Tips to Clear Sixth Maths Olympiad

Each section of the Olympiad is unique and requires individual attention and preparation. Hence, a tailored solution approach needs to be adopted to clear the Olympiad with flying colors. Before discussing tips it’s important to gain a thorough understanding of the sections as well. Here are section-wise tips to clear the Class 6th Mathematics Olympiad.

Section One: Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning section is very scoring, and the following tips can help one perform well in this section. The difficulty of this section is medium. This section will have 10 questions with one mark each. There is no negative marking.

1. Familiarity with questions: The Verbal and non-verbal reasoning section is unique to Olympiads and is not explicitly taught in a school’s academic curriculum. Hence, it is essential to be familiar with this particular question type by going through mock questions, practice booklets, questions exemplar, and so on.
2. Dedication & practice: After getting familiar with the types of questions and the pattern of questions in this section, it’s important to begin practicing them. It is recommended to practice a minimum of 50 questions to gain an idea of the pattern and be aware of the weak areas of this section.
3. Concentration and attention to detail: This section has a lot of puzzle-like questions that require good attention to detail. You can start honing these two skills to excel in the questions of this section.
4. Good guidance: It’s important to have good guidance to ace this section as there are several tips and tricks to improve performance in verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Make sure that you refer to sources that are reliable and trustworthy.

Section Two: Mathematical reasoning

The difficulty of this section ranges from easy to hard, based on the numerical topic being tested. This section will have 20 questions with one mark each and there is no negative marking. This section is one of the most important sections. The following four points are key in performing well in the section. 

1. Understanding of all concepts: This section primarily tests your mathematical concepts and knowledge, and thus, a thorough understanding of all the concepts is a crucial prerequisite of this section. The student’s Class 6th Mathematics academic syllabus can assist in consolidating concepts.
2. Structured practice: It is essential to practice at least 30-40 questions for each chapter of the book you’re referring to. Each topic of the syllabus requires attention, which is only possible with the help of structured topic-wise practice.
3. Consistency: It is important to stay consistent in honing mathematical reasoning skills as mathematics progress requires consistency.
4. Patience: As the number of topics is a lot, it is natural to feel a little impatient with your progress, but each step towards preparation counts. Staying patient and giving one’s best every day is the key to progress.

Section Three: Word Problems

This section can be tricky for some students, and the difficulty ranges from medium-high. This section will have 10 questions with one mark each. There is no negative marking. There are two crucial points in addition to the ones discussed in the section above, for this section.

1. Good command of the English language- To comprehend what the question is suggesting, it’s essential to be able to understand word problems in mathematics. Having a reading habit and practicing more and more word problems can bridge any gaps that you might have.
2. Ability to translate word problems into mathematical equations- An ability to be able to solve the word problems into mathematical references is key to doing well in this section. To improve your skills of ‘translation’, going through word problems examples in the exemplar of the NCERT textbook helps a lot. It is also suggested to create a list of standard terms used in these problems that one can revise or review later as needed.

Section Four: Higher Order Thinking Questions

As the name suggests, section four has the most difficult questions, otherwise termed Higher Order Thinking Questions. This section has higher marks weightage compared to the rest. This section will have 10 questions with one mark each. There is no negative marking but this section can only be attempted once all the other sections have been attempted. It is also often termed the Achievers section. It is absolutely necessary to keep the four following points in mind before commencing preparation for this section. 

1. Absolute clarity of concepts- Only once one can gain accuracy of nearly ninety percent or more in the practice question banks of diverse topics is it recommended to practice this section. This section requires 100% concept clarity and understanding.
2. More patience with questions- Since the difficulty and weightage of this section are high, and it requires more time and patience. Use your problem-solving skills patiently and try to stay patient while approaching these questions.
3. A never-give-up attitude- It is relatively difficult to solve these questions, and hence one needs to stay resilient to achieve their best. A never-give-up perspective goes a long way in eventually acing questions of this section.
4. Out-of-the-box thinking- This section has the most different weightage and questions pattern, and it naturally requires innovative thinking. It is recommended to try to think out-of-the-box and use various approaches to solve a question in this section.

The structured approach described in this article will help the student give ample and sufficient amounts of time to the preparation of each section. Such an approach will help the student gain proficiency in individual sections, standalone topics, and eventually the entire full-length paper. It is also recommended to give at least two full-length as well as timed mock papers, such as the IMO Class 6 2014 Question Paper, and three to four full-length practice papers before the exam day to be sure of the overall progress in the paper. This will build more confidence in the student, and will assist them in giving their best on the final exam day to rise to soaring lengths! 

Similarly, read this: Maths Olympiad for class 7; All you need to know