What counts as a good IMO score? Class-wise benchmarks from SOF's own cutoff data
By The Sophoz Curriculum Team
The short answer. A good score is lower than almost everyone tells you. In SOF's published IMO 2025-26 data, the mark that put a student in the top 5 % of their class was 38 out of 60 in class 7, which is 63 %. In class 6 it was 41 out of 60, or 68 %. The highest of any class was 46 out of 60, or 77 %. The widely repeated advice to aim for 90 % or more describes a target roughly twenty percentage points above what the top 5 % actually required.
SOF publishes these cutoffs after each cycle and almost nobody tabulates them, converts them to percentages, or explains what the numbers mean. This page does all three.
The class-wise cutoffs, converted
These are the top-5 % Level 1 cutoffs for SOF IMO 2025-26, as published by SOF. The percentage column is our arithmetic: the paper is 40 marks for classes 3 and 4 and 60 marks for classes 5 to 12.
| Class | Cutoff marks | Paper total | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 32 | 40 | 80 % |
| 4 | 30 | 40 | 75 % |
| 5 | 42 | 60 | 70 % |
| 6 | 41 | 60 | 68 % |
| 7 | 38 | 60 | 63 % |
| 8 | 42 | 60 | 70 % |
| 9 | 46 | 60 | 77 % |
| 10 | 46 | 60 | 77 % |
| 11 | 39 | 60 | 65 % |
| 12 | 39 | 60 | 65 % |
Source: SOF's published IMO 2025-26 cutoff data. These are one year's figures and they move between cycles, so treat them as a calibration rather than a target to hit exactly.
Three things that fall straight out of this table.
The cutoff is not stable across classes. It runs from 63 % in class 7 to 80 % in class 3. A parent applying one number across two children in different classes is applying it wrongly. Classes 3 and 4 have the highest thresholds because the papers are shorter and more of the cohort scores near the top; class 7 has the lowest because that paper separated the field most.
The cutoff is not stable across years either. These are 2025-26 figures. Cutoffs depend on how a particular cohort performed on a particular paper. Use them to know roughly what region you are in, not to set a goal of exactly 38.
Nothing here requires a near-perfect paper. In class 7, a student could drop twenty-two marks out of sixty and still be in the top 5 % of their class nationally. That reframes what preparation is actually for. It is not for eliminating every error. It is for stopping the systematic leaks.
What the boundary student's paper actually looked like
This is the part nobody has published, and it is more useful than the totals.
Alongside each cutoff, SOF publishes section-wise marks labelled M1 to M4, used to separate students who tie on total marks. Read against SOF's published section order for IMO, those are M1 Logical Reasoning, M2 Mathematical Reasoning, M3 Everyday Mathematics and M4 Achievers. For every class in the table the four section figures sum exactly to the published total, so they describe the profile at the boundary.
| Class | Logical Reasoning | Mathematical Reasoning | Everyday Maths | Achievers | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 9 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 8 / 10 | 6 / 10 | 32 / 40 |
| 4 | 7 / 10 | 6 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 8 / 10 | 30 / 40 |
| 5 | 8 / 15 | 13 / 20 | 9 / 10 | 12 / 15 | 42 / 60 |
| 6 | 9 / 15 | 14 / 20 | 6 / 10 | 12 / 15 | 41 / 60 |
| 7 | 10 / 15 | 11 / 20 | 5 / 10 | 12 / 15 | 38 / 60 |
| 8 | 4 / 15 | 16 / 20 | 10 / 10 | 12 / 15 | 42 / 60 |
| 9 | 9 / 15 | 16 / 20 | 6 / 10 | 15 / 15 | 46 / 60 |
| 10 | 13 / 15 | 15 / 20 | 6 / 10 | 12 / 15 | 46 / 60 |
| 11 | 12 / 15 | 16 / 20 | 5 / 10 | 6 / 15 | 39 / 60 |
| 12 | 8 / 15 | 17 / 20 | 8 / 10 | 6 / 15 | 39 / 60 |
Look down the Achievers column for classes 5 to 10. It reads 12, 12, 12, 12, 15, 12 out of 15. The student sitting exactly on the qualifying boundary was scoring 80 % to 100 % on the Achievers Section, which is five questions carrying a quarter of the paper.
Now look at Everyday Mathematics. At the boundary it was 5 out of 10 in class 7, and 6 out of 10 in classes 6, 9 and 10. The boundary student was dropping half of the most straightforward section.
The pattern across those two columns is the practical finding in this article. At the qualifying boundary, students were strong on the hardest section and weak on the easiest one. Preparation that aims at scoring well by grinding routine questions is aiming at the wrong section. The five Achievers questions are where the boundary sits.
The Achievers Section is also the first tie-breaker
SOF states that where more than one student scores the same total, section-wise marks decide who advances, with weightage given to sections in the order M4, M2, M3, M1.
M4 is the Achievers Section.
So in a cohort where many students land on the same total, the five Achievers questions do not just carry 25 % of marks. They are the first thing consulted when the total is not decisive. Mathematical Reasoning is second, Everyday Mathematics third, and Logical Reasoning, despite being 25 % of the paper, is consulted last.
We have not seen this stated on any preparation page, and it changes how a session should be allocated.
The top 5 % is only one of three ways through
This is the most common misunderstanding about SOF results, and it costs families unnecessary disappointment.
A student qualifies for Level 2 by meeting any one of three criteria:
- Top 5 % of students, class-wise, who appear for the Level 1 exam
- Zone-wise top 25 rank holders, class-wise
- Class topper from each participating school, where at least 10 students from that class sat the exam and the topper scores at least 50 % qualifying marks
The third route is the one nobody explains. It means a capable child at a school with modest olympiad participation can qualify on 30 out of 60, well below every number in the table above, provided ten classmates sat the paper and they came top.
It also means the reverse. A child at a school with intense participation may be a long way from class topper while scoring above the national top-5 % cutoff, and will qualify through criterion 1 anyway. The three doors exist because a single rule would be unfair in both directions.
Practical consequence: if your child scored in the 30s out of 60 and came top of their class, do not conclude anything from the top-5 % number. Check how many from that class sat the paper.
What a good score means at each level
Below 50 %. For a child sitting their first olympiad, this is ordinary and not informative about ability. Half the IMO paper is logical reasoning and higher-order Achievers questions, which school does not teach. A first score is mostly a measure of format familiarity.
50 % to 60 %. Solid. The child is handling the curriculum content and losing marks on the reasoning and Achievers halves, which is the normal shape and the one that responds fastest to targeted practice.
60 % to 77 %. This is the qualifying region, depending on class and year. In class 7, 63 % was enough for the top 5 % in 2025-26. In class 9 or 10 it took 77 %.
Above 80 %. Strong in any class. At this level the useful question stops being how to score higher on this paper and becomes whether the child wants harder mathematics, which is a different pathway question entirely.
A note on the rank itself. SOF publishes International, Zonal and School ranks. Awards run to ₹50,000 for International Rank 1 in classes 3 to 12, with zonal Rank 1 at ₹5,000, and SOF states that winners are entitled to the higher-level award only, so an international winner does not additionally collect the zonal prize. Ranks 26 and below at zonal level receive a merit certificate. The great majority of participants, including many very capable ones, are in that last group.
How to read a result without drawing the wrong conclusion
Do not compare across classes. A 70 % in class 5 cleared the top-5 % cutoff in 2025-26. The same 70 % in class 9 did not. These are different papers against different cohorts.
Do not compare across years. Cutoffs move with cohort and paper difficulty.
Do compare section by section. The section breakdown is where the information is. A child scoring 38 with 5 out of 10 in Everyday Mathematics has a completely different problem from a child scoring 38 with 4 out of 15 in Logical Reasoning. The first is losing marks on content they know; the second has not practised a skill school does not teach.
Do sort the errors before looking at the total. Every wrong answer belongs in one of four buckets: misread the question, arithmetic slip, wrong method, or genuinely did not know. Only the fourth requires teaching. Most marked papers contain far less of it than the score suggests.
This matters for a reason beyond tidiness. Maths anxiety consumes the working memory a child needs to do mathematics, and the effect is strongest on hard multistep problems under consequential conditions. In one study of 154 young children, anxiety predicted lower achievement only among the children with higher working memory (Ramirez, Gunderson, Levine and Beilock, 2013). The capable children are the ones pressure costs most, and a score treated as a verdict is where that pressure comes from.
Setting a realistic target
For a child sitting SOF IMO this cycle, a defensible target looks like this.
| Class | Sensible first-year target | Qualifying region, 2025-26 |
|---|---|---|
| 3-4 | 26 / 40 (65 %) | 30-32 / 40 |
| 5-6 | 33 / 60 (55 %) | 41-42 / 60 |
| 7-8 | 33 / 60 (55 %) | 38-42 / 60 |
| 9-10 | 36 / 60 (60 %) | 46 / 60 |
And one target that applies at every class: at least 12 out of 15 on the Achievers Section, or 8 out of 10 for classes 3 and 4. That is what the boundary students were scoring, it is a quarter of the paper, and it is the first tie-breaker. Five questions.
If you want the drills that move those specific numbers, they are in 10 common mistakes in maths olympiad papers. Full pattern, dates and Level 2 criteria are in the SOF 2026-27 guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good score in SOF IMO? Lower than commonly claimed. In SOF's published 2025-26 data, the top-5 % cutoff was 38 out of 60 in class 7 (63 %), 41 in class 6 (68 %), 42 in classes 5 and 8 (70 %), and 46 in classes 9 and 10 (77 %). For classes 3 and 4, where the paper is 40 marks, the cutoffs were 32 and 30, or 80 % and 75 %.
What percentage is needed to qualify for SOF IMO Level 2? It varies by class and year. In 2025-26 the top-5 % route required between 63 % and 80 % depending on class. But the top-5 % route is only one of three: a student also qualifies as a zone-wise top-25 rank holder, or as class topper at a school where at least 10 students from that class sat the exam and the topper scored at least 50 %.
Is 40 out of 60 a good score in IMO? For classes 6, 7, 11 and 12 in 2025-26 that would have been at or near the top-5 % cutoff. For classes 9 and 10 it was six marks short. It is a solid score in any class and, depending on the school's participation numbers, could qualify through the class-topper route.
Which section matters most in SOF IMO? The Achievers Section. It is five questions carrying 25 % of total marks, it is the first tie-breaker when students are level on totals, and in SOF's 2025-26 data students sitting exactly on the qualifying boundary were scoring 12 to 15 out of 15 on it.
Do SOF IMO cutoffs change every year? Yes. Cutoffs depend on how a given cohort performed on a given paper, so the published figures are a calibration rather than a fixed threshold. Use them to know which region a score sits in, not as a precise goal.
My child scored low in IMO. Does that mean they are bad at maths? No, and particularly not on a first attempt. Half the IMO paper is logical reasoning and higher-order Achievers questions, neither of which school syllabi teach directly. A first score largely measures familiarity with a format the child has not seen. The section breakdown is far more informative than the total.
Cutoff figures are SOF's published IMO 2025-26 data, verified 21 September 2026 at sofworld.org. Percentage conversions are ours, against paper totals of 40 marks for classes 3 to 4 and 60 marks for classes 5 to 12.