Every olympiad exam in India, and which ones are worth sitting
By The Sophoz Curriculum Team
The short answer. At least eight organisations run school olympiads in India, between them offering more than fifty separate exams at fees from ₹150 to ₹600. Seven of the eight are private commercial bodies whose exams lead nowhere beyond their own rank lists. One, the HBCSE pathway, leads to the actual international olympiads and has nothing to do with the rest. A child should sit one or two exams chosen deliberately, not the six to twelve that arrive by school circular.
The map, before the detail
| Body | Exams | Classes | Fee | Levels | Leads to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOF | 8 | 1-12 | ₹170 + up to ₹30 | 2, for IMO/ISO/IEO only | SOF rank list |
| SilverZone | iOM, iOS, iIO, iOEL | 1-12 | ₹125 | 3 | SilverZone rank list |
| CREST | 10 | Nursery-12 | ₹275 | 2, for some | CREST rank list |
| Unicus | 10 | KG-11 | ₹225 | 1 only | Unicus rank list |
| Unified Council | NSTSE, UCO | 1-10 | ₹150-₹350 | 1 | Unified Council rank list |
| Indian Talent Olympiad | 13 | Nursery-12 | ₹175 via school, ₹500 individual | 2 | ITO rank list |
| Ei ATS | Talent search | 4-8 | ₹600 per test | 1 | Talent identification, JHU and Berkeley links |
| MTA / HBCSE | IOQM → RMO → INMO | 8-12 | ₹180-₹300 | 4+ stages | India's International Mathematical Olympiad team |
Figures verified 21 September 2026 against each body's own pages where available. SilverZone figures come from a secondary source and should be checked.
1. SOF, the Science Olympiad Foundation
The biggest by a wide margin, and the one most school circulars are about.
Eight exams for 2026-27: IMO (mathematics, 1-12), ISO (science, 1-12), IEO (English, 1-12), ICSO (computer science, 1-10), IGKO (general knowledge, 1-10), IHO (Hindi, 3-10), ISSO (social studies, 3-10) and ICO (commerce, 11-12).
Note two renames that most published guidance has not caught up with. The National Cyber Olympiad is now ICSO, the International Computer Science Olympiad, which SOF's own official platform states plainly: "NCO has been renamed ICSO". The National Science Olympiad is now presented throughout SOF's exam pages as ISO, the International Science Olympiad, though SOF has published no dated announcement of that one. If a guide refers to NSO or NCO in 2026, it is out of date, including the official SOF Olympiad Trainer listing on Google Play.
Fee: ₹170 per student per olympiad, inclusive of GST, plus up to ₹30 the school may add. Registration is through the school only; individual registration is not accepted. One hour per paper, results in eight weeks, and Level 2 exists only for IMO, ISO and IEO, and only for classes 3 to 12.
Full dates, exam pattern class by class and Level 2 qualifying criteria are in our SOF 2026-27 guide.
Worth sitting if: the school runs it and the child is comfortable with their year's syllabus. This is the default and it is a reasonable default.
2. SilverZone Foundation
Four main exams: iOM (mathematics), iOS (science), iIO (informatics) and iOEL (English language), classes 1 to 12.
The distinguishing feature is a third level. SilverZone runs Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3, where SOF runs two. Reported Level 1 dates for 2026-27 are 14 October, 19 November and 8 December 2026, with Level 2 expected February 2027 and Level 3 in May or June 2027. Level 2 qualification is reported as the top 1,000 rank holders between ranks 4 and 1,003 with at least 50 % marks. Offline application fee reported at ₹125.
A caution we should state plainly. These SilverZone specifics come from Careers360, a secondary source. SilverZone's own site did not return verifiable detail when we checked. Treat dates, fee and criteria as unverified and confirm with the school.
Worth sitting if: the school offers it and the child already sits SOF and enjoyed it. It is not a substitute for SOF; it is a second helping.
3. CREST Olympiads
Fully online, which makes it the main option for a child whose school does not participate in anything.
Ten exams: mathematics (CMO), science (CSO), English (CEO), cyber (CCO), reasoning (CRO), drawing (CIDO), mental maths (CMMO), a green-warrior paper (IGWO) and summer and winter spelling bees. Nursery to class 12, depending on exam.
Fee: ₹275 in India, US$15 outside. Two free practice tests are included with registration. Exams run in windows rather than on single days: CMO Level 1 runs 10 to 19 December 2026 with Level 2 on 9 to 10 February 2027; CEO Level 1 runs 1 to 5 December 2026; CSO Level 1 runs 3 to 12 December 2026. All sittings fall between 11:00 and 19:00 IST with a slot booked at least two days ahead.
The one genuinely distinctive thing: audio-based questions for Nursery and Grade 1, for children who cannot yet read a question paper. Also a dedicated Reasoning Olympiad, the only one in this list.
The honest criticism: merit certificates, medals or trophies go to the top 50 %, which is a broad definition of merit.
Worth sitting if: the school runs nothing, or the child wants a reasoning-specific paper, or you want a genuinely low-friction first attempt.
4. Unicus Olympiads
Ten exams, home-based and fully online: mathematics, science, English, general knowledge, critical thinking, artificial intelligence and an extempore speaking paper, roughly KG to class 11.
Fee: ₹225 or US$15 across all exams. Paper length scales by class: 25 questions for class 1, 35 for class 2, 40 for classes 3 to 5, 50 for classes 6 to 11.
The distinguishing feature is that it is single-level with a non-repeating syllabus, so it does not consume a second date in February the way SOF and SilverZone do.
Winter 2026-27 windows run mid-January 2027 across the five winter papers.
Worth sitting if: you want one additional exam without committing to a two-level cycle, or the child would enjoy the extempore or critical thinking papers, which nothing else in this list offers.
5. Unified Council: NSTSE and UCO
The one that accepts individual registration, which matters more than it sounds.
NSTSE, the National Level Science Talent Search Examination, runs for classes 1 to 10. CBSE-aligned but stated to suit ICSE, ISC and state boards. Dates: 20 November and 2 December 2026 offline through schools, 24 January 2027 online for individuals.
Fee: ₹350 for individual registration, which includes past papers, a success-series book and postal charges; ₹150 per student through a school. Pattern: 40 questions for class 1, 50 for class 2, 60 for classes 3 to 10. Sixty minutes, objective, and explicitly no negative marking.
UCO, the Unified Cyber Olympiad, runs classes 2 to 10, 18 September 2026 through schools and 27 December 2026 for individuals, at ₹150. Fifty questions in an hour, split Mental Ability 15, Reasoning 15, Computers 15, English 5.
Worth sitting if: the school does not offer SOF. NSTSE at ₹350 direct is the most accessible serious paper in this list for a family acting alone. The mental-ability and reasoning weighting in UCO is also unusually heavy, which suits a child who enjoys that.
6. Indian Talent Olympiad
Thirteen exams, Nursery to class 12, covering science, maths, English, GK, computer, drawing, essay, social studies, Hindi, logical reasoning, abacus, astronomy and commerce.
A pricing disparity worth knowing before registering. Individual registration is ₹500 per subject, with a further ₹500 for the second round. Registration through a school is ₹175 per student per subject, of which the school retains ₹25. That is roughly 2.9 times the price for the same exam, depending only on how you enter it, and it is not flagged to parents registering individually. Schools need a minimum of 40 students.
Registration deadlines run in sets: 10 September, 10 October and 10 November 2026.
An acronym warning. Indian Talent Olympiad's "ISO" and "IMO" collide directly with SOF's, and its "ICO" means International Computer Olympiad where SOF's means International Commerce Olympiad. Different subject, same three letters. When a circular names an exam by acronym, ask which body.
Worth sitting if: it comes through the school at ₹175. Registering individually at ₹500 when CREST costs ₹275 and NSTSE costs ₹350 is hard to justify.
7. Ei ASSET Talent Search
Different from everything above it, and closer to what a talent search actually is.
Ei ATS is aimed at identifying the top 2 % of students, with stated partnerships with Johns Hopkins and UC Berkeley. Eligibility is grades 4 to 8, qualifying via the top 15th percentile in any subject. The test window is 28 November to 1 December 2026, with results on 15 December 2026. Online, computer-based, in English, mathematics and science, sixty minutes each.
Fee: ₹600 per test in India.
Why it is structurally different. This is above-level testing, meaning a child sits content pitched above their year to find out how far above their year they can work. That is the methodology behind the longitudinal research on early identification, and it produces genuinely different information from a rank on a year-level paper. It costs more than twice a SOF exam and is a single test.
Worth sitting if: a child is clearly ahead and you want a real measurement rather than a rank. This is the one exam in the list that answers a question the school cannot.
8. The MTA and HBCSE pathway: IOQM, RMO, INMO
Not an olympiad in the same sense as anything above. This is the national programme that selects India's team for the International Mathematical Olympiad.
The sequence is IOQM → RMO → INMOTC → INMO → IMOTC → Pre-Departure Camp → IMO. IOQM is run by the Mathematics Teachers' Association; RMO onwards sits with HBCSE-TIFR.
IOQM 2026 was held on 6 September 2026. Eligibility required students to be born between 1 August 2007 and 31 July 2014 and studying in classes 8 to 12, both conditions together. Fee ₹300, or ₹180 for KV and JNV students. Sat offline on OMR.
RMO: 15 November 2026, three hours, six questions. INMO: 17 January 2027, four and a half hours, six questions. Both are proof papers. There is no multiple choice anywhere in this pathway.
India took two gold and four silver at IMO 2026 in Shanghai, for an unofficial seventh place among 117 countries.
Worth attempting if: the child is in class 8 or above, within the date-of-birth window, finds school mathematics unchallenging rather than merely manageable, and is interested in writing proofs. It shares three letters with SOF's exam and nothing else. The full comparison is in SOF IMO is not the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Also running
Humming Bird Education runs science, mathematics and English olympiads for roughly classes 1 to 10. We could not verify dates, fees or pattern; its site blocks automated access.
ASSET, the school-based test from Educational Initiatives, appears to still operate alongside Ei ATS.
How to choose, rather than accumulate
The failure mode in this category is not choosing badly. It is not choosing at all: circulars arrive, forms get signed, and a child ends up sitting a dozen commercial multiple-choice papers across one academic year without anyone having decided which of them matters.
A workable rule:
- One core exam. SOF if the school runs it, CREST or NSTSE if not. One or two subjects, not six.
- One optional extra, at most, and only if the child enjoyed the first one. Unicus is the cleanest extra because it is single-level.
- Ei ATS instead of a second rank exam, if what you actually want is a measurement rather than a certificate.
- IOQM only from class 8, and only for a child who has been enjoying hard problems for years rather than one who has been doing well at multiple-choice papers.
- Nothing at all if the current year's syllabus is not yet secure. That case is covered in should your child sit olympiad exams.
Frequently asked questions
How many olympiad exams are there in India? At least eight organisations run school olympiads, offering more than fifty separate exams between them. SOF alone runs eight, Indian Talent Olympiad thirteen, CREST ten and Unicus ten.
Which olympiad exam is the best? SOF is the largest and most widely recognised in Indian schools. CREST is the most accessible for a child whose school does not participate, being fully online at ₹275 with two free practice tests. Unified Council's NSTSE is the best option for a family registering directly, at ₹350. Ei ATS is the only one that measures a child against above-level content rather than ranking them on year-level content.
Which olympiad can my child register for without the school? Unified Council's NSTSE at ₹350, Unified Cyber Olympiad at ₹150, CREST at ₹275, Unicus at ₹225, Indian Talent Olympiad at ₹500, and Ei ATS at ₹600. SOF does not accept individual registrations.
Are all these olympiads legitimate? They are legally run and widely taken. None of the private ones leads to any international competition, whatever the exam name suggests. Academics at HBCSE, which runs India's genuine olympiad programme, have objected publicly to the word olympiad being used for competitions with no international culmination.
What is the difference between SOF, SilverZone, CREST and Unicus? Different private bodies running different exams with different fees, levels and formats. SOF is the largest and school-routed at ₹170 with two levels. SilverZone runs three levels at a reported ₹125. CREST is fully online at ₹275 with a dedicated reasoning paper. Unicus is single-level at ₹225 with critical-thinking and extempore papers nobody else offers.
Verified 21 September 2026. SilverZone figures are from a secondary source and unverified against the foundation's own pages. Fees, dates and exam names change annually.