Prepare for an olympiad.

How olympiad preparation differs from school exams

A school exam asks, in effect, “have you learnt this chapter?” Most questions look like the exercises in the textbook, the syllabus is fixed, and a student who revises thoroughly can expect to know nearly everything on the paper.

An olympiad asks a different question: “can you use what you know on something you haven’t seen before?” Most school olympiads are still built on the class syllabus, but the questions are written so that recognising the chapter isn’t enough. They combine two ideas, add a twist, or hide a simple question inside a long passage. Many also include a reasoning section that has no chapter at all, and a set of harder questions meant to separate the top few.

That difference changes how to prepare. Revising more chapters helps less than you might expect. What helps is practising how to think through unfamiliar questions: reading them properly, working out what they are really asking, and checking whether an answer makes sense.

It also changes how to judge results. In a school test, a well-prepared student may expect close to full marks. In an olympiad, a good score might be much lower, because the paper is designed so that very few students get everything right. A score that would worry you in a school exam may be a strong olympiad result.

The skills that carry across every paper

Whatever the subject, a handful of skills do most of the work. They are worth practising on purpose, because they help in every olympiad and in school exams too.

Reading carefully

More olympiad marks are lost to misreading than to not knowing. Small words carry big meaning: not, except, at least, only, always. A habit worth building at every age is to read the question once, then read the last line again before looking at the options, because the last line usually says what is actually wanted.

Reasoning, not recall

Olympiad questions reward knowing why a rule works, not just the rule. A student who understands why the angles of a triangle add up to 180° can handle a question about a four-sided shape; one who has only memorised the number is stuck. When your child learns something new, “why does that work?” is the most useful follow-up question.

Speed with accuracy

Most olympiad papers have a time limit that is tight but fair. Speed comes from fluency with basics, such as times tables, common word meanings and standard facts, so that thinking time goes to the hard part of each question. Rushing is not speed. A student who answers 40 questions with 30 right usually beats one who answers 50 with 28 right, especially where wrong answers lose marks.

Elimination

In a multiple-choice paper, ruling out wrong options is a skill in itself. Two options are often clearly impossible: the wrong units, the wrong size, or a contradiction with the question. Crossing those out first turns a one-in-four guess into a one-in-two choice and often makes the right answer obvious.

Building a routine

Short, regular practice beats long, rare sessions at every age. A rough guide to weekly time in the weeks before a school olympiad:

These are ceilings, not targets. A child who is enjoying it can do a little more; a child who is tired or anxious should do less. Each class page, such as Class 3 or Class 9, has a plan suited to that age.

A good session has three parts: a short warm-up on something familiar, the main work on new or harder questions, and a few minutes looking back at what went wrong. Ending on a question your child can do keeps the next session easier to start.

Mock papers from the organisers

Most olympiad organisers publish sample papers or previous years’ papers on their websites, and some sell practice books. These are the most reliable guide to what the real paper looks like: the number of questions, the sections, the time limit and the style of wording.

Use them sparingly and well. One sample paper at the start of preparation shows where your child stands. One or two near the end, under real time limits, rehearse the day itself. In between, the work is on the gaps those papers reveal, not on doing more papers.

Before the exam, also check the rules on the organiser’s site: whether wrong answers lose marks, whether the paper uses an OMR sheet, and what to bring.

Reviewing mistakes

The review is where most of the learning happens. A paper done and never looked at again teaches very little.

A simple method that works from about Class 4 onwards:

1. Mark the paper, then sort every wrong answer into one of three groups: didn’t know, misread or careless, or ran out of time.
2. For “didn’t know”, go back to the school chapter or a clear explanation, then try a similar question.
3. For “misread or careless”, write down the exact slip. Patterns appear quickly, such as always missing not, or copying a number wrongly.
4. For “ran out of time”, look at where the time went. Usually one or two questions took far too long.
5. Keep a mistakes notebook with one line per mistake, and reread it before the next paper.

For younger children, keep the review short: two or three mistakes a session, talked through, are plenty.

Sleep, stress and the day itself

Sleep is part of preparation, not a break from it. Memory and problem-solving both depend on it, and school-age children and teenagers need more of it than adults. A late night before an olympiad almost always costs more than the extra revision gains.

Some nerves are normal and even useful. What helps is familiarity: knowing the format, having sat a timed sample paper, knowing where the exam will be held and what to bring. On the day, a normal breakfast, an early arrival and no last-minute new topics.

If a child becomes very anxious about olympiads, with trouble sleeping, tears or stomach aches before practice, it is worth stepping back. An olympiad is optional, and a child who sits one calmly next year has lost nothing.

What parents can do

• Set up the routine, then step back. Agree on the time with your child; let them decide more of the rest as they grow older.
• Praise effort and method, not just scores. “You kept going on that hard one” builds more than “you got 90”.
• Make everyday life a little mathematical and curious. Shopping, cooking, travel and the news are full of questions.
• Handle logistics, such as registration deadlines, exam days and travel, so your child can focus on the work.
• Keep perspective. One olympiad is one paper on one day. Most children who sit olympiads don’t top them, and most still learn a great deal.

Pitfalls

Over-drilling

Doing paper after paper feels productive, but past a point it mostly rehearses the same mistakes. If scores have stopped improving, more papers rarely help. Fewer papers, reviewed more carefully, usually do.

Too many olympiads at once

Each olympiad has its own date, its own paper and its own weeks of preparation. Sitting five or six in one season spreads effort thin and crowds out reading, sport and rest. For most students, one or two a year is enough. The olympiad calendar helps you see where they usually fall.

Cramming at the end

Olympiad skills build slowly, through weeks of short practice. A burst of work in the final week mostly adds tiredness. If time is short, focus on one sample paper and its review, then rest.

Going far beyond the syllabus too early

Doing next year’s chapters rarely helps this year’s school olympiad. Understanding this year’s work deeply does. The national pathway exams for older students are the exception, and they need their own kind of preparation.

Guides by subject

Each subject has its own question types and practice ideas: maths, science, English, GK and reasoning.

Where daily practice fits

Short daily practice keeps basics fluent between longer sessions. Ado is a free daily quiz of 8 questions, including a 60-second sprint, across maths, science, English, GK, reasoning and social studies, with current affairs from age 12, and each student is ranked only against students the same age. It has no ads and no chat, and it is a habit that sits alongside olympiad preparation, not a replacement for it.