Mathcounts is almost universally recognized as the best math competition for middle school students in the United States, and for good reason. The Mathcounts competition is designed with a strong emphasis on the basic techniques of problem solving that one learns in elementary school - try examples, look for patterns, make generalizations, draw pictures, think backwards, etc. Mathcounts is sponsored in large part by professional engineering societies; accordingly, many of the contest problems are (loosely) related to technology, current events, and other applications.
There are four rounds of competition each year: a school competition that can be used to help coaches select four-student teams for their schools, a chapter competition, a state championship, and the national championship. Each level of competition is divided into three rounds: a Sprint Round that tests students' ability to solve problems quickly and accurately, a Target Round that features more demanding problems given at a slower pace, and a Team Round in which team members must work together to solve ten difficult problems in a lightning-quick 20 minutes. High-scoring students also compete in the Countdown Round, in which students compete head-to-head in a quiz-show-like format.