SOF Olympiad 2026-27: dates, fees, exam pattern and Level 2 criteria for all eight exams
By The Sophoz Curriculum Team
The short answer. The Science Olympiad Foundation runs eight olympiads in 2026-27. Registration costs ₹170 per student per olympiad in India, Bhutan and Nepal, inclusive of GST, and schools may add up to ₹30 on top. Every Level 1 paper runs for one hour: thirty-five questions worth forty marks for classes 1 to 4, and fifty questions worth sixty marks for classes 5 and above. Only three of the eight exams have a second level.
This page is the reference table for the full cycle. Every figure below comes from SOF's own published pages, linked at each point, and the page carries a last-verified date because fees, names and dates in this category change annually and most pages covering them do not say when they were written.
Two SOF exams changed their names, and most of the internet has not updated
Before anything else, because it causes more confusion than any other fact in this category.
The National Cyber Olympiad is now the International Computer Science Olympiad. This one SOF states outright, on its own official preparation platform: "NCO has been renamed ICSO" (sofolympiadtrainer.com). The same page still defines NCO as "a cyber concepts and knowledge competition for students of class 1 to class 12" and notes that it is a single-level exam.
The National Science Olympiad is now the International Science Olympiad. This one is evidenced rather than announced. SOF's exam page presents the exam throughout as the "International Science Olympiad (SOF ISO)", classes 1 to 12, one hour, ₹170 (sofworld.org/iso), and SOF's legacy /nso/ URLs now serve ISO content. We could not locate a dated SOF announcement of the science rename, so we do not quote one, and the year it took effect should be treated as unconfirmed.
What this means in practice is that a large amount of currently published olympiad guidance refers to exams that no longer carry those names, including the official SOF Olympiad Trainer listing on Google Play, which as of September 2026 still advertises "IMO, NSO, NCO, IEO, IGKO, ISSO". If a page tells you your child is sitting the NSO in November 2026, that page has not been updated. The exam is ISO. The syllabus and the pattern are unaffected.
The eight SOF olympiads and their 2026-27 dates
Schools choose one of the offered dates. All figures from SOF's exam schedule (sofworld.org/exam-schedule).
| Exam | Full name | Classes | Date 1 | Date 2 | Date 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SOF IGKO | International General Knowledge Olympiad | 1-10 | Tue 22 Sep 2026 | Tue 6 Oct 2026 | Tue 3 Nov 2026 |
| SOF ICSO | International Computer Science Olympiad | 1-10 | Thu 24 Sep 2026 | Thu 17 Dec 2026 | n/a |
| SOF IEO | International English Olympiad | 1-12 | Wed 30 Sep 2026 | Tue 27 Oct 2026 | Tue 17 Nov 2026 |
| SOF IMO | International Mathematics Olympiad | 1-12 | Fri 23 Oct 2026 | Thu 26 Nov 2026 | Thu 10 Dec 2026 |
| SOF ISO | International Science Olympiad | 1-12 | Fri 30 Oct 2026 | Thu 19 Nov 2026 | Thu 3 Dec 2026 |
| SOF IHO | International Hindi Olympiad | 3-10 | Mon 23 Nov 2026 | Fri 22 Jan 2027 | n/a |
| SOF ISSO | International Social Studies Olympiad | 3-10 | Mon 30 Nov 2026 | Tue 19 Jan 2027 | n/a |
| SOF ICO | International Commerce Olympiad | 11-12 | Mon 30 Nov 2026 | Tue 19 Jan 2027 | n/a |
Level 2 dates are not fixed yet. SOF's schedule states second-level dates "will be announced by December '26, tentatively on 2nd or 3rd Sunday of February, 2027". Treat February 2027 as SOF's own tentative wording rather than a confirmed date, and note that SOF reserves the right not to conduct Level 2 at all, in which case Level 1 results become final.
The fee is ₹170, and a widely-cited figure of ₹125 to ₹150 is wrong
SOF's registration fee page (sofworld.org/registration-fee) states ₹170 per student per olympiad for India, Bhutan and Nepal, inclusive of GST. Schools may additionally charge up to ₹30 per olympiad towards the in-charge honorarium and teacher remuneration. So the realistic figure a parent pays is ₹170 to ₹200 per subject.
The fee is identical across all eight olympiads. There is no per-exam differentiation.
Two things worth knowing that are rarely stated:
- The fee is waived for students with major physical disabilities, and for Indian students whose parents were martyred in defence operations.
- A prominent competing guide currently states the fee is ₹125 to ₹150. Oswaal Books' olympiad hub publishes that figure. It contradicts SOF's own registration page. Where a reseller and the organising body disagree about the organising body's own fee, use the organising body.
For countries outside India, Bhutan and Nepal, SOF publishes two different numbers on its own site: the registration fee page says US$11 plus an optional US$1 towards expenses, while the exam FAQ pages say USD 12 inclusive of GST. The most likely reading is that the FAQ quotes the all-in figure, but SOF publishes both, so the honest statement is US$11 base, up to US$12 all-in.
Registration runs through the school, and individual registration is not accepted
SOF's FAQ is unambiguous: "Students can register for the SOF ISO International Science Olympiad through their respective schools only. Individual registrations are not accepted."
Eligibility carries no academic bar. SOF states: "Students of classes 1st to 12th are eligible to appear for the 1st level Olympiads. There is no other eligibility criterion like minimum marks."
This is a meaningful structural difference from several other olympiad bodies. Unified Council's NSTSE, for instance, accepts direct individual registration at ₹350, alongside school registration at ₹150. If your child's school does not run SOF exams, SOF is not available to you, and the alternative bodies become the relevant question rather than a second-best one.
Results are declared within eight weeks of the examination.
Only three SOF exams have a Level 2, and classes 1 and 2 have none at all
Level 2 exists for SOF IMO, SOF ISO and SOF IEO only, and only for classes 3 to 12. SOF ISSO, IGKO, ICO, IHO and ICSO are single-level exams. Students in classes 1 and 2 are ranked on Level 1 performance alone and have no second-level route, whatever their score.
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 criterion is the one almost nobody explains, and it changes the calculation for a lot of families. The commonly repeated "top 5 %" framing is one of three doors, not the only one. A capable child at a school with modest olympiad participation can qualify as class topper on an absolute score well below what the top-5 % cutoff would demand, provided ten classmates sit the paper and the score clears half marks.
SOF publishes class-wise Level 2 cutoffs after each cycle. For SOF IMO 2025-26, the top-5 % cutoffs ran roughly 30 to 46 marks across classes 3 to 10, and 39 marks for classes 11 and 12 (sofworld.org/sof-imo-cut-2025-26). Against a sixty-mark paper for classes 5 and above, that is a cutoff in the region of half to three-quarters of the available marks, depending on class.
The exam pattern: one hour, and a quarter of the paper decided by five questions
All Level 1 papers run for one hour. The shape is consistent across every subject: classes 1 to 4 sit thirty-five questions for forty marks; classes 5 and above sit fifty questions for sixty marks. All figures from SOF's pattern page (sofworld.org/pattern-questions-and-marking-scheme).
SOF IMO, Level 1
| Classes | Sections | Questions / marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Logical Reasoning 10×1, Mathematical Reasoning 10×1, Everyday Mathematics 10×1, Achievers 5×2 | 35 Q / 40 M |
| 5-10 | Logical Reasoning 15×1, Mathematical Reasoning 20×1, Everyday Mathematics 10×1, Achievers 5×3 | 50 Q / 60 M |
| 11-12 | Logical Reasoning 15×1, Mathematical or Applied Mathematics 20×1, Everyday Mathematics 10×1, Achievers 5×3 | 50 Q / 60 M |
SOF ISO, Level 1
| Classes | Sections | Questions / marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Logical Reasoning 5×1, Science 25×1, Achievers 5×2 | 35 Q / 40 M |
| 5-10 | Logical Reasoning 10×1, Science 35×1, Achievers 5×3 | 50 Q / 60 M |
| 11-12 | Physics and Chemistry 25×1, Mathematics or Biology 20×1, Achievers 5×3 | 50 Q / 60 M |
SOF IEO, Level 1
| Classes | Sections | Questions / marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Word and Structure Knowledge 15×1, Reading 10×1, Spoken and Written Expression 5×1, Achievers 5×2 | 35 Q / 40 M |
| 5-12 | Word and Structure Knowledge 30×1, Reading 10×1, Spoken and Written Expression 5×1, Achievers 5×3 | 50 Q / 60 M |
The other five, in brief
SOF IGKO splits General Awareness, Current Affairs and Life Skills, plus Achievers. SOF ICSO carries a section named "AI, Robotics and Information Technology" from class 3 upwards, a recent syllabus addition worth knowing about. SOF ISSO runs undifferentiated Social Studies for classes 3 to 8, then splits into History, Geography, Political Science and Economics for classes 9 and 10. SOF IHO runs शब्द और व्याकरण बोध and रचनात्मक बोध, with the Achievers Section as मेधावी खंड. SOF ICO covers Economics, Business Studies and Accountancy for classes 11 and 12.
The Achievers Section is worth a flat 25 % of the paper, at every class level
This follows arithmetically from SOF's own tables, and as far as we can establish it is not stated anywhere else.
- Classes 1 to 4: five questions out of thirty-five, which is 14.3 % of the questions, carrying ten marks out of forty, which is 25 % of the paper.
- Classes 5 to 12: five questions out of fifty, which is 10 % of the questions, carrying fifteen marks out of sixty, which is 25 % of the paper.
Five questions decide a quarter of the score, at every level, in every subject. A child who answers forty-five of the first forty-five questions correctly and drops all five Achievers questions scores 45 out of 60, which is 75 %. A child who drops five ordinary questions instead and answers all five Achievers questions scores 55 out of 60, which is 92 %. Same number of wrong answers, seventeen percentage points apart.
That arithmetic should drive how preparation time is allocated, and in most preparation material it does not.
Logical Reasoning is a quarter of the IMO paper and disappears entirely at Level 2
Logical Reasoning carries 25 % of marks in SOF IMO at every class level up to 12. In ISO it carries 12.5 % for classes 1 to 4, 16.7 % for classes 5 to 10, and nothing at all for classes 11 and 12.
At Level 2, across IMO, ISO and IEO, the Logical Reasoning section disappears completely and its marks are absorbed into the subject section. Level 2 is pure subject knowledge plus Achievers. A child who qualified for Level 2 partly on reasoning strength is sitting a materially different paper the second time.
Level 2 pattern
| Exam | Classes 3-4 | Classes 5-10 | Classes 11-12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IMO | Mathematics 30×1 + Achievers 5×2 | Mathematics 45×1 + Achievers 5×3 | Mathematics 25×1, Mathematical or Applied Mathematics 20×1, Achievers 5×3 |
| ISO | Science 30×1 + Achievers 5×2 | Science 45×1 + Achievers 5×3 | Physics and Chemistry 25×1, Mathematics or Biology 20×1, Achievers 5×3 |
| IEO | Word and Structure Knowledge 20×1, Reading 10×1, Achievers 5×2 | Word and Structure Knowledge 35×1, Reading 10×1, Achievers 5×3 (classes 5-12) | as classes 5-12 |
Awards run to ₹50,000, and winners collect at one level only
Figures below are from SOF's IMO awards page (sofworld.org/imo/about-imo-exam/awards). SOF's structure is believed to be uniform across exams but we verified it for IMO specifically.
International rank, classes 3 to 12: Rank 1 ₹50,000, Rank 2 ₹25,000, Rank 3 ₹10,000, Rank 4 ₹7,500, Rank 5 ₹5,000, with gold, silver and bronze medals to the top three.
International rank, classes 1 to 2: Rank 1 ₹25,000, Rank 2 ₹10,000, Rank 3 ₹7,500, Rank 4 ₹5,000, Rank 5 ₹2,500.
Zonal rank: Rank 1 ₹5,000, Rank 2 ₹2,500, Rank 3 ₹1,000. Ranks 4 to 10 receive a gift worth ₹500. Ranks 11 to 25 receive a certificate.
School level: Gold Medals of Excellence to top performers, scaled to class registration numbers, plus a Student Progress Report to every participant.
The qualifier that matters: SOF states "the winners will be entitled to the higher level award/scholarship only". An international winner does not additionally collect the zonal award.
SOF states it spent ₹24 crore on awards, scholarships and felicitations in 2025-26.
Scale figures are self-reported, and nobody audits them
SOF's own FAQ pages currently display "29 Years of Trust", "99,499+ Schools", "72 Countries", "8.1+ Cr Assessments" and "8 Olympiads".
Two cautions on that last figure. "8.1+ Cr Assessments" means roughly 81 million assessment sittings, cumulatively, across all exams and all years. It is not an annual student headcount and should never be reported as one. Wikipedia's article on the foundation gives older figures of 91,000+ schools across 70+ countries, which is consistent with growth rather than contradiction.
More importantly: we found no independently audited participation figure for any Indian private olympiad body. Every number in this category, from SOF's 99,499 schools to CREST's claimed one million users, is self-reported by the organisation selling the exam. That is worth knowing when a school circular quotes participation as evidence of importance.
Frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in SOF olympiads? SOF's published pattern tables assign positive marks per question and specify no penalty. Unified Council states explicitly that NSTSE and UCO carry no negative marking. We were not able to locate an explicit SOF statement either way on its pattern page, so treat this as unconfirmed for SOF specifically rather than assuming.
Can my child register for SOF without going through school? No. SOF states that individual registrations are not accepted. If the school does not participate, consider Unified Council's NSTSE, which accepts individual registration at ₹350, or CREST, which is fully online.
Do classes 1 and 2 have a Level 2 exam? No. Level 2 runs for classes 3 to 12 only, and only for IMO, ISO and IEO. Students in classes 1 and 2 are ranked on Level 1 alone.
What is the Achievers Section and how much is it worth? It is the higher-order thinking section at the end of every SOF paper. It is five questions in every exam at every class level, worth two marks each for classes 1 to 4 and three marks each for classes 5 and above. Either way it carries 25 % of total marks.
How many marks are needed to qualify for Level 2? It varies by class, zone and year. For SOF IMO 2025-26, published top-5 % cutoffs ran roughly 30 to 46 marks across classes 3 to 10. But the top-5 % route is only one of three qualifying criteria, and a class topper at a school with at least ten candidates in that class qualifies at 50 % marks.
Is SOF IMO the International Mathematical Olympiad? No. They are unrelated competitions run by unrelated bodies, and the naming overlap causes a great deal of confusion. India's route to the International Mathematical Olympiad runs through IOQM, RMO and INMO. We have written that comparison in full separately.
When will SOF Level 2 2027 be held? SOF states dates will be announced by December 2026, tentatively on the second or third Sunday of February 2027. No date is confirmed as of 21 September 2026.
Last verified 21 September 2026 against sofworld.org. Exam dates, fees and exam names in this category change annually. If you are reading this after March 2027, check the primary source before acting on a date.