Candy and Frank
Step 4 of 4 · the study plan

The sample student's plan to the AMC

Target Distinction · exam expected 2027-08-04 · 47 weeks left · 2 × 45 min a week. Built from the sample student's marked tests; it rebuilds every time this page opens.

Feasibility check

The training for Distinction fits the time — 14 working weeks plus 2 rehearsal weeks, of 47 available

At 2 sessions of 45 minutes a week (90 minutes of skill work). The remaining 31 weeks are maintenance: one paper a fortnight so nothing fades.

The real week is longer than that. The last session of each week is a 30-question mock on a 60-minute clock, so a full week runs about 105 minutes, not 90. The 90 above is the budget the skill gates are measured against; the mock is the week's measurement, not more practice.

A time check, not a prediction: it says the skill gates for Distinction fit your weekly minutes, using default minutes per skill until your child's pace is measured. Awards are decided by rank each year, and no plan can promise one.

Where the sample student stands

From every marked test so far. One or two questions per skill is evidence, not a verdict — "right so far" means every attempt so far was right, not that the skill is mastered; the plan re-tests each skill it works on.

Read this grid by band. A skill is tracked separately in each band, because the same skill is a different job at question 5 and at question 25. So one skill can read "needs teaching" in the warm-up band and "not tested" in the challenge band — that is two facts, not a contradiction. The results page and the printable report score the paper as a whole, and always agree with each other.

Warm-up

like questions 1–10 of the real paper

Money and time: cents, coins, clocks and elapsed timeneeds re-check
Place value: building the biggest or smallest numberright so far
Data and chance: graphs, pictographs and spinnersnot tested
Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibilitynot tested
Order of operations: choosing the best sequencenot tested
Working backwards and sharing in rationot tested
Counting the ways: cases and combinationsnot tested
Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rulesnot tested
Shapes and arearight so far
Space: cubes, nets, views and routesright so far
Getting harder

like questions 11–20

Working backwards and sharing in rationeeds re-check
Place value: building the biggest or smallest numbernot tested
Data and chance: graphs, pictographs and spinnersright so far
Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibilitynot tested
Counting the ways: cases and combinationsright so far
Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rulesnot tested
Shapes and arearight so far
Space: cubes, nets, views and routesnot tested
Money and time: cents, coins, clocks and elapsed timenot tested
Challenge

like questions 21–30 — the award deciders

Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibilityneeds teaching
Working backwards and sharing in ratioright so far
Counting the ways: cases and combinationsnot tested
Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rulesright so far

Week by week

15 skill gates to clear for Distinction, foundation first (the prerequisites), then the hard tail the award needs. A checkpoint test every four weeks measures progress on fresh questions.

Week 1from 2026-09-07
Foundation
Warm-up Working backwards and sharing in ratio not tested
Warm-up Money and time: cents, coins, clocks and elapsed time needs re-check
Week 2from 2026-09-14
Foundation
Warm-up Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rules not tested
Warm-up Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility not tested
Week 3from 2026-09-21
Foundation
Warm-up Data and chance: graphs, pictographs and spinners not tested
Warm-up Counting the ways: cases and combinations not tested
Week 4from 2026-09-28
Middle checkpoint test
Warm-up Order of operations: choosing the best sequence not tested
Getting harder Working backwards and sharing in ratio needs re-check
Week 5from 2026-10-05
Middle
Getting harder Working backwards and sharing in ratio needs re-check
Getting harder Space: cubes, nets, views and routes not tested
Week 6from 2026-10-12
Middle
Getting harder Space: cubes, nets, views and routes not tested
Getting harder Money and time: cents, coins, clocks and elapsed time not tested
Week 7from 2026-10-19
Middle
Getting harder Place value: building the biggest or smallest number not tested
Getting harder Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rules not tested
Week 8from 2026-10-26
Middle checkpoint test
Getting harder Patterns that repeat: cycles and step rules not tested
Getting harder Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility not tested
Week 9from 2026-11-02
Mixed
Getting harder Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility not tested
Challenge Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility needs teaching
Week 10from 2026-11-09
Hard tail
Challenge Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility needs teaching
Week 11from 2026-11-16
Hard tail
Challenge Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility needs teaching
Week 12from 2026-11-23
Hard tail checkpoint test
Challenge Number clues: digit puzzles and divisibility needs teaching
Challenge Counting the ways: cases and combinations not tested
Week 13from 2026-11-30
Hard tail
Challenge Counting the ways: cases and combinations not tested
Week 14from 2026-12-07
Hard tail
Challenge Counting the ways: cases and combinations not tested
Then31 weeks
Maintenance
One mixed paper a fortnight, weighted to whatever slipped; a checkpoint test every four weeks.
Last 2from 2027-07-19
Rehearsal
Two full-ramp papers under the clock, nothing new — pacing, re-checking, and the habit of leaving a hard one and coming back.

Each week's sessions

  1. Session 1 · 45 min — Practice paper: 8 questions on this week's focus skill, timed but not rushed. Tick the re-check box honestly.
  2. Session 2 · 60 min — Mock exam: 30 questions, 60 minutes on the clock, the full ramp. It needs a 60-minute sitting, so this session runs longer than the 45 minutes above; then the week's report.

Weekly papers are built here with one button, weighted to the week's focus; the explanations page carries every miss with a check at each step.

What is a default here, and what is measured.
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