2019 AMC 8 problems, solutions and some thoughts

2019 AMC 8 problems and solutions, for students, by students

A student's reflection on this year's test : 

Mrs. Lin,
I did the AMC 8 yesterday, and it was actually quite easier than last year. I was reviewing my answers, and I believe I only got the last two wrong. I used stars and bars for the last one, but did 21C2 instead of 20C2. I could’ve done number 24, because geometry is really my best subject in math. I realized that I should’ve used mass points later on. It’s fine, though, because it’s still a good score. I think that many people could solve this test pretty well because in many of the last questions you could plug in the multiple choice answers and get the right answer. Also, a lot of it was just plain algebra. Question 20 was actually just an equation, which anybody who knows basic algebra can solve. I thought that I would never say this, but I honestly wish that it was harder, because I was hoping for some interesting problems. Those are the problems that get people’s gears turning; this year the problems were quite basic. I think many people will get really good scores on this test, which, along with a good thing, is also not so good because it brings down the credibility of the test.

Thanks,

some links that you can review those very basic, but extremely useful strategies on this 
year's seemingly harder, but not really last two questions. 

mass points  learn together with triangles sharing the same vertex 

dimensional change / scaling 

balls and urns, stars and bars  (lots of variations or twists on this one, so 
you need to fully understand the concept so to use it well. Be patient !!!!!)