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.
Every date on this page was re-read from the issuing body's own site on 22 October 2026.
Spend the last 30 days before SOF IMO on one sample paper first, then on your child’s weakest chapters, then on a timed paper, and keep the final week light. The IMO sittings a 30-day plan still fits before are 26 November and 10 December 2026, and your school picks which one your child sits. Count back from the sitting to find Day 1: 28 October for the 26 November sitting, and 11 November for the 10 December sitting.
What is on the SOF IMO paper at Classes 6 to 8?
The same shape at all three classes: 50 questions in 60 minutes, in four sections — Logical Reasoning (15 questions, 1 mark each), Mathematical Reasoning (20 questions, 1 mark each), Everyday Mathematics (10 questions, 1 mark each), Achievers Section (5 questions, 3 marks each). That gives about 72 seconds a question, and the 5 Achievers questions carry 15 of the 60 marks.
The chapter list for each class is on our exam guides: SOF IMO Class 6, Class 7 and Class 8.
What should my child do on each of the 30 days?
Follow the table below from Day 1. It asks for 20 to 60 minutes a day, has a rest day each week, and never asks for more than one paper in a sitting. Swap days around if school gets in the way; keep the order of the four weeks.
| Day | What to do |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Sit one free IMO sample paper, untimed. Mark the questions your child skipped, not only the wrong ones. |
| Day 2 | Sort every wrong answer into four piles: misread, slipped, ran out of time, not met yet. Write down the chapters in the last pile. |
| Day 3 | Logical Reasoning only: 15 questions on the paper are reasoning. Twenty minutes of series, analogies and coding-decoding. |
| Day 4 | First chapter from the not-met-yet list: read the chapter note, then one maths practice quiz on it. |
| Day 5 | Same chapter, second quiz. Read the explanation on every wrong answer before moving on. |
| Day 6 | Second chapter from the list: chapter note, then one quiz. |
| Day 7 | Rest day. No paper, no quiz. |
| Day 8 | Second chapter, second quiz. Ask the AI tutor about one question that still feels unclear. |
| Day 9 | Third chapter: note, then one quiz. |
| Day 10 | Achievers practice: the last 5 questions carry 3 marks each. Pick two hard questions and solve them slowly, writing each step. |
| Day 11 | Third chapter, second quiz. |
| Day 12 | Logical Reasoning again, twenty minutes. Note which question types still slow your child down. |
| Day 13 | Mixed practice: one quiz each on two chapters your child is already good at, so strengths stay sharp. |
| Day 14 | Rest day. |
| Day 15 | Second sample paper set, timed this time: 60 minutes for 50 questions, about 72 seconds each. |
| Day 16 | Sort the second paper’s mistakes into the same four piles. Has the not-met-yet pile shrunk? |
| Day 17 | Whichever pile is now largest gets the next three days. If it is ran-out-of-time, practise skipping and returning. |
| Day 18 | Largest pile, second day: one quiz and a re-read of the explanations. |
| Day 19 | Largest pile, third day. |
| Day 20 | Achievers again: 5 hard questions, untimed, every step written. |
| Day 21 | Rest day. |
| Day 22 | Everyday Mathematics: word problems from daily life. One quiz, and talk through one problem out loud. |
| Day 23 | Re-sit the first sample paper set, timed. Questions your child has seen before are fine; the aim now is pace. |
| Day 24 | Go through only the questions that took longest. Was the time spent reading, or working? |
| Day 25 | One light quiz on a strong chapter. Stop while it is still going well. |
| Day 26 | Logical Reasoning, fifteen minutes. Nothing new. |
| Day 27 | Re-read the chapter notes for the not-met-yet chapters. No questions. |
| Day 28 | Light practice only: one quiz, then stop. |
| Day 29 | No practice. Get pencils and an eraser ready, and an early night. |
| Day 30 | Exam day. Eat breakfast, read every question fully, and come back to the hard ones last. |
How much practice a day is enough in the last month?
Twenty to sixty minutes, most days, is enough. Consistency matters more than length in the final month, because a tired child makes slips, and slips cost the same mark as a gap. On OlympAI’s free plan your child can take 3 maths practice quizzes a day of 10 questions each, which is more than this plan ever asks for.
Should practice papers be timed?
The first one should not be, and the later ones should. An untimed first attempt tells you which chapters your child has not met; a timed attempt in week three tells you whether 60 minutes is enough. OlympAI’s sample papers run a clock on screen and submit at the end, which is all the timing a free plan needs.
What should the last week before IMO look like?
Light. Short quizzes on strong chapters, a re-read of notes, and two days with no practice at all at the end. The last week is for arriving rested and confident, not for meeting new topics.
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.
Start free