Professor George Berzsenyi initiated the contest in 1989 under the KöMaL model and under joint sponsorship of the Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology and the Consortium for Mathematics and its Applications.
[2] Prior to academic year 2010–2011 the competition consisted of four rounds of five problems each, covering all non-calculus topics.
Every problem on the USAMTS is graded on a scale of 0 to 5, where a 0 is an answer that is highly flawed or incomplete and a 5 is a rigorous and well-written proof.
The solutions are graded every year by a volunteer group of university students and other people with professional mathematical experience.
[3] In addition to their scores, students receive detailed feedback on how they could improve their solutions if they attempt a problem but do not solve it.