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Tenth grade in itself is quite daunting, the pressure of boards and stream choosing is not something that students have experienced before. One of the ways to make it more fun and engaging is by participating in an olympiad. Olympiads are different from traditional school exams, they are an interesting way of checking one’s intellect. But olympiads in themselves can cause quite confusion, especially if one does not adequately prepare for them. Some of the things that should be kept in mind while preparing for an olympiad are:
Go through the syllabus
It is the first step that one should take before they start preparing for any exam or test. Consider it as the starting point to your olympiad preparation journey, going through the syllabus will let you know what topics you should prepare for. Go through the list of topics, and make a note of what you already know, what you need to revise, and what you know absolutely nothing about. This step gears you with all of the information that is necessary before starting your olympiad preparation.
Talk to your peers
The most honest advice that you could get would be through your counterparts, as they must be going through the same situation as you are. Discussions with peers can help one with two things – some tips for the upcoming olympiad and a chance to relax and let go of the stress. Talk to your friends and ask them what they are having difficulties with, helping them will also help you with your revision.
Talk to your teachers
After talking to your peers, you should also communicate with your teachers. Teachers are our best guides in any exam, and an olympiad is no different. You can call or meet with a teacher, and ask them for tips to prepare. You can also ask the teacher to clear your doubts that you may have in respect to a certain topic, teachers are capable of sharing a lot of easy and time-saving methods that can prove to be extremely helpful during the olympiad.
Watch related videos on youtube
Another way to prepare for your olympiad is by watching related content on the internet, you can watch youtube videos by educational YouTubers. Experts and professionals also post advice videos on youtube, they could prove to be helpful too. Watching these videos can motivate you to study more and perform better, and also leave you with a lot of important and necessary tips. There are specific videos available for maths olympiads, along with that you can read blogs and articles as well.
Practice and practice
Once you have gone through the syllabus and cleared your doubts regarding any of those topics, you are ready for practice. Practising does make one perfect, and you don’t want to leave any stones unturned during your preparation. Don’t just read and learn the formulae, instead, try to find questions related to the topic and solve them. You can practice by yourself or along with your friends, as you practice you will get the chance to learn from your mistakes and make sure that you don’t repeat them later.
Find sample papers
The preparation material can prove to be a huge help to you during the process, there is an endless amount of material available on the internet, libraries, and local shops as well. Go online and try to find a bunch of practice papers, you will easily find sample papers like the IMO sample paper 2 class 10. You should download these papers and then attempt to solve the questions, it is indeed the most beneficial way of preparing for the olympiad. Remember, as you keep on practising on more papers, your knowledge and skills will keep on improving and by the time your olympiad approaches, you will face almost no issues in solving your paper.
Go through the rules
As olympiads are different from traditional school exams, they have their own set of rules which are quite different from those of your normal school papers. So it will be extremely helpful if you go through the list of rules and find out how you will be attempting the olympiad. Going through the rules will also save you a lot of extra time during the olympiad as you will not need to waste any more time going through the list again and you can direct your concentration towards solving the questions. Knowing the rules beforehand will make sure that you don’t end up being confused during the actual olympiad, and that you can attempt the paper hassle-free.
Be careful during the exam
As you might know, the way of attempting an olympiad is quite different from that of attempting your school exam. The main difference is that you won’t be awarded any marks for your method of attempting the question, only the final answer will count. So, make sure that you only mark the correct answer and that you don’t fill the OMR sheet for more than one choice. Keep in mind that some olympiads may also mark you negatively for a wrong answer, in that case, you can skip answering a question if you are not sure of the answer.
Manage your time
Olympiads are generally quite lengthy, most students run out of time and this forces them to leave the questions or mark the answers by ‘guesswork’, which ends up bringing down their entire score of the olympiad leaving them disheartened with their performance. Learning time management is very important before you go on to the olympiad, you should practice along with a stopwatch and make sure that you never run out of time during your practice sessions.
Stay calm
Hassle and restlessness during the exam can cause you to make unnecessary blunders, all your efforts will be in vain if you don’t learn how to be calm and mindful during the exam. So make sure that you take the time to put yourself in a calm and positive mood in preparation for the exam. Best of luck