on spaced repetition, which is a system for memorization that is awesomely powerful if you do it right, but really hard to do right. This course does the hard parts for you. You get the awesome part.

How do I use this?

First, we’re going to take the stuff you think you know, and make sure you know it cold. That means loading a few quizzes into your account. Let’s pick the topics you already feel you know well, by following these steps:

First, load up some quizzes

1. Go to the Dashboard, find Content Progress, and click the button
2. Read each chapter
3. Then decide: do you already know this pretty well, or not? If so, click Take quiz or Mark as read to tell the course that you feel ready for quizzes on this topic

Work your way through the whole course, taking quizzes for all the topics you feel you already know. This should be your first step, and it should only take about an hour. It’ll be this fast because at this point you are not reading to learn. Instead, you are reading to assess the knowledge you already have.

Then, start quizzing yourself

1. Go to the Dashboard, find Memory Progress, and click the button to “Review”
2. Follow the instructions.
3. Do this at least twice a day. (I recommend always doing this right after brushing your teeth, every time.)

Later, learn some tougher stuff

Once you have nothing more to master (i.e. your Memory Strength rating is high in all the quizzes in your deck), then return to the book (i.e. the Content Progress area) and find a new subchapter/topic that you feel you can now learn well enough to merit adding it to your quiz deck.

Just remember please that you shouldn’t count on the course alone as you source learning material. I’ll do what I can to get you oriented on each topic, but you’ll still need to use books you already have and internet searches for at least part of your reading and research. Also, feel free to use your direct access to me for more information on any of these topics: feel free to ask me anything you like in any private sessions we may have scheduled, and even if you aren’t working with me privately, feel free to email me directly with any specific questions that come up for you as you work your way through new material.

Sooner or later, the only topics left in the book will be topics you don’t feel comfortable with. When you get to that point, then pick one, do some research (e.g. look it up on the Internet, read about it in a book, or ask your teacher or your coach or Wes about it), then take the quiz. Now your review quizzes will include this new material. They will help you learn it. Continue quizzing yourself at least twice a day until your Memory Strength is high and you have clicked taken on all the available quizzes.

Once you run out of quizzes to add, all that’s left is to continue the quizzes until your Memory Strength is high across the board.

How can I help improve this course?

This course is constantly being updated, based largely on student feedback.

So give us your feedback and suggestions using the link in the navigation menu!