Olympiads are the most sought after talent search examinations conducted in India and abroad. A large number of students in India appear for the examination to prove their caliber and become the part of intelligent group. The exam is conducted for students of Class I to Class XII. It tests the analytical skills, logical reasoning, scientific thinking and various other aspects of the individual. These are conducted in various subjects like Math, Biology, Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry etc. Various prestigious Olympiad competitions are conducted by some organizations out of which some are described below:
To participate in the International Mathematical Olympiad from India, students need to be a part of Mathematical Olympiad programme in India which is conducted by Homi Bhabha Center for Science and Education on behalf of National Board for Higher Mathematics of Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. It is one of the major initiatives taken to find out the mathematical talent among students of schools in the country. The student wishing to take part in Olympiad has to register for it from their school as no participation is allowed from any other source. The students can get all necessary information regarding MO from IMO’s official website www.imo-official.org
Stage 1: Regional Mathematical Olympiad:
It is conducted at regional level and a few numbers of students are selected from each of 28 regions for the Stage 2 known as Indian National Mathematical Olympiad. The exam consists of six or seven problems to be solved in 3 hour duration. Some regions may conduct a pre-RMO to select the students who will appear in RMO. The RMO question paper can be prepared by the regional coordinator or they can also choose to use the central RMO paper prepared by HBCSE.
Stage 2: Indian National Mathematical Olympiad:
Those students who are selected in RMO are eligible to appear for INMO. It is generally held on first Sunday of February between 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. On the basis of this exam, top 30-35 students are selected all over the country and chosen as INMO awardees. Also, the next 45-50 students who are n Class 10th or lower are awarded INMO certificate of merit.
Stage 3: International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp:
All the INMO awardees along with the previous INMO awardees that are eligible for IMO are invited to a month long training camp in April-May each year at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) Mumbai. A team of best six is chosen from the combined senior and junior batch to participate in IMO
Stage 4: Pre-Departure Training Camp for IMO
Selected team of six students goes through another round of training for 10 days before departure for IMO.
Stage 5: International Mathematical Olympiad
The selected team represents the country at the International Mathematical Olympiad held in July each year in a different member country of IMO. The team is accompanied by a leader, a deputy leader and an observer. The IMO consists of two written tests held in two consecutive days. Each day, test consists of 3 problems and lasts for 4.5 hours. The top three teams are awarded with gold, silver and bronze medal and some cash prizes.
| Total Number of Questions | 35 |
|---|---|
| Duration of Test | 60 minutes |
| Number of Sections | 3 |
| Number of Question in Logical & Analytical Reasoning | 10 |
| Number of Question in Everyday Mathematics | 10 |
| Number of Question in Mathematical Reasoning | 15 |
| Total Number of Questions | 35 |
|---|---|
| Duration of Test | 60 minutes |
| Number of Sections | 3 |
| Number of Question in Logical & Analytical Reasoning | 20 |
| Number of Question in Everyday Mathematics | 10 |
| Number of Question in Mathematical Reasoning | 20 |
International Junior Science Olympiad is an annual individual and team competition in Natural Sciences (i.e. Physics, Chemistry Biology, Astronomy) for students of age less than 16 years in the competition year. It is established to recognize and reward the talent in natural sciences. It is a purely educational event to encourage exceptional students in scientific endeavors.
Stage 1: National Standard Examination in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Astronomy.
All students wishing to take part in IJSO must appear for NSE which is held generally in the month of November. All students who are in Class XII or below with Science stream are eligible to appear for NSE. A student can appear for more than one subject as per the NSE schedule.
For Astronomy, the student must be Class IX if he wants to appear for Junior level or Class X and Class XI if he wants to appear for senior level.
Stage 2: Indian National Olympiad Examinations
After the stage 1, around 200-250 top students are selected from Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Astronomy each for the Indian National Olympiad. INO are held in last week of January or early February at 16 centres in India. On the basis of performance in INO, around 50 students are selected in each Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Astronomy Olympiads.
Stage 3: Orientation cum Selection Camp
For Biology, Physics and Chemistry: The selected group of students is invited to the camp for 2-3 weeks at HBCSE. Here orientation is provided to students for experimental tests. On the basis of performance of students at camp, top 5 students in Physics, top 4 in chemistry and biology each are declared to be special merit awardees. These special merit awardees represent India at the International Olympiads in their respective subjects.
For Astronomy too, top 5 students are selected as special merit awardees from the 50 students selected in stage 2. These 5 students will represent India at the International level.
Stage 4: Training of Indian team for International Olympiads
The selected students of stage 3 undergo a rigorous training at HBCSE in theory and experimentation to prepare for International levels.
Stage 5: Participation in International Olympiads
The team of 5 students, 2 teacher leaders and 1 scientific observer constitute the delegation to represent India at the International Physics Olympiad
The team of 4 students, 2 teacher leaders and 1 scientific observer constitute the delegation to represent India at the International Chemistry Olympiad
The team of 4 students, 2 teacher leaders and 1 scientific observer constitute the delegation to represent India at the International Biology Olympiad
The team of 5 students, 2 teacher leaders and 1 scientific observer constitute the delegation to represent India at the International Astronomy Olympiad
The National Science Olympiad is a yearly competition conducted by Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) for school students. The exam tries to develop scientific reasoning and logical ability by the mechanism of rigorous tests. It instills curiosity towards science and vigor in young students in through competitive examinations.
Who can appear for NSO?
Students of Classes 1st to 12th are eligible to appear in the 1st level of NSO. Students who qualify for the second level are:
a. Top 5% of students class-wise who appeared in the level 1 examination.
b. Top 25 rank-holders state-wise.
c. Topper of the class from each participating school where at least 10 students participated from a class and scores 50% qualifying marks.
A student can appear only once in a year for NSO exam.
First round of NSO exam is generally conducted in November while the second round is conducted in January-February. There is no round 2 for Class 1st and 2nd.
The sections asked in exam for Class 1st to Class 10th in National Science Olympiad are Mental Ability and Science while for Class 11th and Class 12th the sections are Mathematics or Biology and Physics & Chemistry. There is an additional Achiever’s section for all the classes. The pattern of NSO is as:
Level 1
The first level of the test is organized in the respective schools of the participants during school hours. The level 1 competition is an objective-type test of 60 minutes duration comprising 35 objective-type (Multiple Choice) questions for class 1 to class 4 and 50 objective-type (Multiple Choice) questions for class 5 to class 12.
Level 2
Students who qualify in the level 1 exams have to appear for the level 2 exam where the distribution of question is as:
For class 11th and 12th, 25 questions are from Physics & Chemistry, 5 from Achiever’s section and 20 from Math/Biology section.
Similarly for class 5th to 10th, 10 questions are from mental ability, 5 questions in Achiever’s section and 35 questions from Science while for rest of the classes, there are 5 questions in Achiever’s section, 5 from logical reasoning and 25 questions from Science.
List of Various other Important Examinations:
The student wishing to represent the country at International Junior Science Olympiad must have a passport of the country or have been the part of country's academic system for at least one year.
The normal team in Olympiad is of 4-6 students and 3 leaders. However if the team is not fulfilled, a minimum of 3 students and 1 leader should be there. A team of size less than 3 does not qualify for team awards.
There are 5 stages in Mathematical Olympiad. Sometime an extra stage exam is also conducted which is known as PRMO i.e. Pre-Regional Mathematical Olympiad. It is followed by the Regional Mathematical Olympiad which is conducted at various regions of the country to select the students for the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad. The selected students of INMO are invited for the International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp. The next stage is the pre-departure training camp for IMO which is the final stage.
There are 5 stages in IJSO which begins with the National Standard Exam. The selected students of NSE in all subjects are qualified for INJSO. The students who get selected in INJSO are invited for the training at HBCSE for orientation cum selection camp. Stage 4 is the pre-departure training for the International Junior Science Olympiad which is the final stage of IJSO.
The IJSO is conducted in 4 subjects of natural sciences namely: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Astronomy.
Mathematical Olympiad is conducted by Homi Bhabha Center for Science and Education on behalf of National Board for Higher Mathematics of Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
The age of student willing to take part in International Junior Science Olympiad should be 15 years or younger on 31st December of the competition year.
