Last Updated on March 10, 2023 by asifa
The International Mathematics Olympiad can be best described as an international competition for the students of different classes and is conducted in over 100 countries aimed at students who are passionate about mathematics and are looking for an opportunity to excel in it. The competition brings together young students from across the globe under the umbrella of being passionate about Mathematics and looks to enlighten students with the magic of mathematics. Participating and being a rank holder in this Olympiad can give learners a direct ticket to many esteemed universities at not just the national level but also at the international level. It evidently carves students especially the ones who have an evergreen interest in the discipline, a favourable path towards success. The competition provides students with an amazing environment to grow and also contributes to the wholesome development of the students at a very young age itself. Considering the irreplaceable experience that these exams and competitions can ensure the students with, most schools encourage their students to participate and try to give their best as possible. In India Mathematics olympiads for various classes are hosted or conducted by different organisations and schools across the cities in the country choose one of their choices and allow students to take part in them. Although the olympiads conducted by each organisation may differ in their manner and method of moving forward with the contest, a basic characteristic common to all of them is that their main objective is to encourage students to develop an interest in the discipline and also give a boost to those students who have an excellent aptitude towards mathematics.
Preparing for olympiads is not really a herculean task as proclaimed by many but it is something that demands hardwire dedication and interest in the subject. For instance, in a math Olympiad, any student with striking mathematical creativity and is willing to sharpen it during their course of academic life will always have an advantage for being better at winning Olympiads. But balancing your studies as called for by the school curriculum and your learning time exclusively for the olympiads is a recommended prerequisite for young students. For this, students need a proper long term strategy months before the actual exam which gives adequate time for learning and all kinds of preparations. Once a proper timetable is set to crack the exam, students should move on to getting the theory under scrutiny. Class 7 syllabus has a few of the most crucial topics with respect to mathematics and is therefore important that the students learn the concepts meticulously without fail. The syllabus includes topics such as fundamentals of integers, fractions, algebraic expressions etc that are important not just from the point of view of olympiads but also when the future encounters of mathematical reasoning in further classes are considered. Mathematics at the upper primary stage is a major challenge and by preparing students with several problem-solving strategies it gives learners the opportunities to think rationally. It grooms them to understand and create methods as well as processes to best mathematical solutions and this enables them to become active participants in any kinds of situations that demand high problem-solving skills. Learners need to possess the drive to identify and define a problem along with selecting or designing possible solutions and revise or redesign the steps if required which is exactly what the prescribed syllabus aims for. But learning the theory is just one of the initial steps amongst the many others that follow. With the concepts that are thorough within the students, students should take up to solving questions from different sources. The first suggestion to refer to will always be the questions included as exercises under each topic and chapter in the NCERT textbooks that are prescribed for class 7. These questions are structured in such a way so as to ensure that the students have understood what has been explained in the book as lessons and they also help give students a basis for the studied topics. After students are extensively thorough with these, they may start with solving the sample questions that are available in ample amounts on the internet and also as printed copies. Searching for the IMO sample paper 1 for class 7 will give the students a heavy load of pdfs that contain several sample question papers. Most organisations that conduct olympiads usually publish a workbook for each class in each subject which includes many possible questions they need to work out before appearing for the exam. These workbooks can easily be downloaded from the official websites of the organisation concerned or from any other authentic websites that provide the same. Such workbooks usually have solutions and answer keys to the questions included in them and this helps students better as they need not go in search of the answers for these questions elsewhere and waste time on it. Apart from the workbooks students are usually advised to do practice tests available online. The practice tests take the role of mock tests and the students will be solving a question paper in under one hour which is usually the time that is given during the Math olympiad exams. Taking mock tests has several advantages such as giving a heads-up to students on how the exams will be, including the pattern followed or the method of answering that is looked for. While students indulge themselves in solving more and more questions relevant to the exam, it is important for students to approach a teacher or a mentor who can help them with their doubts and clarifications. Although it is easier and uncomplicated for learners to get solutions to any kind of questions nowadays in the era of the internet, sometimes students could use someone who could help them personally with individual doubts. Most students take the help of tutors who are good at mathematics for this purpose. With a spoon full of in-depth knowledge and a fair share of solving an ample number of question papers and sample questions any student can easily go on to crack the esteemed International Mathematics Olympiad.
