Author
Puja Rani
Puja Rani is the co-founder of OlympAI. She previously taught at Tagore Public School and the SED Group of Schools in Gurugram, holds a Diploma in Elementary Education and an M.Com, and founded Printustore.in before starting OlympAI in 2025.
Updated on
Guides by Puja Rani (23)
- Reading your child’s weekly progress report
Where to find the weekly report in the OlympAI app, what each line means — days practised, questions answered, answered correctly, most improved — how to read the subject breakdown, and what to do with it in ten minutes a week.
- Is AI-generated practice accurate for children? How OlympAI checks its questions
AI can write a wrong question, so what matters is what checks it. How OlympAI grounds each question in an NCERT chapter, the automated checks every question passes, the blind answer re-solve on every sample paper, and the Report button — with no human review, stated plainly.
- AI hints vs AI answers: why ChatGPT can hurt olympiad prep
A general chatbot can hand a child the full solution before they have tried, which skips the thinking an olympiad tests — even its study mode is one message from the answer. How hint-first AI help works, how OlympAI’s tutor escalates from a nudge to a full solution, and how to use any AI tool well.
- Olympiad books, coaching or an app: what a month of practice should cost
How to work out what a month of olympiad practice really costs a family — books, coaching or an app — and what you get for ₹0 on OlympAI’s free plan, with PRO at ₹99 a month if your child wants more.
- Is my child olympiad-ready? A free 45-minute check
A free 45-minute check a parent can run at home with a Class 6 to 8 child: five minutes to pick the paper, thirty minutes on part of a free sample paper, ten minutes sorting the mistakes — and what the result can and cannot tell you.
- Is OlympAI really free? What you get every day without paying
Yes — OlympAI’s free plan has no time limit. Every day: up to 150 practice questions, all chapter notes, full explanations, free mock papers and 20 AI tutor messages. What PRO adds, what happens after the 14-day PRO bonus, and who should pay.
- NSO / SilverZone iOS: the last-month plan
A last-month plan for SOF ISO (formerly NSO) and SilverZone iOS, Classes 6 to 8: what each science paper looks like, a four-week plan built on one sample paper and the weakest chapters, and how to prepare for both at once.
- SOF IMO: a day-by-day plan for the last 30 days (Classes 6–8)
A 30-day SOF IMO plan for Classes 6 to 8 before the 26 November and 10 December 2026 sittings: one sample paper to start, the weakest chapters next, a timed paper in week three and a quiet last week. Every step works on OlympAI’s free plan.
- How to use a sample paper with your child without turning it into a test
A practice attempt is a reading, not a verdict. Whether to time the first one, what to do with a wrong answer, when to stop, why a first score is not a prediction, and the three things a paper can actually tell you — for a parent sitting down with a Class 6 to 8 child and an olympiad paper for the first time.
- What does the SOF IMO Class 7 paper actually ask?
SOF IMO Class 7 is 50 questions for 60 marks in 60 minutes, across four sections — and five of those fifty questions carry a quarter of the marks. Here is each section with its real count and weight, what the Achievers Section does to the arithmetic of a score, how much of the paper comes from Class 6, and what OlympAI’s own Class 7 maths paper does and does not include.
- Olympiad registration dates for October 2026, Classes 6–8
· Updated 22 October 2026
Eight olympiad registration dates for Classes 6 to 8 fall in October 2026. Five are SOF’s, each worked out from its 30-day rule and each real only if your school picks that sitting; two are Indian Talent Olympiad’s, published outright, one for schools and one for families; and one is SilverZone’s, the single date it publishes for every paper, which it moved to 31 October 2026. Here is each date, who it binds, and what to ask the school.
- SOF ISSO vs SilverZone iSSO: which social science olympiad
· Updated 22 October 2026
Two papers with almost the same name, built on opposite principles: SilverZone iSSO spreads its marks evenly across the five themes of your child’s book, SOF ISSO puts 45 of its 50 questions in one undifferentiated section and draws 30 per cent of them from last year. Their calendars barely overlap, and a third body takes a family without the school. Here is the side-by-side for Classes 6, 7 and 8, read off each body’s own surface on 29 September 2026.
- SOF IEO vs SilverZone iOEL: which English olympiad to pick
· Updated 14 October 2026
Both English olympiads give exactly half their marks to word and grammar knowledge, and exactly a quarter to a higher-order section. Where they part company is the other quarter: SOF IEO spends it on reading, SilverZone iOEL spends almost the same amount on writing and speaking instead. Here is the side-by-side for Classes 6, 7 and 8, the two registration dates that matter this week, and how to tell which paper suits your child.
- SOF ISO vs SilverZone iOS: which science olympiad to pick
· Updated 14 October 2026
Two science olympiads whose registration dates both pointed at 30 September 2026, until SilverZone moved its own to 31 October. One of those dates is published and the other is worked out from a rule, and the two papers reward opposite habits. Here is the side-by-side for Classes 6, 7 and 8, and what to do if your school offers neither.
- SOF IMO vs SilverZone iOM: Classes 7 and 8 compared
· Updated 14 October 2026
At Class 7 and Class 8 these two maths olympiads stop resembling each other. SOF IMO is the same 50-question, 60-mark paper it is at Class 6. SilverZone iOM is not: half its 100 marks now sit outside the named syllabus sections, and its reasoning load doubles. Here is the side-by-side, and what it means for how your child should prepare.
- SOF and SilverZone registration last dates 2026-27, explained for parents
· Updated 22 October 2026
Four school-route registration dates fell between 23 and 30 September 2026: if your school picked those sittings, SOF’s 30-day rule gave 23 September for a 23 October IMO, 27 September for a 27 October IEO and 30 September for a 30 October ISO, and SilverZone published 30 September 2026 for every paper — a date it has since moved to 31 October 2026. None of them is a form a parent fills in. Here is what each date means, what to ask the school, and where to go if the school is not entering your child.
- Which olympiad should my Class 8 child take?
· Updated 22 October 2026
The Class 8 paper list is the same 25 papers offered at Class 6 and Class 7. What changes is that the bodies stop agreeing on what Class 8 means — one paper we mapped chapter by chapter is roughly half last year’s book. The routes, the dates and the syllabus catch, read off each body on 8 September 2026.
- Which olympiad should my Class 6 child take?
· Updated 22 October 2026
Class 6 opens no doors that Class 7 and 8 do not — the paper list is identical at all three. What changes is that starting here costs least. The routes, the fees and the dates, read off each body on 7 September 2026.
- Which olympiad should my Class 7 child take?
· Updated 14 October 2026
Most Class 7 olympiad advice compares exams. The question that actually decides it is who can enter your child — the school, or you. Here is the route first, then the subjects, then the dates.
- The registration deadline has passed — can my child still sit an olympiad?
· Updated 22 October 2026
A closed olympiad deadline is almost never the season closing. Of the three routes due to close on 31 August 2026, only SOF’s actually did — SilverZone moved its cutoff to 30 September (and has since moved it again, to 31 October) and Indian Talent Olympiad extended Set A twice, to 10 September. Twelve of SOF’s thirteen sittings in Maths, Science, English, Hindi and Social Science were never on that clock at all, and some bodies take a registration straight from a family. Here is what is still open, subject by subject, with the date each route closes on.
- Your child qualified for Level 2 — what that actually means
Level 2 means four different things at four different olympiad bodies. At CREST it is the top 55.56% of the class. At SOF it is roughly the top 5%. Here is each body’s published rule, the score it took at SOF last year for Classes 6 to 8, and the two things SOF says about Level 2 that most parents never see.
- Which olympiads can you register for without the school?
· Updated 22 October 2026
Most olympiad bodies register students through the school — but some take a family directly: CREST, Indian Talent Olympiad’s individual online route, Unified Council’s NSTSE and Humming Bird, and SilverZone runs an individual form of its own. Here is exactly how each one works, what it costs, and the deadline that applies to each.
- SOF IMO vs SilverZone iOM: which should your Class 6 child take?
SOF IMO and SilverZone iOM both test Class 6 maths, but the exam pattern, syllabus split, and scoring are different enough to matter. Here is a side-by-side comparison to help you choose — or why most families end up doing both.
Closing next
The olympiad registrations closing soonest
Read off each body's own website, and the bodies we could check were last checked 22 October 2026. Most of these register through the school, so the date that actually binds you is your coordinator's — and it is earlier than the one below.
- 24 Oct 2026Depends on your school’s chosen date
SOF IHO (Hindi) — if your school picks 23 November 2026
If your school picks 23 November 2026, registrations must reach SOF by 24 October 2026.
SOF publishes a rule, not a deadline: "Schools may send registrations by 30 days before the chosen date of each exam." So this date only exists once your school has chosen a sitting — and SOF states that change of date is not permitted once it has.
- 27 Oct 2026Depends on your school’s chosen date
SOF IMO (Maths) — if your school picks 26 November 2026
If your school picks 26 November 2026, registrations must reach SOF by 27 October 2026.
SOF publishes a rule, not a deadline: "Schools may send registrations by 30 days before the chosen date of each exam." So this date only exists once your school has chosen a sitting — and SOF states that change of date is not permitted once it has.
- 30 Oct 2026Published by the body
Indian Talent Olympiad (ITO) — Individual online route — Slot 1
Indian Talent Olympiad (ITO) publishes this date outright, as the last date to register for Individual online route — Slot 1. It has extended its cutoffs this season without notice, so check its own page on the day you act.
- 31 Oct 2026Published, marked tentative
SilverZone Foundation — Every SilverZone paper
SilverZone Foundation publishes this as its last date of registration for every paper it runs, on a schedule it heads "Tentative Examination Schedule". It is a school-route date — ask your coordinator.
- 31 Oct 2026Published by the body
Indian Talent Olympiad (ITO) — School route — Set B (extended twice, from 10 October)
Indian Talent Olympiad (ITO) publishes this date outright, as the last date to register for School route — Set B (extended twice, from 10 October). It has extended its cutoffs this season without notice, so check its own page on the day you act.
No deadline at all — and no school needed
These bodies publish no registration cutoff, and each of them will register your child directly. That is a checked fact rather than a gap in our research — we say so on each body's row on the calendar, with the source.
Unified Council
CREST Olympiads
Humming Bird Education
Not sure which paper yet? Class 6 olympiadsClass 7 olympiadsClass 8 olympiads