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How to tackle Math Olympiad questions - Part 1

Math Olympiad papers can seem rather daunting, isn't it? And rightly so - a well set Olympiad question will test your fundamentals and analytical skills, and challenge your way of thinking.

Irrespective of the fact that most of the so-called "Math Olympiads" conducted by various businesses in our country are nowhere near international standards, the questions in even those are generally "tougher" than the ones you face generally in school tests or exams.

In solving these types of questions, you generally need to be able to think quickly on your feet - one factor that makes these questions harder is that the time available to you is limited. A second factor is that you may have negative marking for wrong  answer, so sometimes it would seem better to leave the question rather than putting in an answer you are not sure about. To add to the confusion, sometimes it is possible that more than one answer is correct.

So how do you tackle this. The first step is of course (to reiterate a point made in an earlier article we wrote) is "Don't Panic". Take a deep breath, relax, read the questions and do your best.

In this article we talk about some general practices you should follow. In the next part of this article, we'll talk about some specific mathematical techniques that could help you tackle such exams better.

The first step is make sure all your resources are there with you - pencils, erasers, spare paper for computations (if allowed). It seems trivial, but these are things that you don't want to worry about once the test starts. Now, start reading the paper. There's no standards here - different people do it in different ways. Some people start from a fixed location, typically the beginning of the paper, but some folks even like to start at the end (the theory being that the examiners would have gotten tired of finding tough questions, and would start putting easier questions towards the end - of course, no sensible examiner would set papers that way). Some other folks like to look for questions in topics they are familiar in, and try those first.  Whatever approach you are comfortable with is fine.

The most important thing, and this is where a lot of people make their mistake -  read the question completely and carefully. Spend as much time you need on this part. Any mistake you make here will ensure you get the wrong answer.

Let me repeat this - read the question carefully and completely. Find out what the question is really all about. Take careful note of all the values and data provided in the quesion.

Then, and only then, should you start trying to find the answer.

And once you have solved it, or think you have - check that your answer indeed is what the question is asking for (If, for example, the question asked for speed of a car, and you have 121 seconds as your answer - something has gone wrong)

Second, keep track of the time. Keep a general idea of how much time you have per question. It need not be exact - for example, if you have 2 hours and there are 50 questions, just think that you'll have about 2 minutes per question. Of course, you may do some questions faster, but keep this general timeframe in mind per question. If you are completely confident of a question, you could take a little more time (say 3 minutes) on it, but generally try not to spend more than the computed time per question.  In fact, ideally you should target leaving the last 10 minutes for a quick revision.

Now, if you haven't attempted all the questions when you find there are 10 or so minutes left then it's time to start picking and choosing from the remaining questions. Run through them quickly to see which ones look easiest for you to solve. Then try those. The next tip is on using your spare paper effectively. It can get very messy quickly, so you should mark off specific areas for questions for which you need to use the spare paper for computation. You could use a grid kind of structure if that helps - but the aim is to use it effectively and neatly. And make sure that for questions where you use it, copy all the values correctly to the spare sheet. Double check it, and triple check. Do the same thing while copying the answer back.

In the next part of this series, we'll look at techniques specific to mathematics to help you do better in Olympiads

313 comments

  1. Posted by Anu| 2012-03-26 14:00:29

    The use of technology (calculator to be specific), in my opinion, should be used as a tool to engage students in the lessons that are being taught. I do not think the use of technology necessary promotes mastery of concepts taught, in many cases I think it demonstrates the students and teachers ability to learn and teach how to manipulate a calculator to choose the best solution on a multiple-choice exam. This is evident in talking to two of our peers who observe hundreds of students at our local community college who are unable to compute their way through College Algebra and spend hours tutoring students who mastered a standardized test but are unable to compute a given problem without a calculator.The other technologies that are used in the classroom could be measured through project outcomes and graded based on a rubric which highlights what skills are to be mastered and demonstrated through the use of some type of technology.

  2. Posted by emispheal| 2012-09-11 16:36:13

    Calculators are essential, welcome to the 21st century AD

  3. Posted by test| 2013-12-19 21:15:27

    test comment

  4. Posted by Pulkit| 2014-06-26 22:46:01

    this is awesome

  5. Posted by Shreya| 2014-09-25 11:34:27

    Its a nice way to do exams thanks for the advice

  6. Posted by Shreya| 2014-09-25 11:34:27

    Its a nice way to do exams thanks for the advice

  7. Posted by Jackelyn| 2014-10-08 06:08:37

    the use of a calculator is good if the student already mastered the four fundamental operations...primary schools must see to it that the child had enough knowledge of the basic operations before allowing him/her to use the calculator...this is just my opinion because I had seen some of my classmates who were so dependent on calculator that they cannot work on small numbers without calculators...I just pity them...

  8. Posted by Nikki| 2014-11-24 13:53:30

    Great advice!

  9. Posted by Bhumika Kene| 2015-02-06 09:23:55

    really very helpful

  10. Posted by Alao James| 2015-03-03 08:13:31

    I discovered that maths olympiad in my country(Nigeria) have no area of specification, students are just suspecting where they think may likely come out in the exam.

  11. Posted by Alao James| 2015-03-03 08:16:34

    Mathematics Olympiad competition in Nigeria has no specific area of coverage for students. What can I do to help my students?.

  12. Posted by iortim caleb| 2015-03-22 00:42:53

    good 4 NIGERIANS

  13. Posted by William| 2015-05-25 16:45:23

    Anyone know any good math book or a good math site that I can use? Please answer I am preparing for Olympiad but don't know any good math site other than Edugain. Please answer.

  14. Posted by ALEENA| 2015-05-25 23:22:49

    THANKS FOR THIS ADVICE .I LIKE EDUGAIN.

  15. Posted by Om Narayana Mohanty| 2015-12-26 09:30:47

    Great advice .
    thanks.

  16. Posted by Shiva,| 2016-02-08 01:39:00

    Good Article

  17. Posted by D.SRI KARAN ,WARANGAL| 2016-02-13 15:18:45

    NICE ARTICLE
    HELP'S IN BEST TACKLE OF MATHS OLYMPIAD

  18. Posted by Alaka| 2016-03-17 03:01:35

    very true

  19. Posted by Alaka| 2016-03-17 03:01:50

    very true and cool

  20. Posted by Alaka| 2016-03-17 03:01:54

    very true and cool

  21. Posted by Bea Binu| 2016-03-19 14:55:20

    I like this article a lot!! There's a lot of good advice! Thanks!

  22. Posted by vasisht suresh| 2016-03-20 08:10:27

    nice

  23. Posted by vasisht suresh| 2016-03-20 08:11:51

    also interesting and helpful.thanks edugain for the advice

  24. Posted by vasisht suresh| 2016-03-20 08:11:51

    also interesting and helpful.thanks edugain for the advice

  25. Posted by carolnkonge| 2016-04-09 11:25:36

    love this

  26. Posted by bola badmus| 2016-05-31 08:56:03

    There should be seminars for participants BEFORE COMPETITIONS

  27. Posted by LeBron James| 2016-07-05 11:05:35

    Nice u

  28. Posted by Anshul Purandare| 2016-08-03 08:50:02

    Very true. Good advice

  29. Posted by Anshul Purandare| 2016-08-03 08:50:31

    Very true. Good advice

  30. Posted by kusuma| 2016-08-13 11:49:53

    Great work

  31. Posted by sudhansu saha| 2016-08-18 10:11:45

    very useful for student

  32. Posted by yuvraj singh| 2016-10-11 08:22:49

    Your message ..maths question for exam

  33. Posted by Param| 2016-11-30 14:57:19

    good article

  34. Posted by srinidh| 2016-12-11 02:34:10

    wonderful

  35. Posted by HimanshU Kumar| 2017-01-04 10:40:57

    Very helpful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  36. Posted by Bang Bang cho choo train| 2017-01-11 23:49:23

    This is garbage.

  37. Posted by Narmin Alisoy| 2017-02-06 13:56:31

    Thanks for advice.

  38. Posted by Narmin Alisoy| 2017-02-06 13:56:32

    Thanks for advice.

  39. Posted by Narmin Alisoy| 2017-02-06 13:56:32

    Thanks for advice.

  40. Posted by Narmin Alisoy| 2017-02-06 13:56:32

    Thanks for advice.

  41. Posted by sameera| 2017-02-22 11:19:50

    this is cool and all but are the year 9 tests supposed to contain questions that are taught in yr 10?

  42. Posted by Jaseema| 2017-02-27 11:51:48

    hello

  43. Posted by Bapela Pebetse | 2017-03-07 19:41:23

    Thanks,,that was outrageously helpful ????

  44. Posted by Sk.Nazeer| 2017-03-11 06:11:42

    What is the date of district level IMO Exam?

  45. Posted by R.Venkata Subramanaian| 2017-04-05 05:17:52

    good advice

  46. Posted by Sudev..N.Prabhu| 2017-04-13 02:01:42

    Sir I am  seventh std so please send me free copy to learn at home.

  47. Posted by Ata| 2017-04-20 02:43:30

    Very helpful thanks, no more nervousness. Yay!!!!

  48. Posted by sambhav| 2017-06-23 15:04:34

    very helpful for me

  49. Posted by sambhav| 2017-06-23 15:04:37

    very helpful for me

  50. Posted by Ifeanyi | 2017-09-20 20:39:03

    Olympiad questions are meditation question

  51. Posted by Kartik| 2017-09-28 13:36:08

    Thanks sir????????

  52. Posted by Kartik| 2017-09-28 13:37:59

    I want to to get a book for preparation of is to so plz rply

  53. Posted by Andria| 2017-10-15 12:20:35

    NICE ARTICLE...VERY HELPFUL

  54. Posted by Laurent| 2017-10-29 12:22:15

    What topics are in the maths Olympiad?

  55. Posted by Pgmn| 2017-11-03 16:11:34

    Wonderful i wanna know more. It's a fantastic.

  56. Posted by Nishant N| 2017-11-09 17:43:18

    Can we mark 2 options for a single question? Both the options satisfy the question. What should we do?

  57. Posted by Ritika | 2017-11-30 14:21:03

    It's very nice and helpful.
    Thank you....

  58. Posted by Roopa R. Kulkarni| 2017-12-06 08:14:05

    I feel, olympaid exam should be supported by the books than only the worksheet. The students who appear are of different board exams. Books help them prepare better and increases their confidence leve

  59. Posted by Vivek devnarayan yadav| 2017-12-06 13:57:59

    5th std sir ya  madam  please send me paper work learn at home

  60. Posted by Vivek devnarayan yadav| 2017-12-06 13:58:08

    5th std sir ya  madam  please send me paper work learn at home

  61. Posted by Krishna| 2018-01-28 18:56:37

    Thank you helping me score better

  62. Posted by SAMRIDHI DAHIYA| 2018-02-05 15:38:18

    VERY MOTIVATING ARTICLE

  63. Posted by SAMRIDHI DAHIYA| 2018-02-05 15:38:53

    VERY MOTIVATING ARTICLE

  64. Posted by SAMRIDHI DAHIYA| 2018-02-05 15:38:54

    VERY MOTIVATING ARTICLE

  65. Posted by Othandiweyo gwadana| 2018-03-12 15:04:52

    i am only 11 years old but this is fasinating

  66. Posted by deepanraj| 2018-04-25 10:18:46

    very excited and very nice

  67. Posted by Triveni| 2018-06-27 13:16:37

    How can I apply online form for maths olampyaid

  68. Posted by Aryan| 2018-08-04 14:13:01

    Is is not prohibited to use calculator if not what kind of olympiad it was students had to do calculations on their own

  69. Posted by tom| 2018-09-01 06:40:40

    i think you spelled  something wrong.

  70. Posted by manas| 2018-09-04 12:24:32

    i don't think it will be useful but i will try to do that once

  71. Posted by sankalp| 2018-09-08 15:20:27

    ITS REALLY NICE

  72. Posted by Yash kumar | 2018-11-19 14:09:57

    Please send me class 6 question paper in 2018

  73. Posted by Yash kumar | 2018-11-19 14:10:28

    Please send me class 6 question paper in 2018 please sir plz

  74. Posted by zoha adnan| 2018-11-22 14:50:03

    thanks for the best advice it really help

  75. Posted by Siddhartha laxmikant lohakare| 2018-11-26 17:54:41

    8th standard ka Olympiad ka paper 2018

  76. Posted by Sinha | 2020-02-11 09:57:21

    Hi.
    I am 8 standard.
    Can u pls tell me whether there are books to study for olympiad

  77. Posted by Mahnoor| 2020-03-08 09:14:31

    Such a helpful article.

  78. Posted by PlatniumPro| 2020-03-20 00:17:06

    That was the best help I've ever seen

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