Before starting to prepare for the Olympiad we should know what you mean by Math Olympiad. It is a type of exam in which particular level questions have to be done in a limited amount of time. It is conducted annually and consists of 2 levels. Whoever cleared the first level will go for the second level of the Olympiad. It contains a different level of questions and consists of a total of 60 questions. And you have to do the questions in a particular time period of 1 hour. That means you have one minute for one question Which makes the Olympiad more difficult and gradually the competition increases. It also contains different types of questions like the Logical reasoning section, mathematical reasoning, and everyday mathematics section, and the achiever section which is the most difficult section of all.
The first step of preparation is solving as many questions as we can. That is why it is said Practice makes a man perfect. And regularly you have to practice the questions with proper time management. You should prepare according to the course left. You should also see previous years Olympiad paper and practice it for proper understanding. You should master your syllabus. You have to practice a lot of questions of different levels for getting a good score in the Olympiad. Practise will lead to faster calculations. It will lead to increased chances of you getting cleared the first level of exam and being promoted to the second level of exam. It will also increase your self-confidence. You should be able to understand the topic well. As we know students participate in Olympiads from different cities, states and countries. So the competition will be very high.
So your preparation should also be of good level. You have to do questions from many reference books which contain good questions. You should also know the basics very well because if you will not get the basics right your question will be wrong many times. And you will feel low, so better don’t leave anything undone. You should solve all the questions given in your book and if you are not getting particular questions you should ask them with your teachers and solve them as soon as possible. Your calculation should be very quick and accurate because you will have very little time for doing the questions in Olympiad so accuracy matters.
You should know the time management very well and for that, you have to practice many questions or in the Olympiad, you will face issues and many questions would be left due to shortage of time. A lot of times students have misconceptions that the level of paper would be high and they will ask from class 9 and it is totally wrong. It is just practice that would lead to a good score of yours in the Olympiad. Mathematics is a subject in which logical thinking is very important so you should always think logically before solving any questions. And before the Olympiad, you have to solve the previous year’s Olympiad papers in the particular time by which you would get the difficulty level and time duration of the paper. And you will not panic during the exam. You should always solve the difficult questions and papers like the IMO Class 8 2013 Question Paper before exams due to which in the exam you will easily solve easy questions.
Now the second most important thing is notes. In your preparation for the Olympiad, notes will hold the fundamental key for your success. So make notes properly with all the information needed to solve the questions. Do not forget to leave any chapter in your preparation. Because in the last moment when you will revise the notes before the Olympiad it would be very helpful to regain all the knowledge you learned in past months. Once you are done with your preparation and you think you have strong command over the topics, do chapter-wise questions and give a test that you will know the questions you are not able to do and you will also know your Strong topic and your weak topic very well. And the topic which will be weak you can again revisit that topic and do some questions of that topic and try to improve that chapter so that you will not do wrong in the math Olympiad if that type of questions come. You should also take the help of the internet because it would help you in many ways throughout your preparation like on YouTube you can see any topic which you find difficult and you are unable to solve questions. There are many good teachers teaching on YouTube through you can take help. You can also take the online test by which you can get your rank at the national level and can predict your preparation level and can improve further.
You should always stick to your schedule and never procrastinate. And do all your studies on time before getting any delay. A good schedule is a must by which you can decide what to do when and at which time. You should always use your time efficiently because time is everything and once the time is gone it will not come back so never waste time and do questions and revision on time. And also do regular analysis of your preparation. The analysis is very important by which you will come to know which are your strong topics and which are weak topics. if you are weak in any particular topic you can revisit it and again prepare it carefully and can make it strong and best.
Now the last thing which I wanted to tell you is on the last initial few days before the exam you should be calm and composed and do not study so much due to which you can get sick and you should take proper meals and sleep well. In the last days before exams, you should only practice as many questions as you can buy which will boost your morale and self-confidence, and do not feel demotivated as you have studied as hard as you can and practice as many questions as you can and also give online tests regularly. By which you can come to know your mistakes which you are doing and you should not repeat that mistake in the final exam.
