India's biggest school maths exam — and the source of the most common name confusion in competition maths.
Not what you were looking for? This is NOT the International Mathematical Olympiad — the world championship where countries send teams of six for two days of proof problems. This is the Science Olympiad Foundation's school exam, run in India: a one-hour multiple-choice paper sat class by class. Both are called 'IMO' and they are entirely unrelated. If someone says a student 'qualified for the IMO', establish which one is meant.
Classes 1-12, through a SOF-registered school. Students may sit only their own class's paper. Level 2 is for classes 3-12 only — there is no Level 2 for classes 1 and 2. source
Level 1 splits into Logical Reasoning, Mathematical Reasoning, Everyday Mathematics and an Achievers Section, with Achievers questions worth double or triple. Classes 1-4 sit 35 questions for 40 marks; Classes 5-12 sit 50 for 60. Level 2 is a different shape again — Classes 5-10 sit 45 Mathematics questions plus 5 Achievers for 60 marks. source
The real IMO is the world championship: 110 countries send teams of six, who sit six proof problems over two days for 42 marks, and you get there by winning your national olympiad. SOF's IMO is a one-hour multiple-choice paper sat class by class through Indian schools for INR 170. Both use the same three letters. When a coaching centre advertises 'IMO results', this is almost always the one they mean.
A persistent rumour says SOF dropped Level 2 for maths. It did not. The actual rule is narrower: Level 2 runs for classes 3-12, and classes 1 and 2 have no Level 2 at all, so they are ranked on Level 1 alone. The class-wise top 5% of Level 1 go through.
The word 'negative' appears nowhere on SOF's IMO page, its marking scheme, or its FAQs — for either level. The widely-repeated 'no negative marking in Level 2' traces to a 2018 PDF covering IEO, NSO and IMO together, and SOF's current-year guidelines page is inaccessible. We are not going to state a current rule on eight-year-old, non-specific evidence.
SOF's site shows '72' and 'Countries' as a stat-block figure with no audit trail, and the number covers all eight SOF olympiads rather than IMO alone. The fee structure — India, Bhutan and Nepal in one bracket, everywhere else in another — and school-based delivery point to an overwhelmingly Indian base with Gulf and expat pockets.
Papers are copyright of the organiser, so we point you to the source rather than hosting copies.
Original CREST Champs papers modelled on this competition's published format — our own content, not the organiser's papers, with full answer keys and worked solutions included.
No, and this is the most common confusion in competition maths. The real IMO is the world championship — teams of six per country, six proof problems over two days, reached by winning your national olympiad, which in India means IOQM then RMO then INMO. SOF's IMO is a one-hour multiple-choice school exam for classes 1-12. They share nothing but the acronym.
No. Level 2 runs for classes 3-12; classes 1 and 2 simply do not have one and are ranked on Level 1. The class-wise top 5% from Level 1 are selected.
SOF does not say — not on the IMO page, not on the marking scheme, and not in the FAQs, for either level. Guides that state there is none are relying on a 2018 document covering several olympiads at once. Ask SOF if it matters.