The competition is similar in style to the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), with two papers, each consisting of three problems to be solved in 4.5 hours, taken on consecutive days.
Participating countries send teams consisting of four female mathematicians below the age of 20 who are not enrolled at a university.
The competitors participate as a team of 4 under the national flag but the contest itself is individual.
[19] There have been 28 perfect scores (USA - 8, Russia, China - 4 each, Ukraine - 3, Serbia, Turkey - 2 each, UK, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Israel - 1 each) in the first 13 editions of the competition.
Several international Olympiad competitions aimed at girls were launched, inspired by the success of the EGMO.