The Most Underrated Topics in School Olympiads

Logical Reasoning, Everyday Mathematics, Questions from previous class syllabus, Data handling and Higher order thinking (Achievers Section) questions are the most underrated topics in school Olympiads as students generally pay attention only to the current chapters in the textbooks and neglect these easy scoring areas. These topics, if given daily attention, even for a few minutes, will improve a student's Olympiad rank more than additional hours spent on familiar topics. 

Whether you or your child is ready to compete in a school Olympiad, this guide highlights which Olympiad important topics are most overlooked, and how to overcome the problem with a simple, focused school Olympiad preparation plan. 

School Olympiads at a Glance

Let's first have a quick insight into the structure of most of the school Olympiads including SOF's IMO and NSO.

Source: SOF official syllabus and exam pattern.

Why Some Topics Get Ignored

Most students study for the Olympiads in the same manner as they study for the school exams — just the chapters of their current year's textbook. Olympiad papers are different, however. Significant marks are awarded for reasoning, mixed-topic questions and even from the previous class's syllabus. These areas are not covered in normal schoolwork, so they are easily forgotten, although they are some of the simplest marks to achieve with a little extra Olympiad exam strategy.

The Most Underrated Maths Olympiad Topics

While many students only practice formula manipulation and number problems, these are equally crucial maths Olympiad topics that are usually neglected.

One of the most common and expensive errors in Olympiad preparation is missing this revision as 40% of questions come from the previous class syllabus.

Read More - The Top 10 Topics Every IMO Aspirant Should Practice Daily

The Most Underrated Science Olympiad Topics

In science Olympiad topics, students typically only study chapters that are "exam-heavy" in school, and do not study smaller chapters that are worth less marks.

These topics do not require extended study time, they require regular light revision to keep them alive in parallel with the current year's syllabus.

Olympiad Reasoning Questions Everyone Skips

Perhaps the most underrated section of all is Logical Reasoning. Many students do not prepare from the Maths or Science books and completely ignore reasoning questions from Olympiad books, thinking that they are not a part of the syllabus. This section is actually a proscribed scoring chance, since it is not dependent on any school chapter whatsoever. These are some of the common reasoning areas:

• Patterns and series

• Analogy and classification

• Coding-decoding

• Mirror and water images

• Non-verbal reasoning tests

This section is entirely based on skill and consistent practice can make it one of the best scoring parts of the paper.

A Smart School Olympiad Preparation Strategy

A simple plan that you can follow week by week ensures that some of the topics that are underestimated don't get forgotten.

This is a natural balance of subject revision, reasoning and topics from the previous class without an additional load on a student's weekly schedule.

Role of Good Study Material

The topics that are not important such as reasoning, data handling, etc. from previous class are spread across various chapters which makes preparation easier if there is one resource organised by topic for daily revision. Many Olympiad aspirants prefer to use Oswaal Books Olympiad practice sets and topic-wise question banks, primarily because they include reasoning, current syllabus, and concepts of previous classes in one place, so that it becomes easier to revise those areas that are often neglected without putting in any extra effort.

Summary

In the preparation for School Olympiad, the emphasis is placed on the chapters that are being covered in the textbook, and other areas that are likely to be a source of genuine scoring, such as Logical Reasoning, Everyday Mathematics, data handling and concepts from previous classes, are not used. Olympiad important topics don't require long study hours, they require regular and light attention. Students will be able to take advantage of the easy marks that most students leave for the science Olympiad and maths Olympiad topics that are readily available by following a simple weekly plan which balances revision of the topics with the practice of reasoning.

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