The areas covered in RMO and INMO are Basic Number theory, Algebra( especially Theory of Equations, Permutations and Combinations and Inequalities ), Geometry( with Trigonometry as a tool ). Functional equations is a topic which has traditionally not appeared in RMO but occasionally appears in INMO.
Answered in complete detail here – http://olympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in/about-olympiads/stages/mathematical-olympiad/
You can find the recent papers here – http://olympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in/how-to-prepare/past-papers/
and older papers here – https://www.isical.ac.in/~rmo/resources.html
The earlier, the better. Ideally, if a student begins preparing from Std. 7th/8th onwards, he/she would have ample time to be well-prepared for Pre-RMO by the end of the year and for RMO by the end of next year.
Below mentioned is a list of some of the most important books for Olympiad preparation. Please note that there are many, many more excellent books on each topic of varying levels of difficulty and a careful assessment of the child’s current predicament is required before making personalised recommendations.
Clearing RMO would probably be the most significant academic achievement of a child especially if he/she is in Std. 9th or 10th and would boost his/her confidence a great deal. Also, the entire journey and a positive end result would be certain to make him/her extremely passionate about Maths. The training would also be extremely helpful in preparing for prestigious undergraduate programs offered by CMI( Chennai Mathematical Institute ) and ISI( Indian Statistical Institute ).
In my opinion, preparing for RMO is quite useful for students who wish to take up Maths after 10th. Students of Std. 8th and 9th are generally exposed to elementary topics and questions in their schools which do little to push them beyond their comfort zone, to challenge them and force them to think . Students preparing for RMO are exposed to far tougher problems which force them to spend more time attempting them, thinking of novel and elegant approaches. This mental effort on their part is instrumental in honing their analytical skills over a period of time. In my experience, I find that students with such training have a much smoother transition from Std. 10th to 11th and perform way better as opposed to students with no such prior training.
Well, that depends on the inclination of the child. A child who likes Bio and is not very comfortable with Maths would have a better chance at JSO. However, students who are passionate about Maths would gravitate towards RMO. I have had a student who qualified both exams but that’s very rare and its generally advisable to focus on one exam, depending on the student’s aptitude.
The syllabus of RMO and INMO are quite different from the syllabus of IIT-JEE with only a few topics overlapping. Hence, a student of Std. 11th / 12th does not have a distinct edge over a student of Std. 9th / 10th. However, in case of other Olympiads, the syllabus is quite similar to that of JEE and hence a student aspiring to clear the 1st level must complete the entire syllabus of JEE Physics or Chemistry to stand a chance. Also, Std. 12th students are debarred from appearing for Maths Olympiad( but are allowed to appear for Chemistry and Physics olympiads ), making it even easier for students of Std. 9th and 10th to have a good chance at clearing RMO.
The above reasons ensure that each year, quite a few students from Std. 9th and 10th clear Maths Olympiad while students mostly clear Physics and Chemistry olympiads primarily in Std. 12th and occasionally in Std. 11th. In fact, last year, a 9th Std. student went on to represent India in IMO( International Maths Olympiad ).
If your child takes a keen interest in Maths and finds his/ her school Maths quite easy, I believe that its a very good time to start preparing for Maths Olympiad. With hardly any school pressure and a lot of time at the child’s disposal, its an ideal time to start preparing. The preparation for RMO is a bit involved and ideally, a couple of years of sincere, sustained effort would be required on a student’s part to have a good chance at clearing RMO.
Please find the official syllabus here – https://www.jeeadv.ac.in/Syllabus.html
There is no dearth of JEE preparation books. However, each book has its own limitations and a student does not have the time to read and practice from all available books and hence needs a competent teacher who can clarify concepts flawlessly and then expose the student to an exhaustive selection of topic-wise questions, selected and graded carefully. The onus is on the teacher to ensure that the students practice smartly rather than wasting time solving dozens of similar problems.
Nonetheless, at the moment, I recommend the set of 5 topic-wise textbooks by Cengage publications for internalising the basic concepts and practicing in a structured way initially.
I have been offering a 2 year program for IIT-JEE( mains and advanced ) for almost a decade now. This course begins typically in mid-May or June when the students just enter into 11th and start their JEE preparation and lasts till all their important competitive exams are over. I have had a remarkable track record here, which can be seen in my Results and Testimonials sections.
Apart from this, I have also been offering foundation courses for JEE for which I take students in 9th /10th, the idea being training them to think analytically and develop a mathematical temperament. Most topics covered here are already familiar for students but we go in a lot more depth and force students to think, thus striving to bridge the gap between school and JEE level by the time the child enters 11th grade.
Please note that at the moment, I take all my courses online and that is how I intend it to be going forward.
Before I address this question, let us understand how do students typically start their JEE preparation. Most students are completely occupied with their school curriculum and exams till the 10th board exams and then suddenly enrol for a 2 year course at an institute to kickstart their JEE preparation.
Now, most students with a myopic focus on their school curriculum practice exclusively from their school textbooks. These are full of a plethora of straight-forward, formula-based questions which do precious little to develop their analytical thinking and mathematical reasoning. From my experience over a decade, I have found that most students have a very hard time coping with the scope ,depth and difficulty of the JEE syllabus and the transition from board level to JEE level can be really daunting for them.
With the above context, its imperative for parents to realise that they need to ensure that their child is exposed to courses that train him/ her to think analytically and deeply before he/ she moves to 11th. I believe that students should start latest by the beginning of 10th Std. so that they have some time to develop and hone their mathematical reasoning which would be instrumental in ensuring a smooth and confident transition from board level to JEE preparation.
Well, to be really blunt, most institutes do not have really competent teachers. There is high attrition rate at most institutes and there is no guarantee that the same teacher may teach the entire course to your child. In a rare institute, even where teachers are good and stable, the batches are quite large and heterogeneous. An interactive interaction with the teacher is very limited in such a situation, thus adversely affecting the learning process. Further, due to the difference in the aptitude of the students of the batch, the same lecture might be perceived as very easy for some and challenging for some others. Hence, virtually, no child is learning at his or her ideal pace.
In contrast, consider learning in a small group of similar peers from an established expert with a consistent, proven track record .There would be an unmistakable difference in quality of teaching and personal attention to the needs of each child which would in due course of time be starkly visible in the performance of the child.
First of all, I think that online vs offline is a false dichotomy. Online and offline are just separate mediums and they have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Offline training is definitely not great
Online training can be amazing
In fact, my last JEE batch which passed out in 2022 was completely taken online as it started in late 2020( lockdown ) and many of my students got into IITs with Ekansh( AIR 49 ), Archit( AIR 141 ) and Adit( AIR 343 ) being the top performers. They have shared their experiences in their testimonial videos.
