Tips to prepare your child for the Olympiad exams

‘How to prepare my child for the Olympiad and other competitive exams?’ is one constant question looming over every parent’s mind. Olympiad are school level competitions conducted at state, national and international level from Class 1 to Class 10 to inculcate conceptual understanding and logical reasoning skills in children.

‘How to prepare my child for the Olympiad and other competitive exams?’ is one constant question looming over every parent’s mind. Olympiad competitions are school level competitions conducted at state, national and international level from Class 1 to Class 10 to inculcate conceptual understanding and logical reasoning skills in children.

While students need to put in hard work and dedication to qualify with impressive results, as a parent, you can ensure a few things that are of utmost importance for your child to focus and be thoroughly prepared for Olympiad exams and score meritoriously.

It is crucial to understand why one should prepare well for the Olympiad and then follow the tips for how to prepare. Olympiad is the bridge to success for your child and builds the foundation of a future competitive career while making them confident to face all challenges in life

1. Syllabus and exam pattern knowledge

To appear for the exam, it is essential what the syllabus is going to be. These exams are not a part of the school curriculum so you may have to check the syllabus of the Olympiad exam, go through it before you begin the preparations and plan your child’s schedule accordingly. Check for the topics that need to be covered and understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses for them to work on them.

2. Understanding of concepts

The Olympiad syllabus is based on the school syllabus, it contains other topics that are based on conceptual facts. So to get a competitive score in the exams, the students need to understand the concepts in depth and learn application of these concepts. The questions can be twisted and could be out of syllabus, but if the students understand the concept and logic thoroughly, it would help them to answer the questions confidently.

3. Stick to a schedule

Preparing for the exams around the last minute could turn out to make children anxious. A few days of preparation right before the exams would not cut it. To score well in Olympiad, you need to start early and lay the foundation of knowledge, build on it and then apply the knowledge in each of the topics of that particular subject. The best approach would be to plan months ahead, prepare with the school syllabus, follow the schedule dedicatedly for organized preparation and help them achieve desired results.

4. Solving previous test/mock papers:

Encouraging your children to participate in the Olympiad is not enough. You would also need to help them with the best resources to make the process and the preparation slightly less difficult for them. Various study materials like workbooks, test material, mock papers, etc. go a long way in helping them accommodate to the exam pattern and align their preparation accordingly. Solving question papers is an absolute necessity and useful for them to analyze the types of questions asked in Olympiad exams. It will also help your child to test their skills and work on the areas of improvement. It also helps them get familiar and confident to answer the questions and finish the paper on time.

5. Notes and references for revision

Revising everything when the exams are right around the corner is not practical, it is advisable for the students to prepare quick notes for revision. So it is essential to create notes while going through the syllabus and refer to them before exams. Every time they learn something new or extra related to the topics, these notes would come in handy and be very useful for revision and references and help during the last few days of preparation for the Olympiad exams.

6. Optimizing time efficiently

As a parent, you could inculcate the value and importance of time and how to use it effectively and efficiently in your child. You could ensure that your child starts early with the preparation and well in time to score better. You can also reach out to the teachers at school and ask for their advice as well to decide the number of hours required to devote to a particular topic in order to grasp all the details. You would need to make sure that your child divides the time and develops a time-table to practice all the topics in the Olympiad thoroughly.

7. Focus and Motivation 

The Olympiad requires in-depth preparation that needs concentration and dedication. Students need to establish and develop the right attitude and approach. It isn’t merely about the exam, it is about the impact it has on their long-term vision and goal. You need to believe in them for them to start believing in themselves and stay motivated throughout the preparation period and during the exams.

8. Do extensive practice regularly

To excel exceptionally in something, one needs to practice. There is no shortcut to scoring well in these competitive exams other than practicing vigorously and putting in the hours every week. But also practicing patience for perseverance, practicing the art of letting go if things don’t pan out the way you plan. There is always a next year, another subject, another area of interest for your children to excel.

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