The clock is already running
Count it out loud: from today, October 16, to the first day of the AMC 8 window on January 21 is about 14 weeks. Subtract the week you spend deciding how to start and the exam week itself, and you are left with 12 clean weeks. That is plenty for a middle-school student to move from 'I know this chapter' to 'I can solve this when it is dressed up as a puzzle' — but only if the weeks are used on purpose.
One honest caveat before the plan: the window (January 21-27, 2027) comes from the MAA schedule as reported by several prep providers, and the exact sitting date is set by each test centre. Confirm your own date with your centre or school, and treat the plan below as a calendar you can slide a day or two either way.
The plan at a glance
| Phase | Weeks (starting Monday) | Main job | Weekly hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundations | Wk 1-4 (Oct 26 - Nov 22) | Close gaps in the five core topics | 4-5 |
| 2. Depth | Wk 5-8 (Nov 23 - Dec 20) | Mixed problem sets, untimed past papers | 5-6 |
| 3. Timed mocks | Wk 9-11 (Dec 21 - Jan 10) | Full 40-minute papers, review, repair | 6 |
| 4. Taper | Wk 12 (Jan 11 - 17) | Light review, confidence, routine | 3-4 |
| Exam week | Jan 18 - 24 (window Jan 21 - 27) | Rest, logistics, the paper itself | Minimal |
Phase 1 (Weeks 1-4): Fix the foundations
Do not touch a full paper yet. Spend each week on one theme, in this order: counting and probability (week 1), number theory — divisibility, primes, LCM and HCF, units digits (week 2), geometry — area, Pythagoras, angle chasing (week 3), and ratios, percentages and rates (week 4). Use a simple rhythm: two sessions of new problems, one session of redoing last session's mistakes, and one short 15-minute 'daily five' warm-up of mental arithmetic.
- Aim for 12-15 well-chosen problems per topic per week, not 50 rushed ones.
- Write every solution in full sentences or clear steps — if you cannot explain it, you have not learned it.
- Start the error log this week (the next article in this series shows exactly how).
Phase 2 (Weeks 5-8): Go deeper, still untimed
Now the problems begin to combine topics, because that is what the real paper does. Switch to mixed sets and untimed past AMC 8 papers, one per week to start. The rule for untimed practice: no stopwatch, but no peeking at solutions until you have tried every question for at least five minutes and written down what you tried. Afterwards, find a second solution to at least three problems — the second route is where speed hides.
Week 8 is a good checkpoint. If any topic still feels shaky, spend half of that week on it alone rather than pushing on. A hole you leave now becomes a lost mark in January.
Got a question about this?
Talk to an AMC 8 & 10 Coaching mentor directly — no form, just a quick WhatsApp chat.
Phase 3 (Weeks 9-11): Timed mocks, taken seriously
From the week of December 21, take one full 25-question, 40-minute paper every week under real conditions: quiet room, no phone, pencil and scratch paper only, bubble-sheet practice at the end. Spend the next day on review, which should take longer than the paper itself. The winter break makes this phase easier for most schools — protect those mornings.
Pair mocks with the pacing method in our guide on managing 40 minutes and 25 questions and the review routine in the AMC 8 mock-test method.
Phase 4 (Week 12): Taper like an athlete
Runners do not sprint the day before a race, and neither should you. Week 12 is for re-reading your error log, redoing ten favourite problems and sleeping properly. No new topics, no new books, no comparing scores with friends. Then use our final-week and exam-day playbook for the last seven days.
A sample week, so it feels doable
| Day | Session (Phase 2 example) | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | New topic problems + daily five | 45 min |
| Tue | Rest or 15-minute warm-up only | 15 min |
| Wed | New topic problems, second solution on one problem | 45 min |
| Thu | Redo last week's mistakes from the error log | 30 min |
| Fri | Rest | - |
| Sat | Untimed past paper (first attempt) | 75 min |
| Sun | Review the paper, update error log | 60 min |
How to know you are on track
- By week 4: you can solve most Q1-Q10-level problems from past papers without hints.
- By week 8: an untimed paper takes you under an hour and your errors are mostly careless, not conceptual.
- By week 11: timed papers finish with a few minutes to spare for checking.
If you are behind, do not panic and do not double the hours. Cut the plan down to its spine: the five core topics, one paper a week, an error log. A student who does that faithfully for 10 weeks will usually beat a student who does a frantic 60-problem weekend before the exam.
