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 Olympiads in Informatics (IOI) and the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO).

Countries send a delegation of students and leaders of participates at the International level. India conduct National Olympiads to identify the best students who can 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 (INMO) : RMO is currently held on the first Sunday of October each year in each of the regions in the country.All school students from XI are eligibal 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 in organizing the contest.

Stage 2: Indian National Mathematical Olympiad (INMO): INMO is currently held on the third Sunday of January each year in 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 daaition to these 35 students, a certain number of INMO awardees of previous year(s) who have satisfactorily undergoan postal tution 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 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 deupty leader represent India at IMO that is normally held in July each year in a choosen 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 jIMO receive cash prizes of Rs.5000/-,Rs.4000/- and Rs.3000/- respectively (prizes for 2007).The six students representing India at IMO automatically qualify for Kishor vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY) Fellowship.

Syllabus for mathematical Olympiad (regional,national and international): Pre-degree co0llege mathematics. The difficulty level increases from RMO to INMO to IMO.

Nurture Programme : The INMO awards who choose Mathematics as one of the subject in their undergraduate studies are eligible for a scholarship by NBHM(which is at present Rs.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 eligibal for certain benefits under a noval programme instituted by NBHM, called Nurture Programme. Under this programme, each bench 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 summar, they are invited to that institution for a contact programme with working Mathematicians. Based on their performance, they may be recomended to a scholarship given by NBHM. This programme continues for four years. Thus, even those who pursue under-graduate studies in some other discijpline can still get training in mathematics and use it in their further pursuit of knowledge.

Physics, Chemistry,& Astronomy Olympiads

Stage 1 - National Standard Examination (NSE) in Physics & Chemistry

Physics & Chemistry : Every student aspiring to go through successive stages of the Olympiads programme must enroll for NSE. NSEs are held at a large number of centers 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.

Stase 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 - Orintation cum Selection Camp (OCSC)

Physics & 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, top 4 in Chemistry are declared to be special merit awardees. These special merit awardees are given a prize of Rs.5000/- each in the form of books and cash. In addition there are special prizes in each subject of 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 team to represent India at the International chemistry Olympiad.

Astronomy

The sort 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 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 Rs.5000/- each in the form of books and gifts. These five students represent India at the International Astronomy olympiad.

Stage IV - Training for International Olympiads

The selected Indians teams undergo a rigorous training programme 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 Internatioan Astronomy Olympiad (IAO).

Olympiad in informatics

The Indian Computing Olympiad is used to select the team of 4 students to represent India at the International Olympiad for Informatics (IOI). The competation is held in three stages : The Zonal Informatics Olympiad, The 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, altough logic is usually enough.

Stage II : The Indian National Olympiad in Informatics (INOI) 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 Informatisc                   Traning Camp (IOITC).

Stage III : The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOITC) is a one fortnight long annual training camp held in India                   to select and train students to represent India at International Olympiad in Informatics.

At the completion of the camp, 4 students are selected to represent India at the International Olympiad in Informatics.

When & how should I start Preparing for the olympiads ?

The Olympiads are most prestigious school competation 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 opportu nity to complete and win prizes at an International level.

Students who represent India in the International olympiad in Physics/chemistry/Mathematics/Informatics and Astronomy automatically qualify for KVPY Fellowship. Organisations like Infosys, Sasken, NASSCOM etc. also give prizes top the participants and winners of the International Olympiads.

Usually students appear for the olympiads in class XI but brilliant students can appear for the stage I exam level in lower classes and increase their number of attempts and even their medal tally as they can participate in the International Olympiad till they reach Class XII.

Reference Books for Maths :

• V. Krishnamurthy, C. R. Pranesachar, K. N. Ranganathan and B. J. Venkatachala, Challenge and Thrill of Pre-College Mathematics, New Age International Publishers.
  

• GEOMETRY

  1. Durrel M. A., Modern Geometry Macmillan & Co., London.
     
  2. H. S. M. Coxeter and S. L. Greitzer, Geometry Revisited Mathematical Association of America.
     
  3. S. L. Loney, Plane Trigonometry Macmillan & Co., London.
     

• NUMBER THEORY

  1. I. Niven & H. S. Zuckerman An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers Wiley Eastern Ltd. New Delhi.
     
  2. David Burton Elementary Number Theory Universal Book Stall, New Delhi.
     
  3. G. H. Hardy & Wright An introduction to the theory of numbers, Oxford University Publishers.

   

• PROBLEM BOOKS

  • I M O Problem Collections
  1. S. L. Greitzer International Mathematical Olympiad 1959-1977, MAA.
  2. M. S. Klamkin International Mathematical Olympiad 1978-1985, MAA.
  3. C. R. Pranesachar, S. A. Shirali, B. J. Venkatachala, and C. S. Yogananda Mathematical Challenges from the Olympiads Interline publishing, Bangalore. (Contains problems and solutions of International Mathematical Olympiad from 1986-1994).
  • General
    1. C. R. Pranesachar, B. J. Venkatachala, and C. S. Yogananda Problem Primer for the Olympiad Interline publishing, Bangalore.
    2. M. R. Modak, S. A. Katre, V. V. Acharya An Excursion in Mathematics, RMO committe (Maharastra and Goa).
    3. M. S. Klamkin USA Mathematical Olympiads 1972-1985, MAA.
    4. D.O. Shklyarshky, N.N. Chensov and I.M. Yaglom Selected problems and Theorems in Elementary Mathematics.
    5. W. Sierpenski 250 Problems in Elementary Number Theory, American Elsevier.
    6. I.R. Sharygin Problems in Plane Geometry, MIR Publishers.
       

• Journals :

  1. Samasya, journal devoted to problem solving, published by Leelavati trust, Bangalore.
  2. Bona Mathematica, published by Bhaskaracharya Prathistana , Pune.

Reference Books for Physics :

Important links for Olympiads :

• Indian National Math Olympiad
   
• Indian Physics & Chemistry Olympiad
   
• International Math Olympiad (IMO)
   
• IMO Problems Archive
   
• Asian Physics Olympiad
   
• International Physics Olympiad
   
• International Chemistry Olympiad
   
• International Science Olympiad