There are many types of mathematical competitions throughout the world. Some expect participants to merely state answers, others are multiple choice competitions.
Some competitions are oral, and completed in a matter ofa couple of hours.
Others go on for a week or weeks. Participants are offered 5 problems and 4 hours of time to solve them. We give no credit for answers submitted without supporting work. Conversely, a minor error that leads to an incorrect answer does not substantially reduce the credit. Our Olympiad is genuinely and principally an essay-type competition.