We hope that you had a restful holiday break! The AMC 8 is two weeks away, and we want to ensure that everyone is familiar with our new AMC platform and administrative procedure. Many Competition Managers registered for the AMC 8 after we sent out our previous onboarding emails last October, and have yet to experience the system.

There are AMC 8 procedural changes that Competition Managers who've used the new platform for the AMC 10/12 should be aware of, and updates to the AMC 8 Teacher’s Manual.

Over the next two weeks, we will send you a series of emails to help guide you through the onboarding experience. Topics will include student registration, competition administration, policy, and score reporting.

This email outlines the steps for registering your students before Competition Week. All Competition Managers must enroll their participating students on our platform, even if you're planning to administer the competition in paper form.

If you are logging in for the first time: Visit maa.edvistas.com to create your login credentials. As a first-time user, simply click the “First-time login or forgot your password?” prompt under the Password field and enter the email address you used during AMC registration. Follow the instructions in your email to set your password and log in with your new credentials. Please check your spam folder if you do not see the email.

Once on the AMC Dashboard, click on “Competition Administration Portal” under “Before and During the Competition” on the left side:

This portal is divided into "Digital Administration" and "Print & Scan Administration," with relevant competition materials for each format. You can choose to administer the competition digitally, on paper, or both.

The "Student Registration" buttons under the Digital and Print & Scan columns will allow you to invite your students to register for the competitions and manage your student list. 

Copy the “Student Registration URL” at the top of the page and send it to your participants, instructing them to fill out the registration form as soon as possible.

Please Note: Both the Digital and the Print & Scan Student Registration pages feature the same Student Registration URL link; you have the flexibility to administer the competition in either format for each participant. If you previously administered the AMC 10/12, this will be a new link specifically for the AMC 8.

Learn more about approving your students for the competition in Step 3 below.

Next, your students will need to fill out the Student Registration Form. If they registered for the AMC 10/12 this past fall, they will need to log into their student portal before opening the link, so that the new competition is connected to their account.

Below is a screenshot of what they’ll see when they click the Student Registration URL:

Students must fill out all fields and indicate whether they consent to releasing their contact information to approved educational institutions. Questions on gender, race, and ethnic origin provide a “Prefer not to answer” option.

If a student does not have a personal or school email address, they may use a parental email address; however, there still must be one unique email address per student. 

We provide the Student ID field as a convenience for Competition Managers who wish to have their official school district ID numbers attached to each student profile; the AMC Platform will also automatically generate an ID for each student for internal tracking. Tell your students to leave this field blank if you do not wish them to include their official district ID.

Once a student registers, they will appear in your Student Registration dashboard. To activate a student for the competition, click the checkbox in the “Approve” column and then the Save button. You may only approve as many students as you have licenses. Students must be approved in order to participate in Competition Week.

As you approve students, you will see an updated number in the “Licenses used” section. If you need more licenses, you may order additional bundles by filling out form on the AMC 8 page by Jan. 11.

Your students are now set within our system to take the competition. Stay tuned for Tuesday’s email, where we will walk through how to prepare materials for Competition Week.

Need More Support?

AMC Platform Training Webinar: Join us for a Zoom walkthrough on Jan. 11 at 5:30 pm ET to practice administration steps with our AMC team. Register here.

Teacher’s Manual: The AMC 8 Teacher’s Manual has been updated this week to reflect changes implemented after the AMC 10/12; access this latest version on the AMC 8 page.

Next Series Email: We’ll see you on Monday for Part 2 of the series, which will discuss how to preview the competition experience within our new system!

Questions? For AMC registration, policy, and payment, contact amcinfo@maa.org or 800-527-3690. For technical issues, contact amctech@maa.org.