Case study
From “one question away” to a thinker ready for the AMC 12
How Aanya learned to think deeply and manage herself — unlocking the skills that matter far beyond the AMC.
Meet the student
Student
Aanya (10th grade)
Parents
Rohan and Priya
Challenge
Exceptionally strong mathematical intuition but inconsistent performance under timed, high-pressure conditions
Services Used
AMC coaching, diagnostic review, timing/metacognitive coaching, AMC Supercharger group class
Outcome
Strong upward trajectory in practice and official scores; improved self-management; clear pathway toward AMC 12 success
“She has all the strengths of an AMC 12 student — she just hadn’t built the self-management to show it yet.”
The Challenge
When Aanya’s family came to WCTC, they knew she had raw talent. She had walked into the AMC 10 the prior year with no prep and still earned a score worth noticing. She loved STEM, wanted to develop her mathematical thinking, and hoped that the AMC could become part of her academic story.
But she was also hitting a frustrating wall:
Across all her practice work, she kept landing one to three questions away from qualifying — every single time.
Her parents put it plainly in the first meeting:
They saw potential, but had no idea if she just needed refinement… or a totally different approach.
Even more confusing, she seemed to perform worse on proctored practice tests than on her own self-paced work. And the standard explanations — anxiety, gaps in knowledge — didn’t fit. Aanya wasn’t timid, wasn’t resistant, wasn’t unfocused. She was sharp, composed, and genuinely loved the work.
Something else was going on.
The Turning Point
Early in coaching, a clear pattern emerged:
Aanya’s untimed and low-pressure work was excellent — often 90th percentile level. But when the stopwatch started, her score dropped 20–30 points, far more than normal.
This wasn’t anxiety. It wasn’t a lack of content knowledge.
It was metacognition — the ability to manage time, pace, and decision-making while solving tough problems.
In the final parent conference, we showed her family the timing data:
- Problems that should have taken 3–4 minutes were taking 9–12 minutes.
- She often didn’t realize this was happening.
- Those extra minutes were stealing time from later problems she could solve.
The diagnosis was clear:
Aanya had only ever needed one “mode”: deep focus. But AMC success requires switching between deep work and fast triage — a skill she had simply never needed to build.
Once we knew the true bottleneck, everything changed.
The WCTC Approach
WCTC’s AMC coaching blends mathematical depth with self-management coaching, especially for gifted students whose strengths mask their emerging skills.
For Aanya, we focused on three pillars:
1. Build the decision framework
We taught her the mental models top AMC performers use:
- When to go deep
- When to abandon a path
- How long “three minutes” actually is
- How to cycle back without losing momentum
As Wes described to her family: she needed to learn that two solutions often exist, and chasing the first one blindly can be the trap.
2. Train time awareness
Aanya began timing individual problems, recording solve times, and comparing them against expected benchmarks.
The first timing screenshot showed solves ranging from 1 minute to nearly 12 minutes — the exact leakage that was costing her multiple questions.
By the fall, she was keeping all solves to 5–6 minutes or less — a massive improvement.
3. Protect her strengths (don’t force “speed math”)
WCTC made a strategic decision early: Do not teach Aanya to rush.
Her natural orientation toward deep, conceptual problem-solving is exactly what makes her a future AMC 12 / AIME student.
Instead, we kept the depth and layered timing structure on top — the version of her thinking that will matter in advanced contests and in real mathematical work.
4. Use group work to strengthen metacognition
Through the August Supercharger, she saw other students fall into the same cognitive traps, which sharpened her awareness of her own patterns.
This helped her normalize challenge, identify patterns faster, and transfer coaching into practice more consistently.
The transformation
Before |
After |
| Scoring in the upper percentiles but unable to demonstrate it under formal test conditions | Official AMC score rose into the 87–94 range, up from practice test scores in the 60s and 70s |
| Spending 10–12 minutes on problems she could solve faster | Variance in solve-time dropped dramatically (max times cut almost in half) |
| Leaving ~10 questions blank each test, creating a razor-thin margin for qualifying | Developed a reliable pacing system and far stronger metacognition |
| Unsure whether she should continue pursuing AMC or shift focus | Built momentum toward the AMC 12, where her strengths will matter more |
As Wes summarized to the team:
“She already thinks like an AMC 12 student. The 10 was simply the wrong test for her.”
What Made the Difference
Aanya didn’t need more problems. She needed a new way of thinking about the process of solving them.
WCTC helped her:
- Recognize when she was falling down a rabbit hole
- Switch between deep and efficient modes of thinking
- Understand the timing structure of high-level competitions
- See that her struggle was not a lack of ability, but a lack of familiarity with difficulty
- Build habits that will serve her in AMC 12, AIME, calculus, and beyond
And crucially: We played the long game, prioritizing growth that would pay off next year — and throughout her STEM trajectory — rather than forcing shortcuts that would undermine future performance.
Would We Recommend It?
“In general, we prefer to be leaning into deep creative thought over speed when we have the option. That makes sense to us.”
— Rohan, Aanya’s parent.
As Aanya’s parents shared, she genuinely enjoys the work — and now has a roadmap that matches her talent.
They see the long-term arc clearly: this isn’t just about qualifying. It’s about helping her evolve into the thinker she’s capable of becoming.
WCTC continues to coordinate with her college counselor to ensure her AMC results are contextualized correctly and used meaningfully.
Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of the student and family.