National Science Olympiad: A Complete Guide for Students

The National Science Olympiad is a great opportunity for students to test their knowledge in science and get an insight into where they stand among thousands of students who compete in it. If you are curious to learn about the National Science Olympiad, its registration process, and online application status, we’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll also delve into the documents required and the resources that can be used for the preparation of the science olympiad. So, stick with us as we uncover all the required details of this national-level exam step-by-step.

What is NSO?

NSO is an immensely popular exam conducted by SOF. NSO stands for National Science Olympiad and it focuses on preparing students for real-life scenarios through its rigorous preparation kit. The Olympiad is a competitive exam that tests students based on their aptitude, scientific knowledge, and time-management skills. The Olympiad is organized by SOF( Science Olympiad Foundation) which takes care of all applications, and registrations. It also ensures the successful conduction of the exam and has the responsibility of releasing the results of the same. 

Eligibility Criteria of National Science Olympiad

It is important to note down the eligibility criteria for NSO before applying to avoid any rejection. It has been enlisted here.

Round 1

1. Only students of class 1st-12th are allowed to register for this Olympiad and there is no restriction on age.
2. Only schools that have been registered with an official organizing body that as the SOF body are allowed to apply. The exam dates are selected by the schools at least 30 days prior. Only schools that can ensure the participation of at least 10 students are allowed to enroll else the school is not considered for registration. 
3. SOF takes into consideration the board in which the student is enrolled. It only allows students from CBSE, ICSE, or a state board to participate.
4. A student has only one attempt in one academic year. It doesn’t allow multiple attempts in the same academic year.
5. There are no minimum grades that are required by students to register for round 1. 

Round 2

1. This round is not open for students in grades 1 and 2. Round 1 is the ultimate round used for analysis.
2. If students register from different sections in a school then students who obtain the highest marks in each subject can appear to take the NSO Level 2 since they qualified level 1.
3. From each zone, every student who lies amongst the top 25 scorers from that zone is allowed to take the second round. 
4. All the top 5% of students from each class are automatically qualified to give round 2 since they are considered qualified.

Note: It is not necessary that if you win a gold medal then you will be qualified to give another round, there must be a certain number of participants from your school for this.

Documents Required for the Scholarship

There is no specific document required from your side. You are only supposed to submit one passport-size photo that will go on your roll number slip after that you might need to submit more passport-size photographs if you qualify round 1.

Registration Fee of National Science Olympiad

There is a nominal fee associated with the exam. All the schools in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Nepal have to pay a registration fee of Rs. 125 with GST per student/ Olympiad to SOF so they can successfully conduct the examination. Schools may charge an additional Rs 25 per student for acting as a middleman and registering them. No fee is charged for students suffering from any major physical disability, or an Indian student whose parent was martyred during defense operations.

Other countries have to pay US $9 for the fee.

How to register for this Scholarship?

The process is completely offline. Therefore, you can register directly through your school. Here is the process:

1. SOF ensures that it sends a prospectus to all the schools that have enrolled themselves with SOF. This prospectus explains some requirements and details to your school along with the registration process and accordingly, schools register themselves with SOF. 
2. The school notifies students of the necessary deadlines so that they can apply for the olympiad. Students are required to pay a nominal registration fee.
3. After the school has collected registrations, it sends all the details to the SOF within the given deadline. 
4. Each school has been assigned a coordinating person by the SOF team and that person generates the roll number slips of all the enrolled students. They also give a copy of roll number slips to SOF so that the data is stored.
5. Finally, these slips are shared with students through the school so that students get registered and have all the necessary details about the exam with them.

How to check the status of your Scholarship?

Once you have got your registration slip, you can check the status of your application through an online portal. If you have any queries or want to know about the dates of the exam you can refer to their official website 

Official website: https://sofworld.org/

Once you have appeared for the exam, you can check the results from the given link.

Result website: https://results.sofworld.org/results

In case, you have qualified the round one, visit the following website to get the slip for round 2. It will contain all necessary information like timings, venue, and date.

Admit card website: https://results.sofworld.org/admitcard

Pattern of Exam

Here is the exam pattern for NSO. Kindly refer to it to have a brief idea about the exam.

Level 1

Topic	Pattern
Medium of Paper(language)	English
The number of Rounds after this	1 Last round
Time Duration	60 minutes
Type of questions	Only MCQs
Number of questions with marks	35 questions (Class 1-4) 50 questions (Class 5-12)
Section distribution	For class 1–10: Section-1 Logical Reasoning Section-2 Science Section-3 Achievers Section For classesThe number 11 and 12: Section-1 Physics/Chemistry Section-2 Achievers Section Section-3 Mathematics/ Biology
Syllabus	Syllabus of CBSE, ICSE/ISCE and State Board

Level 2

Topic	Pattern
Medium of Paper	English
The number of rounds after this	This is the last round
Time Duration	60 minutes
Type of Questions	Only MCQs
Number of Questions and Marks	35 questions (Class 1-4) 50 questions (Class 5-12)
Sections	For class 1 – 10: Section-1 Science Section-2 Achievers Section For class 11 – 12: Section-1 Physics/ Chemistry Section-2 Achievers Section Section 3 Mathematics/ Biology
Syllabus	Syllabus of CBSE, ICSE/ISCE and State Board

Syllabus Of National Science Olympiad

The official syllabus is available on the official website but the general syllabus remains the same. The syllabus has been designed keeping in mind the syllabus of CBSE, ICSE/ISCE, and State Board to ensure that the exam is fair to everyone appearing for it. Let us see the syllabus of each part.

• Part 1: Logical reasoning section that assesses the aptitude of students based on Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning questions.
• Part 2: This part emphasizes core science meaning it checks all basic concepts of students which are related to their curriculum.
• Part 3: Since it is an achiever’s section, it has some advanced questions which are called Higher-Order Thinking i.e. HOTs Questions. They demand some extra knowledge.

Now the syllabus of individual academic years is different and you can refer to these based on your class

Class	Syllabus
Class 1	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-1/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-1
Class 2	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-2/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-2
Class 3	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-3/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-3
Class 4	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-4/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-4
Class 5	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-5/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-5
Class 6	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-6/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-6
Class 7	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-7/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-7
Class 8	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-8/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-8
Class 9	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-9/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-9
Class 10	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-10/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-10
Class 11	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-11/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-11
Class 12	https://sofworld.org/nso/class-12/nso-syllabus/nso-syllabus-class-12

Resources to Prepare for NSO

You need great preparation to appear for these exams so it is important to know what resources to refer to before preparing for the well-known Olympiads. Here are some resources.

1. Refer to the resources provided by SOF itself. These are available on their official site and are a good collection of books with great problems and even some recorded lectures for polishing your concepts. Check here
2. Refer to the material provided by MTG which is officially affiliated with NSO. You can order these books while registering for the Olympiad itself. Check here
3. You must brush up on your concepts through your books and be well aware of the curriculum. You must practice enough questions and take some practice tests online. Prefer doing previous year’s questions to get an idea about how the questions will be asked from the official site. Check here

Conclusion

We have seen that the National Science Olympiad is an amazing opportunity for students studying science. Getting recognized by a well-known organization at such a young age is an achievement in itself for budding students. The comprehensive resources provided by the team help in building a great level of understanding of the subject for students. Every student must appear for the exam with full preparation. The result provided by them is a detailed analysis of your performance so make sure to check that after your result.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How to contact the team of National Science Olympiad?

Ans. You can contact the team by writing them a mail on their official address info@sofworld.org or visit the official website to get the numbers you can contact for any query.

Q2. Is National Science Olympiad once in a lifetime opportunity? How many attempts can you give?

Ans. No, you can give National Science Olympiad once every year because it’s an annual program. You can appear once for every grade.

Q3. Can I appear for National Science Olympiad after grade 12?

Ans. No, since National Science Olympiad is organized for testing the aptitude and Science abilities of student till grade 12th. You can’t appear for NSO after great 12th