
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a mathematics competition, $60\%$ of the participants were eliminated after the first round. In the second round, half of the students who passed the first round were eliminated. After the third round, only $25\%$ of the students who passed the second round remained. If 15 students were still in the competition after the third round, how many students began the competition?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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