Avoid These Mistakes While Preparing For Class 8 Maths Olympiad

International Mathematics Olympiad or IMO is conducted by SFO and students from all around the world apply for the exam. These competitive exams need a good amount of preparation and practice to crack them. The International Maths Olympiad is for the students of classes 1-12. The Examination pattern is multiple choice questions and the students from class 1 to class 4 have to answer 35 questions while students from classes 5-13 have to answer 50 questions in just one hour. Competitive exams like IMO interest a lot of students, hence a lot of students prepare for the same. While preparing for exams like the International Maths Olympiad, it is very common to make mistakes from the preparation level only. A student starts making mistakes months before the actual exam starts. A high profile exam like IMO needs proper systematic and correct preparation. Here are a few mistakes that students make while preparing for IMO, International Maths Olympiad that they should avoid:

1) Don’t prepare without knowing the syllabus

 A lot of students every year prepare and appear for IMO without even knowing the proper syllabus. A lot of students just follow NCERT for the Olympiad exam which is not at all-sufficient. Although one section of the examination comes from the syllabus of class 8 the difficulty level of those questions are higher. Without proper coaching and study material, the preparation becomes a joke.

2) Don’t follow one book for preparation

Looking at the number of pages, a student thinks that one book is enough for them to qualify for the Math Olympiad but in reality, there is not a single book that can explain all the concepts and fundamentals that’s there in the syllabus. One book can be good for the number system and another book can be good for algebra. However, preparing one book for the Olympiad will just give half the knowledge. There are many other books, previous year question papers and sample papers to refer to while preparing.

3) Don’t get Chained

Many students while preparing for the Olympiad try to solve a particular question without even thinking about the other possibilities of solving the same question. They get stuck wasting too much time solving one single question. In competitive exams like IMO every second matters. Wasting time like this while preparing makes it even worse. 

4) Don’t get demotivated

A lot of students get excited by the examination as they get to represent their zone and in the second round even their country. The Olympiad unfortunately is not subjected to questions only from the NCERT books. The question paper of the Maths Olympiad is divided into 4 sections, 1) Logical Reasoning 2) Mathematical Reasoning 3) Everyday Mathematics 4) Achievers Section. As the difficulty level of the question increases, the mistakes also increase and the morale decreases. After not being able to solve questions with a slightly higher difficulty level they just give up whereas the right way of answering the question is just by analysing the question.

5) Start Learning from the mistakes

Students after solving the questions don’t pay a lot of attention to the mistakes they have made. When a student encounters a tough question, they directly go for the answer key, without even trying to solve the question in the first place. The wrong questions are just left behind unnoticed. To crack IMO, students should always learn from their mistakes. They should solve similar questions that give them trouble. 

6) Don’t ignore the Previous Year Question Papers

The most important mistake a student does is they completely ignore the IMO Maths Olympiad previous year question paper class 8 2011. Students often take it as a task to get all the minimum 5 years of the previous year question paper and then solve it. Solving the previous year question paper will give you a rough idea of the whole examination pattern. There have been a lot of instances where a few questions have also been the same from previous years. Students ignoring previous year question papers will be deprived of freebies.

7) Manage your Time Properly

Another mistake students do is they don’t manage their time properly while preparing for the International Maths Olympiad because of which in the exam hall they’re not able to complete or attempt all the questions on time. Solving a problem just for the sake of solving it will not do any good. A student appearing for these exams has to be fast and smart. If a student doesn’t utilise and manage their time properly during the early days of preparations, solving 50 questions in 60 mins will look like a humongous task 

8) Follow your study routine properly

A lot of students don’t follow their timetable properly and many don’t even make or have one. Many students don’t even know how to make a timetable. Students even after knowing their strengths and weaknesses are still not able to categorise which topic needs more time and which topic needs less. A timetable should be made in such a way that it compliments your day to day life. 

9) Please make notes

A lot of students don’t even make notes for the last minute preparation, this leads to a massive panic situation before the exam. Preparing notes also keeps the students updated with their progress. A good note is neither lengthy nor too short, although it varies from student to student, the last minute before the exam notes should have all the important points but not in detail. 

10) Get yourself a good Mentor

Try to get yourself a good mentor, because, without a good mentor, there will be no proper guidance for your Olympiad. It is important to get someone that understands and helps you whenever you need them. 

It is very common to make these kinds of mistakes. However, ignorance is dangerous and if you don’t follow the correct steps while preparing for the International Maths Olympiad, your chances of qualifying for the exam decreases. Hence keep a note of the following mistakes that a student makes while preparing, try to avoid all the above-mentioned problems. Trust the process and have confidence in yourself, having a little faith in yourself is good.