Top 5 Tips and Tricks to Crack the National Science Olympiad (NSO)

National Science Olympiad is a scholarship exam that aims to cultivate logical ability and scientific reasoning among learners. Any student between classes 1 to 12, who is passionate about science, can appear for this examination. They can belong to any board such as ICSE, CBSE or even state boards. Read further to learn some tips that can help you prepare well and secure a good rank in the NSO exam.

Top 5 Tips to Crack the National Science Olympiad

Here are some important tips that can help you crack the NSO with ease:

1. Get the best study material

Having the right study material is the building block of any exam preparation. NCERT books prescribed by the CBSE/ICSE/State Boards may be used. Additionally, class 11 & 12 students can refer to magazines like ‘Chemistry Today’, ‘Biology Today’, ‘Mathematics Today’ and ‘Physics For You’. To find the best study material, you can also consult with your teachers and other students preparing for these exams. These are some of the recommended books and study material for NSO

● The Official Olympiad Book of Reasoning by MTG Editorial Board
● Olympiad Reasoning Workbook by Pallavi Aggarwal
● Science Practice Cum WorkBook by MTG Editorial Board
● Learning Science For Smarter Life by Surachita Roy
● National Science Olympiad workbook by Anit Ahlawat
● MTG National Science Olympiad (NSO) Work Book by MTG Editorial Board
● Previous Years’ Papers

2. Prepare a proper study routine

Preparing a study routine helps you allocate sufficient time to prepare for every subject. Preparing a routine for olympiads is even more important as you will have to balance between your schoolwork and olympiad preparation. For this, first, you need to write down the entire syllabus and analyse its level of difficulty. Accordingly, write down the duration of time you need to prepare for each topic. Once you prepare the routine, make sure to thoroughly follow it.

3. Know about the latest exam pattern

Staying updated about the exam pattern of NSO will help you understand how to score the necessary marks to clear the cut-off. Following is last year’s pattern of the exam:

For classes 1 to 4, there are 35 questions, and the total time allocated is one hour. The NSO exam is conducted during regular school hours. The medium of instruction for the NSO exam is English. The paper for this group is divided into three sections:

1. Section 1: Logical Reasoning
2. Section 2: Science
3. Section 3: Achievers Section

For Classes 5 to 12, there are 50 questions in total, with the same one-hour time duration. The question paper for this group is structured as follows:

For Classes 5 to 10:

1. Section 1: Logical Reasoning
2. Section 2: Science
3. Section 3: Achievers Section

For Classes 11 and 12:

4. Section 1: Physics/Chemistry
5. Section 2: Achievers Section
6. Section 3: Mathematics/Biology

4. Practice, practice and practice

To achieve perfection in your exam preparation, you must keep on practising. There are several test papers and previous years’ question papers that can help you. Practising previous year’s papers and mock tests will also help you with your time management.

5. Keep revising periodically

Revising your lessons periodically will help you tackle any question easily. So, when preparing your routine, keep a separate time slot for revising your lessons to keep learning seamlessly.

Apart from these tips, you can also get some additional help from subject-specific tips to prepare for this exam.

Subject-wise Tips to Crack the National Science Olympiad

Here are some tips that you can use to prepare for each subject for the NSO Olympiad:

1. Physics
● Get the entire syllabus from the official website of the Science Olympiad Foundation.
● Allocate 30 minutes every day to practise various physics numericals.
● Go through all the experiments and Higher-order Thinking Skills (HOTs) at the chapter’s end from the NCERT book.
● Prepare a short list of all the essential formulae to revise every day.

2. Chemistry
● Prepare a sheet containing all the important reactions and formulae.
● Use various mnemonics to remember essential concepts of chemistry.
● Practice numerical, balancing equations, and chemical reactions every day.
● Prepare notes with one-line pointers that will help in quick revision.

3. Maths
● Solve a minimum of 10 problems from various topics every day to improve your problem-solving skills and address your areas of weakness.
● Prepare a sheet containing all the necessary formulae so you can quickly revise your lessons using them.

4. Biology
● Check out some of the practical examples of concepts learnt in theory for better understanding.
● Practice the experiments mentioned in your biology book to get a hands-on approach for a better understanding of concepts.
● Practice diagrams with details every day for 30 to 40 minutes to understand the structure and location of various parts in detail.

5. Logical Reasoning
● Find the easy-to-attempt patterns first and make sure to answer them at the beginning to score well.
● Learn about some vedic math tricks so you can make calculations faster during exams.
● Practice as many patterns as possible so you can easily identify them when taking your exams.
● Attempt challenging questions towards the end so you do not have to waste much time while solving them.
● Practice for a minimum of 30 to 40 minutes every day, to understand various techniques of solving them at the earliest.

Narayana Schools offers a comprehensive programme to help students crack NSO. Over the years, our students have successfully cleared NSO exams and secured silver and gold medals, a shining testament to our dedication.

Want to learn more about how we can help you crack NSO and other major Olympiads this year? Visit us at Narayana Schools and get a head start now!

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