What are the
Olympiads?
International Olympiads in
Science and Mathematics are the world championships for school students held
every year in a different country.
The most famous Olympiads
are The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), The International Physics
Olympiad (IPhO), The International Chemistry Olympiad
(IChO), The International Biology Olympiad (IBO), The
International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and The International Astronomy
Olympiad (IAO).
Countries send a
delegation of students and leaders to participate at the International level.
India conducts National
Olympiads to identify the best students who can represent India at the
international level.
Mathematical
Olympiad
For the purpose of the
Olympiad contests, the country has been divided in about 25 regions. The
selection process for participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad
(IMO) consists of the following stages:
Stage 1:
Regional Mathematical Olympiad (RMO): RMO
is currently held on the first Sunday of October each year in each of the
regions in the country. All school students from Class XI are eligible to appear
in RMO. Students from Class XII may also appear in RMO, but the number of
students selected from Class XII is at most 6. Exceptionally brilliant students
from lower standards may also appear for RMO subject to the approval of the
Regional Coordinator. RMO is a 3-hour written test containing 6 or 7 problems.
On the basis of the performance in RMO, students are selected for the second
stage. The Regional Coordinators may charge a nominal fee to meet the expenses
of organizing the contest.
Stage 2:
Indian National Mathematical Olympiad
(INMO): INMO is currently held on the third Sunday of January
each year at the regional centres in all regions. Only
those students who are selected in RMO are eligible to appear in INMO. This
contest is a 4-hour written test. The evaluation of these papers is centralised. The top 75 contestants in INMO receive Merit
Certificates.
Stage 3:
International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp
(IMOTC): The top 30-35 INMO certificate awardees are invited to
a month long training camp in May/June each year. The number of students from
Class XII who are selected for IMOTC is at most 6. In addition to these 35
students, a certain number of INMO awardees of previous year(s) who have
satisfactorily undergone postal tuition over the year are also invited to a
second round of training.
A team of six students
is selected from the combined pool of junior and senior batch participants,
based on a number of selection tests conducted during the camp, to represent
India in the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Stage
4: International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO): The
six member team selected at the end of IMOTC, accompanied by a leader and a
deputy leader represent India at IMO that is normally held in July each
year in a chosen country. IMO consists of two 4- and-a-half hour tests held on
two consecutive days. The students of the Indian team who win gold, silver and
bronze medals at IMO receive cash prizes of `
5000/-, ` 4000/- and
` 3000/- respectively (prizes for 2008). The
six students representing India at IMO automatically qualify
for Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY)
Fellowship.
Syllabus for
Mathematical Olympiad (Regional, National and International): Pre-degree college Mathematics. The difficulty level increases from RMO
to INMO to IMO.
Nurture Programme
: The INMO awardees who choose Mathematics as one of the
subjects in their undergraduate studies are eligible for a scholarship by NBHM
(which is at present ` 1500/- per month)
throughout their undergraduate studies. If they further pursue their studies to
Masters, they continue to get scholarship (enhanced). Even the students who do
not pursue Mathematics in their undergraduate studies are eligible for certain
benefits under a novel programme instituted by NBHM,
called Nurture Programme. Under this programme, each batch of students (selected from among the
INMO awardees through their responses to a few sets of postal problems) is
assigned to an institution. The coordinator in that institution gives out some
reading material that the students can go through during their leisure time
while pursuing their undergraduate studies. At the end of each year, during
summer, they are invited to that institution for a contact programme with working Mathematicians. Based on their
performance, they may be recommended to a scholarship given by NBHM. This programme continues for four years. Thus, even those who
pursue under-graduate studies in some other discipline can still get training in
Mathematics and use it in their further pursuit of knowledge.
Physics, Chemistry
and Astronomy Olympiads
Stage I - National
Standard Examination (NSE) in Physics and Chemistry
Physics and Chemistry:
Every student aspiring to go through successive stages of the Olympiad programme must enroll for NSE. NSEs are held at a large number of centres in the country usually in the last week of November.
All students of Class XII or below (science stream) are eligible to appear for
NSEs. A student may appear for more than one Olympiad
as per the examination schedule. Students who have passed Class XII are not
eligible.
Astronomy: For the Junior level, students should be in Class IX. For the Senior level, students should be in Class X or Class XI. NSE
emphasizes comprehension of the subject, not rote memory.
Stage II - Indian
National Olympiad Examinations
For Indian National
Olympiad Examinations, the national top 200-250 students selected from NSEP,
NSEC and NSEA each are eligible to appear for Indian National Physics Olympiad
(INPhO), Indian National Chemistry Olympiad (INChO) and Indian National Astronomy Olympiad (INAO)
respectively.
Indian National Olympiads
are held sometime in the last week of January or early February. These
examinations are held at about 15 Centres in the
country.
Questions and problems in
National Olympiads are usually non-conventional and of high difficulty level,
comparable to the International Olympiads. On the basis of performance in the
National Olympiads (theory) about 50 students are short-listed in each
subject.
Stage III - Orientation
cum Selection Camp (OCSC)
Physics and
Chemistry
The short-listed groups of
about 35 students in each subject are invited to the Orientation cum Selection
camps at HBCSE. On the basis of their performance in OCSC, the best 20 students
in each subject qualify for merit awards, consisting of a merit certificate and
a set of complimentary books. The top 5 students in Physics and top 4 in
Chemistry are declared to be special merit awardees. These special merit
awardees are given a prize of ` 5000/- each in
the form of books and cash. In addition there are special prizes in each subject
to recognize meritorious performance in theory and
experiments.
The special merit awardees
in Physics constitute the 5-member student team to represent India
at the International Physics Olympiad. The special merit awardees in Chemistry
constitute the 4-member student team to represent India
at the International Chemistry Olympiad.
Astronomy
The short-listed groups of
about 25 students each for junior and senior levels are invited together to the
Orientation cum Selection camp.
At the end of the camp, 20
meritorious students from camp participants get a Certificate of Merit and
complimentary books. The best 2 students from seniors and 3 students from
juniors are selected for special merit awards of
` 5000/- each in the form of books and gifts.
These five students represent India at the International Astronomy
Olympiad.
Stage IV - Training of
Indian Teams for International Olympiads
The selected Indian teams
undergo a rigorous training program at HBCSE in theory and
experiment.
Stage V - Participation
in International Olympiads
The 5-member student team,
2 teacher leaders and one scientific observer constitute the delegation to
represent India at the International Physics
Olympiad (IPhO)
The 4-member student team,
2 teacher leaders and one scientific observer constitute the delegation to
represent India at the International Chemistry
Olympiad (IChO)
The 5-member student team,
2 teacher leaders and one scientific observer constitute the delegation to
represent India at the International Astronomy
Olympiad (IAO).
Olympiad in
Informatics
The Indian Computing
Olympiad is used to select the team of four students to represent
India at the International Olympiad
for Informatics (IOI). The competition is held in three stages: the Zonal
Informatics Olympiad, the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics, and the
International Olympiad in Informatics Training Camp.
Stage
I: The Zonal Informatics Olympiad (ZIO) is a written
round. Most of the questions can be solved with the use of algorithmic
techniques, although logic is usually enough.
Stage
II:The Indian National Olympiad in Informatics (INOI) - In
this students have to write programs on a computer. The
INOI is a programming competition round. Students are expected to solve two
algorithmic problems in 3 hours in either C, C++ or
Pascal. Questions in this round are similar to those in the IOI and other
national computing Olympiads.
About thirty
top-performing students in the INOI are selected for the International Olympiad
in Informatics Training Camp (IOITC).
Stage III:
The International Olympiad in Informatics Training Camp (IOITC)
is a one fortnight long annual training camp held in India to select and
train students to represent India at the International Olympiad in
Informatics.
At the completion of the camp, 4
students are selected to represent India at the International Olympiad in
Informatics.
When and how should I start
preparing for the Olympiads?
The Olympiads are the most
prestigious school competitions in the world. Students have to go through a
rigorous process to be selected for the Indian team. Students selected to
represent the country get an opportunity to compete and win prizes at an
International level.
Students who represent
India in the International Olympiads in Physics / Chemistry /Mathematics
/ Informatics and Astronomy automatically qualify for KVPY Fellowship. Organisations like Infoysys, Sasken, NASSCOM etc. also give
prizes to the participants and winners of the International Olympaids.
Usually students appear for the
Olympiads in Class XI but brilliant students can appear for the stage I exam
even in lower classes and increase their number of attempts and even their medal
tally as they can participate in the International Olympiads till they reach
Class XII.
