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.
A month of olympiad practice should cost what it adds beyond school, divided by the questions your child actually does. On that measure the floor is ₹0: OlympAI’s free plan gives up to 150 practice questions a day with notes and explanations, and PRO costs ₹99 a month, or ₹83 a month by the quarter, for a child who wants exam-like practice.
How should a parent compare the cost of books, coaching and an app?
Put each option on the same three lines: what it costs a month, how many questions your child will actually practise in that month, and what happens after a wrong answer. A cheaper option that your child does not open is not cheap, and an expensive one that only explains in class once a week leaves the evenings uncovered.
| Workbooks | Coaching | OlympAI free | OlympAI PRO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost a month | Book price ÷ months of use | Monthly fee | ₹0 | ₹99 (or ₹83 by the quarter) |
| Questions a month | Fixed by the book | Set by the batch | Up to 150 a day | Up to 5 quizzes a day per subject, 5–50 questions each |
| After a wrong answer | Answer key at the back | Next class | Explanation at once, AI tutor | Explanation, 10× the AI tutor time |
| Renews by itself? | No | Ask the centre | Nothing to renew | No — one-time payment, no autopay |
Are olympiad workbooks still worth buying?
They can be, for a child who likes paper. Their limit is that the questions are fixed: once a child has done a book twice, they are remembering answers rather than practising. If you buy one, buy one per subject your child is entered for, not a shelf.
When is coaching worth it?
When your child needs a concept explained by a person, and the batch moves at their pace. Coaching teaches; it rarely gives each child enough individual practice. Many families keep school or coaching for teaching and add daily practice at home.
What should a practice app cost?
Nothing, to start. Any app worth paying for should let you see real practice for free first. OlympAI’s free plan has no end date and no card, and PRO, at ₹99 for a month or ₹249 for a quarter, is a one-time payment with a 7-day money-back guarantee that never renews by itself.
Our side-by-side comparison of books, coaching, test series and apps sets the options out category by category. Exam guides such as SOF IMO Class 8 and SilverZone iOM Class 8 show the chapters each paper tests, so you know what the month of practice should cover. Free forever, every day: up to 150 practice questions (3 quizzes × 10 questions × 5 subjects), all chapter notes, full explanations, free mock papers and 20 AI tutor messages, with no card and no time limit. OlympAI PRO is there when your child wants more: timed mode like the real exam, custom tests, Hard and Olympiad-level questions, every mock paper and 10× the AI tutor time, from ₹99 a month with no autopay. A new family’s first child also gets 14 days of PRO on us when they register.
Open a practice paper in the exam format
It opens in the learner app with no account and no phone number. The questions are written with the help of AI and automated checks, with no human review.
- Our own paper, built to the exam’s pattern — no logical-reasoning section, so the marks differ from the body’s
- Opens in the browser — nothing to install and nothing to wait for
- Every paper published for your class, in one place
Ready to put this into practice?
OlympAI generates olympiad-pattern practice for Classes 6 to 8, from the same NCERT chapters these papers are set on — free forever, with PRO when your child wants more practice.
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