The International Olympiads (IOs) are a series of mathematics and science competitions, aged 14 to 18 years old, for both individual and teamwork. They are organized by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the National Institute of Informatics (Japan). The first IOs were held in 1994.
The purpose of the IO competitions is “to provide a forum for mathematical research”. Furthermore, they are intended to “contribute to an understanding of the role that mathematics plays in modern life”. The purpose is achieved by awarding medals to participants whose results (but not the work itself) are deemed of international quality.
Preparation for Olympiads in India
Olympiads are a series of international academic competitions for talented high school students. The exams comprise several rounds and cover different subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and general knowledge. The contest is open to all high school students in the world irrespective of their nationality or country of residence. Olympiads are different from the regular Indian curriculum and that is what makes it stands out competitively. These Olympiads have different contests each year so students don’t lose motivation.
Everyone has his or her path to conclude. Only those that know how to follow those right steps would reach success. There is no one right path for everyone so one needs to approach the sport from his or her perspective. To learn how to win at an Olympiad you need to break down the different steps and understand what happens at the exam.
One excellent way to prepare for the Olympiads is to create your study course. When I was in high school, I created my own because I couldn’t find an online course. You can also use an existing course, such as my own SAT/ACT prep program. I recommend the latter.
Research about the Olympiad you are interested in
When it comes to conducting your research, you can find a lot of material on the Internet. For example, you can use the website www.worldexams.com where there are a lot of videos of Olympiads conducted across the world. You can also visit the different Olympiad sections and use a good understanding of the topics to see how these exams are conducted.
The score that a student achieves is a combination of a mathematical result and a score based on the difficulty of the problem. For instance, if an average student solves a question, but seems unskilled at understanding the problem, they will have a low score due to their lack of ability to explain their solution well. They would have a lower score as compared to someone who solves the question as well as explains it clearly.
Students also receive points for answering questions that are outside their knowledge base. Typically questions from other areas are solved by students to strengthen the evaluation system which does not consider them as inferior because they are outside their area of expertise.
Exam Structure for Olympiads
The Olympiad exams are divided into 3 parts: a general test, a subject-specific test, and an essay. The general part of the exam is designed to measure abstract reasoning abilities for all subjects. The subject-specific test is intended to cover the content of that specific subject. The third part, the essay, tests knowledge in writing skills.
How do I know what to study?
Preparing for the Olympiads is hard and it takes a lot of hard work. The most common problem is selecting the right subjects to study. We recommend you have at least 2–3 subjects that you like that get you interested and excited. It could be any subject of your choice. You should make sure that you study them at a steady pace until the Olympiad. You can add additional subjects in the intervals.
It doesn’t matter if you fail at the first competition, you can try and repeat it and try to improve your grades. It is better to try an experiment and to fall in love with it than to forget about it. Just like every human being, we fall in love with different things, it’s part of our nature. Try to love all your subjects. These subjects should not be boring. They should interest you.
What are the advantages of registering for an Olympiad?
Olympiads give you a high standard examination procedure that guarantees the utmost merit for each of the competitors. Candidates are given scores that can be compared with the score of their competitor so as to gauge one’s success ratio. Owing to the high standards of such competitions, it is more beneficial for candidates to get a high score. The exams are held twice a year and those who do not participate in any given year’s Olympiad will be considered ineligible to participate in subsequent competitions.
How to find an opportunity to participate in an Olympiad?
Olympiads are held in different parts of the world. While in India, there are national-level exams held across the country, globally there are national level and regional level contests.
Tips for children preparing for Olympiads
I know that preparing children for Olympiads can be both challenging and overwhelming. The best way to prepare them would be to practice as often as possible with a plan and consistency. Hence, for practice refer to IMO Maths Olympiad Sample Question Paper
Conclusion
I have learned that being prepared will always be the key to success. I have also learned that if you are not ready, it is never too late to start. With this mentality, I am prepared for my future Olympiad challenges. To get good marks in the Olympiads, it is necessary to be very well prepared. The exams are highly competitive and scoring a low mark is a matter of luck. Therefore, it is important to go in with an idea of what is required to ensure good scores in all the exams that students need to crack.
The authors of this post have come up with some tips that you can use to prepare for an Olympiad competition. Students should expect to spend hours upon hours at the library. This is going to help them accumulate a lot of high-level academic material that they can use during Olympiads. These tips should prove to help make the competition more competitive and successful for you.
