SOF IMO Class 10 — Complete Maths Olympiad Course (Level 1 & 2)

The International Mathematics Olympiad is run by the Science Olympiad Foundation and is among the most widely written school olympiads in India, with participation across thousands of schools. It is conducted in two levels: Level 1 is held in your own school, and the students who clear it are called for Level 2. Level 1 for Class 10 is 50 questions for 60 marks in 60 minutes, across four sections — Logical Reasoning (15 questions), Mathematical Reasoning (20), Everyday Mathematics (10) and the Achievers Section (5). The first three sections carry one mark per question. The Achievers Section carries three. That last detail is the whole strategy. Five questions out of fifty carry fifteen of the sixty marks — a quarter of the paper sits in a tenth of the questions. Two students can answer the same number of questions correctly and finish hundreds of ranks apart depending on whether those five went in. Most IMO preparation treats the Achievers Section as a bonus at the end of the paper; this course treats it as the section that decides your rank. There is also no negative marking, at either level. That makes the correct strategy unambiguous — every one of the 50 questions should carry an answer when you submit — yet students routinely leave the hardest ones blank out of a habit learned from school tests that do penalise guessing. Eligibility & who can join: • Open to students of Class 10 whose school is registered with the Science Olympiad Foundation. Registration is made through the school, not by individual students. • Level 1 is conducted in the student's own school during school hours. • Level 2 is for students who qualify Level 1 — typically the top 5% of Level 1 candidates class-wise, zone-wise toppers, and class toppers where a minimum number of students sat the exam. • Always confirm the current cycle's dates, fees and qualifying criteria with your school coordinator or at sofworld.org. How the course is structured: The course is taught in the order the paper is set, but with teaching time allocated by marks rather than by question count. Mathematical Reasoning — the Class 10 syllabus itself — is the largest block and comes first, because both Everyday Mathematics and the Achievers Section draw on exactly the same chapters, just applied more sharply. Logical Reasoning is taught as a self-contained set of recognisable question families, since at 15 marks it is the cheapest section per hour of study. The Achievers Section is not a topic but a difficulty level: every chapter's teaching ends with Achievers-grade problems on that chapter, so the harder questions are practised all year rather than crammed. Level 2 preparation follows for qualifying students, dropping Logical Reasoning and Everyday Mathematics for deeper Mathematics. Always confirm dates with your school coordinator.