The National Science Olympiad (NSO) is a Science contest for students from grades one to twelve. The Science Olympiad Foundation administers the competition (SOF). The SOF is a renowned educational organisation that encourages students to cultivate a good competitive spirit by extending their hands in intellectual competition. This assessment teaches children to come up with new ideas and to gain a great deal of knowledge not only from their courses but also from various other resources.
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Levels of NSO
NSO is a scholarship exam that aims at enriching scientific reasoning and logical ability. There are two levels for the examination. The first is level 1, and the student who qualifies at this level will be eligible to write the level 2 examination. The two levels of the NSO Olympiad exam start from grade 3. Students studying in Classes 1 and 2 will have only a level 1 examination, and ranks are given based on their performance. To attempt the second level of the NSO examination, one must hold the rank in the top 5% of students class-wise.
The Pattern of Examination
The exam is an objective-type test consisting of 35 multiple-choice questions for classes 1 to 4 and 50 multiple-choice questions for classes 5 to 12. The examination is divided into three sections.
- Section 1 focuses on Logical Reasoning
- Section 2 focuses on the Science section
- Section 3 focuses on the Achievers section
The marks distribution for the three sections is shown below.
| Class / Grade | Section | Number of questions | Marks per question | Total marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | Section 1 | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| Section 2 | 35 | 1 | 35 | |
| Section 3 | 5 | 3 | 15 | |
| Grand Total | 50 | 60 | ||
Syllabus for Class 9
The NSO syllabus is closely aligned with the academic curriculum of CBSE, ICSE, and several state boards. Students who study in any of these boards are eligible to take the exam. The NSO curriculum is based on the concepts and theories that the applicant would be studying in that particular academic year. The questions in the NSO Olympiad test are from the syllabus, yet they are difficult.
Below is a list of the NSO syllabus for Class 9.
| Section of the exam | Name of the section | Topics included in the section |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1 | Logical Reasoning | Verbal and Non-verbal reasoning |
| Section 2 | Science Section | The concepts and topics related to Science Subject
|
| Section 3 | Achievers Section | This section deals with Higher-Order Thinking Questions. The topics for this section are the same as section 2, but the difficulty level would be a little more. |
Students can easily pass the exam by studying these lessons from textbooks and referring to numerous books. Studying according to the paper pattern aids in a better understanding of the subject. In addition, solving NSO sample papers of Class 9Â will help the candidate to perform better. Questions are asked with varying levels of difficulty, and the NSO exam contains all types of questions.
Class-wise Syllabus list
