Is the Class 8 ABHO paper harder than the Class 7 one?

The table is identical and the paper is not. Both classes sit 8 language questions, 16 grammar, 6 reasoning and 5 in the Scholar's Zone, at the same marks — 35 questions, 100 marks, 40 minutes. What changes is what SilverZone names inside those sections: 21 grammar topics at Class 8 against 13 at Class 7, in the same 16 questions. Adverbs, punctuation, collective nouns, words with several meanings, both kinds of indeclinable and prefixes and suffixes are all added. Same number of questions, more ground behind each one.

Can I use the Class 6 guide for a Class 8 child?

Not for the pattern. ABHO changes shape once, between Class 6 and Class 7, and then holds: Class 6 is 15 grammar questions and 7 reasoning, Classes 7 and 8 are 16 and 6. So the Class 7 table reads across to Class 8 exactly, and the Class 6 one does not read across to either. The totals are the same at all three classes — 35 questions, 100 marks, 40 minutes — which is why the difference is easy to miss.

How much of this paper comes from my child's Hindi textbook?

Almost none of it directly. SilverZone names not one Malhar Class 8 chapter on its ABHO syllabus. Grammar and language knowledge are 66 of the 100 marks before any passage is read, and the two passages the reasoning section names are unseen ones. The textbook builds the language the paper then tests abstractly, which is a real relationship but not the one "revise the book" implies.

Is there negative marking in ABHO?

SilverZone does not say, and that is worth knowing rather than guessing. Every other SilverZone paper page states in so many words that questions are objective-type with no negative marking. The ABHO page does not — the statement is absent from its question-paper block in both English and Hindi, re-checked on the body's own site on 20 September 2026. We are not going to tell you there is none when the body has not said so. Ask your school coordinator, or write to info@silverzone.org, before advising your child to guess freely.

Can a parent register a child directly for ABHO?

Possibly, and it is worth one question before you rule it out. SilverZone's main route is the school, but it also runs a public individual registration form at r.silverzone.org, which its own page labels "for individual registrations only. This is not a school registration link." Which papers that form offers, we have not been able to confirm, so ask SilverZone whether it covers ABHO before relying on it. If your school does not run it, Hindi is the hardest of our five subjects to reach without a school: the only direct route we have been able to confirm is Humming Bird's Hindi paper (HHO, 28 November or 11 December 2026, ₹150). SOF's IHO and Indian Talent Olympiad's NHO are both school-route papers, and ITO's individual online round runs six papers with no Hindi among them.

SilverZone Foundation · Hindi · Class 8

Akhil Bhartiya Hindi Olympiad (ABHO) Class 8: syllabus, dates and exam pattern (2026–27)

Everything you need in one place — the exact NCERT chapters this paper tests, its published exam dates, the registration window, and the full marking scheme. Updated for the 2026–27 session.

Last verified against SilverZone Foundation's own site on 20 September 2026. Exam dates re-checked on 20 September 2026.

2026–27 exam dates

Date 1

6 October 2026

Date 2

5 November 2026

Date 3

17 December 2026

SilverZone publishes these under the heading "Tentative Examination Schedule for the year 2026-27" — they are the body's own dates, but SilverZone has not marked them final, so treat them as indicative until your school confirms which one it has picked. ABHO runs on the same three dates at Classes 6, 7 and 8; what differs by class is the paper, not the day.

SilverZone also lists an online-mode sitting of ABHO on 21 November 2026, under the same 30 September 2026 registration cutoff. It was added to SilverZone's own exam-date data on 11 September 2026; the dates above are its offline sittings.

Registration: SilverZone published one registration cutoff covering every paper it runs, ABHO included: 30 September 2026, on the same schedule it headed "Tentative Examination Schedule." SilverZone moved this date: its own exam-date endpoint returned 31 August 2026 on every read from 18 August to 1 September 2026 and 30 September 2026 from 2 September, with no announcement anywhere on its site. Re-read again this morning, 20 September 2026: all 34 rows the endpoint returns still carry 30 September, a single distinct value. Registration is through participating schools by default, so the date binds your school rather than you (SilverZone also runs an individual registration form at r.silverzone.org whose paper list we have not been able to confirm) — ask your coordinator now whether the school is entering ABHO this year, or write to info@silverzone.org.

Free — deadline calendar

The deadline is set by your school, not by you

Most parents find the exam date and assume they have until then. The registration window closes long before it, and for some papers it has already started closing. Here is how it actually works.

Your school registers your child and your school picks which of the 2–3 dates the class sits. The family does not choose.
For SOF papers, registrations must reach SOF exactly 30 days before that chosen date — and once the school has chosen, the date cannot be changed.
Most bodies register through the school. Four do not have to: CREST (online, no published cutoff), Unified Council — directly for NSTSE itself at ₹350 against ₹150 through a school, and on three online sittings, NSTSE-Online, UIMO-Online and UIEO-Online, at ₹354 each including GST — Indian Talent Olympiad on its individual online route (its own later dates — Slot 1 closes 30 October), and Humming Bird (online, ₹150 a subject, no published cutoff — its two dates are picked as you register). CREST is the simplest of the four.

Closing next

Indian Talent Olympiad — Set B
Registration closes 10 October 2026 · all five subjects
SOF IMO (Maths)
If your school picks 23 October 2026, registration closes 23 September 2026 · Maths
SOF IEO (English)
If your school picks 27 October 2026, registration closes 27 September 2026 · English
SilverZone — every paper
Registration closes 30 September 2026 · all five subjects
The body publishes this date but has not marked it final — confirm with your school before treating it as fixed.

Get the full calendar on WhatsApp

Or read the full calendar on the site — no sign-up

Every deadline in this box was checked against that exam body's own website on 16 September 2026. Bodies do move dates, so check the date above before you act on one.

Exam pattern

How the ABHO paper is structured

Section	Questions	Marks per question	Section total
भाषा ज्ञान — Language knowledge	8	2.75	22
व्याकरणिक बोध — Grammar	16	2.75	44
तार्किक क्षमता — Reasoning and comprehension	6	2.75	16.5
विशेष योग्यता / स्कॉलर ज़ोन — Scholar's Zone	5	3.5	17.5
Total	35 questions	—	100 marks · 40 minutes

This table is identical to the Class 7 one — 8, 16, 6 and 5 questions at exactly the same marks — and that is the useful fact, not a shortcut. ABHO changes shape once, between Class 6 and Class 7, and then holds it: Class 6 puts 15 questions in grammar and 7 in reasoning, Classes 7 and 8 put 16 and 6. So a Class 8 parent can read the Class 7 pattern across, and a Class 6 parent cannot. What does change between Class 7 and Class 8 is the ground each question covers. SilverZone names 21 topics in the Class 8 grammar section against 13 at Class 7, inside the same 16 questions — क्रिया-विशेषण, विराम चिह्न, समानार्थक शब्द, समुहवाची शब्द, अनेकार्थी शब्द, समुच्चयबोधक अव्यय, संबंधबोधक अव्यय and उपसर्ग-प्रत्यय are all added, and none of them is a smaller topic than the ones already there. The paper does not get longer, it gets denser, and the per-question demand rises without anything on the surface saying so. Grammar and language knowledge together are still 66 of the 100 marks. The Scholar's Zone is unchanged at 5 questions and 3.5 marks each, and SilverZone names no topics for it at any class. SilverZone publishes this paper's pages entirely in Hindi; the English half of each section name above is ours, and the Hindi is the body's own wording.

SilverZone publishes no current-year/previous-year split for ABHO, so nothing is claimed here. The class-wise topic table is the whole of what the body publishes about what this paper contains.

Syllabus

Hindi syllabus mapped to NCERT Malhar (Class 8, 2026-27)

Ch 1. स्वदेश (कविता) — गयाप्रसाद शुक्ल 'सनेही'

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named on ABHO's list — feeds काव्य-गुण (ओज) and वीर रस

Ch 2. दो गौरैया (कहानी) — भीष्म साहनी

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds गद्यांश comprehension and वर्णनात्मक शैली

Ch 3. एक आशीर्वाद (कविता) — दुष्यंत कुमार

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds पद्यांश practice and नई कविता

Ch 4. हरिद्वार (पत्र) — भारतेंदु हरिश्चंद्र

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds पत्र विधा and औपचारिक पत्र-लेखन

Ch 5. कबीर के दोहे

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds सधुक्कड़ी vocabulary and दोहा छंद

Ch 6. एक टोकरी भर मिट्टी (कहानी) — माधवराव सप्रे

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds गद्यांश comprehension

Ch 7. मत बाँधो (कविता) — महादेवी वर्मा

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — its प्रतीक and अलंकार work is on ABHO's grammar list

Ch 8. नए मेहमान (एकांकी) — उदयशंकर भट्ट

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds एकांकी विधा and संवाद-लेखन

Ch 9. आदमी का अनुपात (कविता) — गिरिजा कुमार माथुर

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds पद्यांश practice

Ch 10. तरुण के स्वप्न (उद्बोधन) — सुभाषचंद्र बोस

Olympiad syllabus label: Not named — feeds उद्बोधन comprehension and भाषण-लेखन

As at Classes 6 and 7, SilverZone names not one Malhar chapter for ABHO Class 8. Its published Class 8 syllabus is वर्ण-विचार, शब्द विचार, वर्तनी और उच्चारण, शब्द युग्म and वाक्य भेद in the language section; संज्ञा, सर्वनाम, क्रिया, क्रिया-विशेषण, वचन, विशेषण, विलोम शब्द, पर्यायवाची शब्द, अनेक शब्दों के लिए एक शब्द, विराम चिह्न, समानार्थक शब्द, समुहवाची शब्द, अनेकार्थी शब्द, समुच्चयबोधक अव्यय, संबंधबोधक अव्यय, उपसर्ग, प्रत्यय, संधि, अलंकार, समास and मुहावरे in the grammar section; and अपठित गद्यांश, अपठित पद्यांश and वाक्यों की सामान्य अशुद्धि संशोधन in the reasoning section. Where we stand on it, counted rather than asserted: the curator taxonomy sheet Grade8_Hindi carries 28 rows in its own olympiad-scope bucket (chapter 99, व्याकरण — ओलंपियाड), and 19 of the 21 items the grammar section names have a row there, including the eight this class adds over Class 7. Two of those nineteen are our reading rather than the body's wording and are worth saying so: समानार्थक शब्द sits inside our पर्यायवाची row, and both समुच्चयबोधक and संबंधबोधक अव्यय sit inside our single अव्यय row rather than standing alone. Now the gaps, each searched across the Grade 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 sheets before being named. समुहवाची शब्द — collective nouns — has no row at any grade, under any of its three spellings. शब्द युग्म has no row at any grade either; our nearest is श्रुतिसमभिन्नार्थक शब्द at Grade 8, which is a related idea and not the same one. क्रिया-विशेषण has rows at Grade 7 and Grade 10 but none at Grade 8, so a Class 8 child practising with us meets it a year early or two years late rather than in the year they sit this paper. उच्चारण, the second half of SilverZone's वर्तनी और उच्चारण, sits at Grade 6 only. And neither अपठित गद्यांश nor अपठित पद्यांश has a row at any grade — our comprehension rows are all tied to a named Malhar chapter, which is real reading work but not unseen-passage practice. Those gaps are filed as curator tickets; naming them here is the only version of this page worth publishing. The Scholar's Zone names no topics on any SilverZone table, so nothing about its content is published by anyone.

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Frequently asked questions

SilverZone publishes one cutoff covering every paper it runs, not one per exam: 30 September 2026. It moved — the body's own endpoint said 31 August 2026 until 1 September 2026 and 30 September from the 2nd, with no notice on the site. It falls less than a week before ABHO's first exam date. If your school has not registered, ask your coordinator now, while the window is open.

Still choosing

Every olympiad a Class 8 child can sit in 2026–27

All the papers at this class, grouped by whether your school has to enter your child or you can register directly — with each body's own dates and cutoffs.

Related guides

Other olympiad syllabus guides

SilverZone Foundation · Class 6

ABHO Class 6 — hindi syllabus, dates and pattern

SilverZone Foundation · Class 7

ABHO Class 7 — hindi syllabus, dates and pattern

SilverZone Foundation · Class 8

iOM Class 8 — maths syllabus, dates and pattern

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iOS Class 8 — science syllabus, dates and pattern

Keep reading

Guides that answer the next question

SOF and SilverZone registration last dates 2026-27, explained for parents

Four school-route registration dates fall between 23 and 30 September 2026: if your school picks those sittings, SOF’s 30-day rule gives 23 September for a 23 October IMO, 27 September for a 27 October IEO and 30 September for a 30 October ISO, and SilverZone publishes 30 September 2026 for every paper. 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 6 child take?

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.

Or see every 2026-27 exam date and registration cutoff in one table, or browse all the papers we cover.

Practice these exact chapters, free

Up to 20 olympiad-pattern questions a day free, in each subject, and 200 a day on a paid plan — for Class 8 hindi, generated from the same NCERT chapters above and written to the shape of the real olympiad papers, then automatically checked before they can be served, the hardest ones re-solved by a second model that has to agree.

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