🎯 AMC 10/12 Contest Strategy & Tactics Guide

🎮 Strategic Playbooks

• Pacing & Triage - Three-pass method and time management
• Elimination & Guessing - When and how to guess strategically
• Answer Choice Exploitation - Using multiple choice to your advantage
• Sanity Checks & Verification - Avoiding careless errors
• Diagramming & Markup - Visual problem-solving techniques
• Estimation & Bounds - Quick approximation strategies
• Topic Routing Heuristics - Identifying problem types quickly
• Endgame Management - Final minutes strategy

🧭 Tactics by Topic

• Algebra Tactics - Substitutions, discriminants, and algebraic manipulation
• Number Theory Tactics - Modular arithmetic and divisibility
• Geometry Tactics - Similar triangles, power of a point, coordinate geometry
• Counting & Probability Tactics - Combinatorics and probability techniques
• Precalculus Tactics - Trigonometry, logarithms, and advanced functions

✅ Checklists & Protocols

• Pre-Test Checklist - Night before and morning preparation
• First 5 Minutes - Initial test setup and triage
• During Test Quick Checks - Micro-checks before answering
• When Stuck Decision Tree - Systematic approach to difficult problems
• Final Review Pass - Last-minute verification and completion

⚡ Skill Drills

• Mental Math Toolkit - Fast calculation techniques
• Modular Arithmetic Sprints - Quick residue calculations
• Geometry Mini-Flashcards - Essential geometric facts
• Probability & EV Snippets - Expected value calculations
• Estimation Sprints - Quick approximation practice

🎯 Strategic Practice

• Practice Hub - Comprehensive practice with real AMC problems and strategic analysis

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