The NSA 2018 Codebreaker Challenge consists of a series of tasks that are worth a varying amount of points based upon their difficulty.
In previous years, tasks had to be solved in order to unlock the next task and rankings were based upon the quantity of solvers that progressed the furthest from each school. This way of ranking heavily weighted progression above participation and did not allow for skipping ahead if a particular task became a stumbling block.
So, to address these issues, all tasks will be available immediately upon registration and can be solved in any order. The point value associated with each task is based on relative difficulty, and schools will be ranked according to total number of points accumulated by their students. It is still recommended to solve tasks in order since the tasks flow with the storyline, but that is no longer a requirement.
For more information and registration procedure, see the official flyer.