International Social Studies Olympiad (ISSO) Class 7: syllabus, dates and exam pattern (2026–27)

Two dates, not three, and Classes 3 to 10 only — SOF runs ISSO on the same shorter schedule as its Hindi paper, where IMO, ISO and IEO get three dates each and run to Class 12. Your school picks one of the two and the whole class sits it together. SOF publishes three sentences about that choice, all in the paragraph directly above its own schedule table, and all worth knowing before your coordinator commits: "Schools may select one date for conducting an Olympiad exam in their school", "There are separate question papers for different dates", and "Change of date is not permitted". So the two dates are not two attempts, and they are not the same paper twice. They are one sitting, chosen once. Worth noticing on this paper in particular: SOF ISSO is the LAST social science sitting of the season to open and the last to close. Every other social science paper a Class 6 to 8 child can sit — SilverZone iSSO from 29 September, Indian Talent Olympiad NSSO from 6 October — has already started its first sitting by the time SOF ISSO runs on 30 November.

Registration: SOF publishes a rule, not a date, and ISSO is no exception: "Schools may send registrations by 30 days before the chosen date of each exam." So there is no national ISSO deadline a family can write in a calendar — there is arithmetic on a date your school has not necessarily picked yet. If your school picks 30 November 2026, registrations must reach SOF by 31 October 2026. If it picks 19 January 2027, by 20 December 2026. Both figures are ours, derived from SOF's rule and SOF's own exam dates; SOF states neither. SOF does restate the rule in its own words on the ISSO overview page — "Students should apply and submit the form for the SOF International Social Studies Olympiad (ISSO) at least 30 days before the exam date" — which is the same 30 days read off a second page of the body's own site. Checked as a negative on the same read rather than assumed: the strings "last date", "deadline", "cut off", "cut-off", "registration clos" and "final date" appear zero times on the schedule page. Registration is through the school, and SOF has no individual route for any paper it runs: its own overview page states that "Students cannot submit their applications individually. Applications will only be submitted via the schools." The money, in SOF's own words on its ISSO participation page: schools in India, Bhutan and Nepal pay SOF ₹170 per student per olympiad including GST, and the school may charge up to ₹30 more per student towards teachers' honoraria and its own costs; outside those countries the figures are US$11 and US$1. A school pays nothing to become a registered exam centre. SOF also states that no fee is payable for a student suffering any major physical disability, or for an Indian student whose parent was martyred during defence operations. The school's coordinator fills a School Registration Form and a Student Registration Sheet and sends them to SOF's office before the due date, and SOF generates the roll numbers from that sheet. Ask your coordinator which of the two dates the school has chosen — that single answer is the only cutoff that applies to you.