
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
A school's emergency telephone tree operates as follows: The principal calls two students. In the first level, there is only the principal. In the second level, two students are contacted. For each subsequent level, each student contacts two new students who have not yet been contacted. This process continues with each student from the previous level contacting two new students. After the 8th level, how many students in total have been contacted?

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