What is Olympiad Exam?
Conducted by the Science Olympiad Foundation (a non-profit organisation) in New Delhi, Olympiad or Olympiad exams are meant to test the academic knowledge of a student. This exam is kind of a competitive examination which takes place in the school level to promote subjects like Science, Mathematics, English language, General Knowledge, and Computer Education amongst the school kids. These exams are conducted for students ranging from Class 1 to Class 12.
Types of Olympiad Exam:
A total of six Olympiads tests are being conducted by the Science Olympiad Foundation. These are -
1. National Cyber Olympiad (NCO)
2. National Science Olympiad (NSO)
3. International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO)
4. International English Olympiad (IEO)
5. International General Knowledge Olympiad (IGKO)
6. International Company Secretaries Olympiad Olympiad (ICSO)
Olympiad exam - Eligibility Criteria and Objectives:
Before taking preparation, candidates should be aware of eligibility for the olympiad exam and its objectives. That is why we have provided the entire Olympiad exam guides in the following.
Olympiad Exam Details:
SOF organises Olympiads throughout the year. Interested candidates who are eager to take part in the exams should be aware of all the key information so that they do not miss out on any information. Keeping in mind all the students’ requirements in mind, below are all the Olympiad exam information including the important dates, how to apply, question papers pattern etc.
Important Dates:
Olympiads Exam Pattern:
How To Apply for Olympiad?
Like every other competitive exam, Olympiads also has a step by step procedure. The conductory authority of the exam Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) sends the registration forms for Olympiad along with the prospectus to the schools registered with them. Interested candidates can collect the forms from their respective school authorities.
Schools which are not registered with SOF can also request for the forms and prospectus directly to the non-profit organization by sending a mail at info@sofworld.org.
Students should fill in the forms as per the guidelines and requirements and then submit it to the coordinator (it must be a school teacher only).
The coordinator should generate the roll numbers for the students as per the guidelines mentioned in the Olympiad prospectus.
All the schools must submit these filled in registration forms along with the roll numbers (which are generated by the coordinating teacher) to the SOF prior to the deadline.
Thereafter, the SOF dispatches the question paper for the respective Olympiad exam to the registered school authorities.
It must be noted that every candidate should pay an application fee of INR 125 [including GST]. This is applicable to all the Indian students. For international schools, a registration fee of USD 9 should be paid per student.
Benefits of Olympiad Examinations:
While some parents think that Olympiads will be an extra burden for their children and they would not be able to concentrate on their studies for board exams and school exams, let us clarify this myth. Olympiads exams are purely beneficial for every student who takes part in these in many ways. Below is the list of benefits an Olympiad participant can gain from these exams.
Olympiads sharpen a student’s problem-solving skills and reasoning abilities.
A student also becomes an expert in understanding the core concepts of a subject.
These help students assess their potentials and identify the weaknesses that they need to work upon in the future.
Students need to put a lot of hard work in order to prepare well for the Olympiads. This would naturally prepare them all the other exams, be it a school exam or any other competitive exam. This improves their result overall.
Students gain exposure at the national and as well as international platforms.
Olympiads challenge and boost the students’ intellect in such a way that it improves their thinking and learning ability.
How To Prepare Well For Olympiads?
As mentioned earlier, Olympiad exams are absolutely not an extra burden to the students. On the other hand, participating in the Olympiad has some extra benefits. Every student and parent must remember that the Olympiad exams are conducted mostly on the basis of the school curriculum.
Students must study the books which have been taught in their school as per their school curriculum (such as NCERT books if it’s a CBSE board school). No additional reference books are needed for the exams.
The only thing which is required to score well in the Olympiad is that the candidates must have a very clear conceptual knowledge for every subject and a very strong foundation as well.
It is true that the exam pattern and questions are very much different from the regular school exam while the curriculum remains similar to the school curriculum. Questions are quite tricker and critical. A candidate must have a very clear thought process to solve these problems/ questions as these are mostly based out of logical reasoning and aptitude.
