Olympiad exam dates 2026-27: the full calendar across SOF, CREST, NSTSE, Unicus and more
By The Sophoz Curriculum Team
The short answer. The 2026-27 olympiad season runs from 18 September 2026 to roughly June 2027. SOF's eight exams fall between 22 September and 22 January, with Level 2 tentatively in February 2027. CREST runs in December and January in bookable windows. Unified Council's NSTSE has a direct-registration online sitting on 24 January 2027. The mathematical olympiad pathway ran IOQM on 6 September 2026, with RMO on 15 November 2026 and INMO on 17 January 2027.
This page exists because these dates sit across eight separate websites, several of which publish them as scanned notices. Everything below is in one place, with the fee and the registration route beside each, so a preparation timeline can actually be planned.
The month-by-month calendar
| Month | Exam | Body | Classes | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | Unified Cyber Olympiad (school) | Unified Council | 2-10 | ₹150 |
| SOF IGKO date 1, 22 Sep | SOF | 1-10 | ₹170 | |
| SOF ICSO date 1, 24 Sep | SOF | 1-10 | ₹170 | |
| SOF IEO date 1, 30 Sep | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| Oct 2026 | SOF IGKO date 2, 6 Oct | SOF | 1-10 | ₹170 |
| SilverZone Level 1, 14 Oct (unverified) | SilverZone | 1-12 | ₹125 | |
| SOF IMO date 1, 23 Oct | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| SOF IEO date 2, 27 Oct | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| SOF ISO date 1, 30 Oct | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| Nov 2026 | SOF IGKO date 3, 3 Nov | SOF | 1-10 | ₹170 |
| RMO, 15 Nov, 13:00-16:00 | HBCSE-TIFR | 8-12 | via IOQM | |
| SOF IEO date 3, 17 Nov | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| SOF ISO date 2, 19 Nov | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| SilverZone Level 1, 19 Nov (unverified) | SilverZone | 1-12 | ₹125 | |
| NSTSE (school), 20 Nov | Unified Council | 1-10 | ₹150 | |
| SOF IHO date 1, 23 Nov | SOF | 3-10 | ₹170 | |
| SOF IMO date 2, 26 Nov | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| Ei ATS, 28 Nov-1 Dec | Educational Initiatives | 4-8 | ₹600 per test | |
| SOF ISSO and ICO date 1, 30 Nov | SOF | 3-12 | ₹170 | |
| Dec 2026 | NSTSE (school), 2 Dec | Unified Council | 1-10 | ₹150 |
| SOF ISO date 3, 3 Dec | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| CREST English (CEO), 1-5 Dec | CREST | Nursery-10 | ₹275 | |
| CREST Science (CSO), 3-12 Dec | CREST | Nursery-10 | ₹275 | |
| SilverZone Level 1, 8 Dec (unverified) | SilverZone | 1-12 | ₹125 | |
| SOF IMO date 3, 10 Dec | SOF | 1-12 | ₹170 | |
| CREST Mathematics (CMO), 10-19 Dec | CREST | Nursery-10 | ₹275 | |
| SOF ICSO date 2, 17 Dec | SOF | 1-10 | ₹170 | |
| Unified Cyber Olympiad (online), 27 Dec | Unified Council | 2-10 | ₹150 | |
| Jan 2027 | CREST Spell Bee Winter, 7-16 Jan | CREST | Sr KG-8 | ₹275 |
| Unicus Global English (UGEO), 9-20 Jan | Unicus | KG-10 | ₹225 | |
| CREST Reasoning (CRO), 9-19 Jan | CREST | 1-10 | ₹275 | |
| CREST Cyber (CCO), 12-27 Jan | CREST | 1-10 | ₹275 | |
| Unicus Global Science (UGSO), 14-23 Jan | Unicus | KG-10 | ₹225 | |
| Green Warrior (IGWO), 14-23 Jan | CREST | 1-10 | ₹275 | |
| Unicus Global Maths (UGMO), 16-28 Jan | Unicus | KG-10 | ₹225 | |
| INMO, 17 Jan, 12:00-16:30 | HBCSE-TIFR | 8-12 | via RMO | |
| SOF ISSO and ICO date 2, 19 Jan | SOF | 3-12 | ₹170 | |
| Unicus AI Olympiad (UAIO), 19-30 Jan | Unicus | 1-10 | ₹225 | |
| SOF IHO date 2, 22 Jan | SOF | 3-10 | ₹170 | |
| Unicus Xtempore (UGXO), 22 Jan-3 Feb | Unicus | KG-10 | ₹225 | |
| NSTSE (online, direct), 24 Jan | Unified Council | 1-10 | ₹350 | |
| Feb 2027 | SOF Level 2 (IMO, ISO, IEO), tentative | SOF | 3-12 | included |
| CREST English Level 2, 30 Jan-1 Feb | CREST | Nursery-10 | included | |
| CREST Science Level 2, 4-6 Feb | CREST | Nursery-10 | included | |
| CREST Maths Level 2, 9-10 Feb | CREST | Nursery-10 | included | |
| SilverZone Level 2, expected (unverified) | SilverZone | 1-12 | included | |
| May-Jun 2027 | SilverZone Level 3, expected (unverified) | SilverZone | 1-12 | (unverified) |
Two caveats to read before planning around this. SilverZone dates come from a secondary source and could not be verified against the foundation's own pages, so they are marked. And SOF's Level 2 date is SOF's own tentative wording: it states second-level dates "will be announced by December '26, tentatively on 2nd or 3rd Sunday of February, 2027".
Registration routes and deadlines
Dates are only half of it. The deadline and the route matter more, because several of these close weeks before the exam and one of them cannot be entered without the school.
| Body | Route | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| SOF | School only. Individual registration not accepted | No fixed date published. SOF's FAQ says "usually 30 days before the exam" |
| CREST | Direct or school | Not published; slot must be booked at least 2 days before the exam |
| Unified Council | Direct or school | Not published; online sitting 24 Jan 2027 |
| Unicus | Direct, home-based | Not published |
| SilverZone | School | (unverified) |
| Indian Talent Olympiad | Direct or school | Registration sets close 10 Oct and 10 Nov 2026 |
| Ei ATS | Direct | Early bird 15 Nov, regular 22 Nov, late 30 Nov 2026 |
| MTA / HBCSE | Direct, via IOQM | IOQM 2026 closed; exam held 6 Sep 2026 |
The SOF deadline is the one to act on. Applying its 30-day guidance to the three IMO dates puts the cut-offs at roughly 23 September, 27 October and 10 November 2026. Those are derived, not published, and the authoritative date is the one in the prospectus your school holds. The full detail on that process is in IMO registration 2026.
The mathematical olympiad pathway, which runs on its own calendar
Worth separating out, because it is not a school olympiad and shares no dates, fees or entry route with the bodies above.
| Stage | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| IOQM 2026 | 6 September 2026 (held) | Offline, OMR. ₹300, or ₹180 for KV and JNV |
| RMO | 15 November 2026, 13:00-16:00 | 3 hours, 6 proof questions |
| INMO | 17 January 2027, 12:00-16:30 | 4.5 hours, 6 proof questions |
| INMOTC, IMOTC, PDC | Not published | Training camps |
| IMO 2027 | Not published | International team of six |
Eligibility for IOQM 2026 required students to be born between 1 August 2007 and 31 July 2014 and studying in classes 8 to 12, both conditions together. Note also that HBCSE labels the January 2027 paper "INMO 2026" after the cycle year rather than the calendar year, which catches people out every year.
This pathway is unrelated to SOF's IMO despite the shared acronym. The distinction is set out in SOF IMO is not the International Mathematical Olympiad.
How to plan a preparation timeline against this calendar
A calendar is only useful if it produces a schedule. Three practical points.
Work backwards eight weeks from the chosen date, not forwards from today. For an IMO sitting on 26 November, preparation starts around 1 October. For a CREST maths window of 10 to 19 December, it starts in mid-October. This matters because the evidence on spacing is about the interval to the test, not about total hours: across 317 experiments, spacing improved final performance in 259 of 271 comparisons, and the useful revisit interval for an exam roughly ten weeks out works out at about a fortnight.
Do not stack two exams in the same fortnight. Look at late January 2027 in the table above: four Unicus windows, three CREST windows, SOF ISSO, SOF IHO, INMO and the NSTSE online sitting all fall inside three weeks. A child entered in several of those is not preparing for any of them.
Pick the date, then pick the number of subjects, in that order. The common failure is the reverse: six subjects get registered because six circulars arrived, and then the calendar decides what is possible. One core exam in one or two subjects, plus at most one optional extra, is what actually fits.
If you have already missed something
The season is long and several routes stay open late.
Missed the SOF IMO first date. The 26 November and 10 December sittings may still be open, depending on whether the school has committed. Ask the school first.
Missed SOF entirely. CREST's mathematics window runs 10 to 19 December 2026 at ₹275 with direct registration, and Unicus runs 16 to 28 January 2027 at ₹225. Both accept individual entry.
Missed everything up to Christmas. Unified Council's NSTSE online sitting on 24 January 2027 at ₹350 is the latest serious direct-registration option in the calendar, and it returns a question-wise diagnostic report rather than just a rank.
Missed the whole season. The eight weeks of preparation are available without an exam attached, they are free, and they are the part with evidence behind them. The free olympiad preparation stack sets out how to run it, and next cycle starts with the work already done.
Frequently asked questions
When are the olympiad exams in 2026-27? SOF's eight olympiads run between 22 September 2026 and 22 January 2027, with Level 2 tentatively in February 2027. CREST runs windows in December 2026 and January 2027. Unified Council's NSTSE runs 20 November and 2 December 2026 through schools and 24 January 2027 online. Unicus runs in January 2027. RMO is 15 November 2026 and INMO is 17 January 2027.
What are the SOF IMO 2026 exam dates? Friday 23 October, Thursday 26 November or Thursday 10 December 2026. Schools choose one of the three and all students at that school sit on the same date.
When is SOF Level 2 in 2027? Not confirmed. SOF states that second-level dates "will be announced by December '26, tentatively on 2nd or 3rd Sunday of February, 2027". Level 2 exists only for SOF IMO, ISO and IEO, and only for classes 3 to 12.
What is the last date to register for olympiad exams? It varies by body and most do not publish one. SOF's FAQ gives "usually 30 days before the exam". Indian Talent Olympiad publishes registration sets closing 10 October and 10 November 2026. Ei ATS runs early bird to 15 November, regular to 22 November and late to 30 November 2026. CREST requires a slot booked at least two days before the exam.
Which olympiad exam is latest in the season? Among the major direct-registration options, Unified Council's NSTSE online sitting on 24 January 2027 and Unicus's extempore window running to 3 February 2027 are the latest. SilverZone reportedly runs a third level in May or June 2027, though those dates could not be verified.
Can my child sit more than one olympiad in the same month? Physically yes, and late January 2027 has more than ten separate windows. In practice, stacking exams inside a fortnight means preparation is spread too thin for any of them to mean much. One core exam plus at most one extra is what fits.
Verified 21 September 2026 against sofworld.org, crestolympiads.com, unicusolympiads.com, unifiedcouncil.com, indiantalent.org, ats.ei.study, ioqm.mtai.org.in and olympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in. SilverZone dates are from a secondary source and unverified. Dates change; each body's own page is the authority.