A mathematics competition administered annually at local high schools by the University of Miami in early December.
It is a 30 question multiple choice non-calculator exam covering numerous mathematical topics. Literally anything goes, as long as it's solvable by a method other than brute force. Many are often similar to the conceptual questions found on interschool tests. Commonly found subjects include calculus, trigonometry, vector algebra, number theory, geometry, and statistics. It is scored as follows: +1 for every correct answer, -0.25 for every wrong answer, and 0 for every answer left blank. A score of 15.0 or higher allows that person to go on to the second level of competition, discussed below. A score of 20 or higher is very rare.
A sample question is:
How many times must a standard deck of 52 cards be perfectly rifle shuffled (that is, split into two decks, top and bottom, and alternately placing one card from each deck on top of the previous card, so that the top and bottom cards stay the same) before it returns to its original order?
The second level is taken in early February (Groundhog Day this year), and is used to determine who earns a 75% scholarship to the University of Miami. For most of those who make it to the second level, UM isn't their top choice, but some do take advantage of the scholarship.
Answer to example question: 8 times.
To those softlinking cowards who thought I was bragging: I did not intend for the (now deleted) parenthesized part telling my score this year to come across as bragging, but in retrospect I guess it did. Sorry about that....