The first round of IMAS is for all participants, and the second round is for students who perform well in the first round. The format of the tests in each round is as follows, with the sample question included at the appendix.
- First Round of IMAS – Twenty-five problems will be given. The participants are given 75 minutes to finish the ability test. The first twenty problems are in Multiple-Choice type while the last five problems require integer answers between 0 and 999 inclusive. The distribution of the problems are: Problems 1 to 10, classified as EASY category, each correct answer is given 3 points; Problems 11 to 20, classified as AVERAGE category of which each correct answer will be given 4 points while Problems 21 to 25, CHALLENGE category, every correct answer will be given 6 points.
To encourage students to work mathematics and to recognize students’ achievement, the IMAS will provide award for students entering the tests. The level of awards of individual student is relative to the performance of other students in their country, of the same year level during the first round of IMAS. The award scheme is as follows:
- High Distinction – Student whose score is above 95 percentile
- Distinction -Student whose score is above 85 and below 95 percentile
- Credit – Student whose score is above 50 and below 85 percentile
- Participation – Student whose score is below the 50 percentile
Every participant is awarded with a certificate with a personal report. The IMAS individual certificate means a lot to the participant as it promotes positive effects about one’s performance based on the given assessment. The report will be in the form of standards of achievement, informing the participant their achievement in addition to the percentile rank. Assessment results could facilitate learning when strengths and weaknesses of their performance are identified. This information can be shared with mathematics teachers in the region via the feedback loop in seminar and workshops.
- The Second Round of IMAS is conducted for those students who achieved to be in the top 10% of all participants of each country. In this test, there are fifteen problems: Problems 1 to 5 are multiple choice type where each correct answer will be given 4 points, Problems 6 to 13 call for short answers where each correct answer will be given 5 points, and Problems 14 to 15 call for detailed solution (or working process) and full mark of each correct answer is 20, partial marks may be given for incomplete answer. The participants are given 120 minutes to finish this test.
In each participating country, the participants whose scores are in the top 5% percentile will be awarded with a Gold Medal; participants in the top 6% to 15% percentile will be awarded with a Silver Medal and each participant whose score is in the top 16% to 30% percentile will receive a Bronze Medal. If participating country invited more than top 10% of all participants written the Second Round of IMAS, the IMAS Executive Council only given the number of medals base on the top 10% of all participants.