10 Essential Tips for Class 5 Maths Olympiad Exam Preparation

EdTech & E-Learning

First of all, it’s so good to see a fifth grader preparing for Olympiads. Be it your child or you prepping for the Olympiad, this article will help you a lot in your preparation for the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), which is conducted each year for students of classes 1st to 12th by one of the most prominent organizations for Olympiads, i.e., the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF).

These Olympiads are conducted each year by the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) to test a student’s capabilities in the academic areas and test their social skills. Olympiads play a significant role in a student’s life as these help the students prepare from an early age for the examinations that’ll hold much greater value in their later life. Olympiads test the student’s analytical skills, reasoning abilities, problem-solving speed and skills, factual knowledge, and a lot of other things. If one scores good marks in these olympiads, the child also feels a sense of achievement which motivates the child to participate in more such things. These olympiads also help the child raise his bars and thus aim for more and more in life. The child gradually learns to never settle for less.

Since 5th grade is a pretty small class for a child to make decisions himself, bring your mother in and read the article along with her if you’re a child. It might also be possible that some of you might be appearing for this Olympiad for the first time in your lives, so we’ll be starting with all the basic things, tips, and tricks that you need to know for your upcoming International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO).

Below are the ten essential tips for the Class 5 International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) preparation:

Read the syllabus carefully: You or your parents are helping you in this should know that the syllabus of the maths olympiad is not entirely from your coursebooks. 60% of the paper will be made from your current class, i.e., class 5th, and 40% of the paper will be made from the previous class’s syllabus, i.e., class 4th.
Be well-versed with the examination pattern: If you’re a child, your parents will help you understand the examination pattern, which is critical to understand. There will be a total of 50 questions in the examination, and you’ll have to answer them in an hour. The examination is divided into four sections. Section-I will contain the following topics: Patterns, Analogy and Classification, Geometrical Shapes, Mirror and Water Images, Direction Sense Test, Ranking Test, Alphabet Test, Logical Sequence of Words, etc. Section-II will contain topics like Numerals, Number names and Number Sense (7 and 8 digit numbers), Computation Operations, Fractions and Decimals, Measurement of Length, Weight, Capacity, Time, Temperature and Money, Conversions, Geometrical Shapes and Solids, Angles, Perimeter of Various Shapes & Area of Rectangle and Square, Symmetry, Data Handling. The syllabus in Section-III contains the syllabus of Mathematical Reasoning, and Section-IV contains Higher Order Thinking Questions whose syllabus is as per Section-II.
Solve your NCERTs: The first step to start preparing for the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) will be getting your basics and concepts cleared by studying from your coursebooks, be they regular books or the NCERTs of both the classes 4th and 5th, keeping in mind the 40-60% criteria. You need to focus primarily on these books.
Do not run behind books and reference materials: Since you’re a child, you might feel like purchasing a lot of books to prepare for your International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) due to excitement, but just calm yourself down because piling up books will only stress you out. Only when you’ve completely understood the basics, you may purchase a workbook and reasoning workbook from the official website of the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF). That’ll be enough for you, considering your grade. Don’t get fascinated by the plenty of resources online.
For extra practice: If you want to keep revising stuff and practicing more for the International Mathematics (IMO), you should keep practicing the Previous Year Question papers like Class 5 IMO Question Paper 2012 and some sample papers.
Don’t Learn or Memorize: Since you’re a child, it’s essential for you to know that Mathematics is one subject that doesn’t need learning but only practice. If you’ve completed practicing the syllabus once, go for another round of practicing the essential questions. If you learn maths, you’ll get nothing but dissatisfaction while preparing as well as appearing for the Olympiad.
Don’t let yourself get consumed: Preparing for an Olympiad like this can be stressful at such a young age, so make sure to remember if you are a hard-working child, just do your best and forget the rest. If you are a parent, then just support your child in the process and act as a constant support system for them since it might become burdening for them at a point. Your children will need your support the most at that time.
Make a Masterplan: No task can be accomplished successfully without a plan, so make sure to prepare a schedule for the time that is left for you to prepare for the olympiad. Divide the topics accordingly. Abiding by the plan is crucial for preparing for the upcoming International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO) 2021.
Prepare and stay consistent: If you’ve taken part in the Olympiad, then make sure to study for it because the certificates will be beneficial only if you have attained a good rank, a good score, and an excellent experience throughout the process.
Choose your group wisely: You should make sure to hang out with people who have the same interests as you and are not getting into anything wrong at your age as such acquaintances might hurt your preparation for the olympiads and any upcoming examinations. So choose your gang wisely.