How To Prepare For Class 7th Math Olympiad

Whenever Olympiads come in the season every parent gets excited and a little bit worried as well. “How should the children be prepared for Olympiads?” is the permanent question that occurs in minds of so many parents every year. To help parents of young children we have tried to explain the process through which the child can learn and perform well in the Olympiad. It is very important to know what an Olympiad is before starting the preparation of your child because children tend to focus on concepts of things they understand properly.

What is an Olympiad?

If we will see the literal meaning of the Olympiad then it means an occasion when Olympic events or games are held. By this, we can understand that the Olympiad is nothing but an event that is organized to test children of similar education levels. This is a platform where skill testing of students is done on different levels like state, national and international. The Olympiad is just like any other competitive exam that is held around the world which helps in identifying children of exceptional wits who are great in academics. Olympiad exams help in identifying the potential, talent, IQ, and aptitude of children. These exams also help in figuring out the interests of students and make them used to the competitive exam environment that they will have to face in their later life.

What is a Math Olympiad?

Math Olympiad is a competitive exam that tests a child’s mathematical skills. Math Olympiad exam helps in developing interest in the subject of numbers and calculations. While preparing for the Math Olympiad, the child develops keenness towards the subject and becomes more familiar with the concepts and logical reasoning. The most important part of the Math Olympiad is understanding the concepts to solve the tricky questions asked in the main exam. Children who sit for Math Olympiad tend to have greater confidence towards academics as it helps in increasing overall academic progress by increasing the level of focus.

Why is special preparation for the Math Olympiad needed?

The level of questions asked in the Math Olympiad will not be similar to the school-level questions. Questions of higher level will be asked that will involve pre-calculus mathematics and logical reasoning instead of mugged-up concepts. The syllabus of the Math Olympiad is very extended thus going with a certain kind of strategy will be needed. Math Olympiad is no school level exam, it will happen in different levels like regional, state, national, and international thus studying apart from the regular NCERT books will be needed.

How to prepare a class 7 student for the Math Olympiad?

It is very crucial to have a perfect and strong foundation of the concepts before jumping to the higher-level questions, thus making a study schedule will be important. Below are the things to keep in mind while preparing for Math Olympiad:

• Knowing the pattern of exam

Students will have to go through the syllabus provided by the main authorities. Knowing the syllabus will help students in getting the idea of topics they are strong in and the concepts they will need to work on. Understanding the format of the question paper is equally important as it will give a rough idea of what kind of questions can be asked and in which manner as well. Getting familiar with the marking scheme and the type of questions will provide a rough idea of the topics that should be covered in a more detailed manner.

• Starting the preparation early

There is a myth that preparing for the Olympiad just one or two weeks before the exam will yield good results but this is completely inaccurate. Yes, you can give the exam without even preparing for it but you will not have a good rank. Students must go through their NCERT books thoroughly as this is the foundation of concepts needed for advanced knowledge.

• Preparation of notes

Preparing notes while studying a particular topic or chapter will not only save students’ time but also will help students in revising the topics more easily before the exam. A student should study and make notes in a given manner:

1. Cover the course of school in advance and make short notes of the basic concepts used
2. Solve the entire NCERT of your grade in case that is not the book recommended in the school curriculum
3. Solve NCERT of one higher grade than yours for understanding advanced concepts and mark the important ones
4. Learn new words of English and note them down for a better understanding of questions.

• Practicing Daily

Daily practice is the only way through which one can score a good rank in a highly competitive exam like the Olympiad. The question paper of the Olympiad will surely test your logical reasoning that will come after practicing questions related to logical

reasoning regularly. Students will not get step marking as Olympiad is MCQ based exam thus practice should be done accordingly and one must be able to solve the questions speedily. To attempt every MCQ given on the question paper you must practice building a more clear and practical approach to the questions.

General Tips

• For extensive practice, students must solve sample papers and should take as many mock tests as they can before the exam.
• Students tend not to practice logical reasoning-related questions thinking that they will be much easier than the rest but the reality is these logical reasoning questions can get very tricky and hence should not be ignored in any manner. Regular practice should be done to hold the command on the questions.
• The digital study can help students in improving their overall growth as it allows one to analyze their position while comparing the performance with their fellow students.
• Students can also take help from the materials provided by the institutes.

Conclusion

Math Olympiad will strengthen the educational skills of students and will also boost their grasping capacity. Olympiads are held for discovering the potential a child carries and should be treated as such as well. Amidst the competition, always remember that your child did the best possible.