Every year around this time, once IOQM and NMTC Stage 1 are done, the same question comes up from parents: is that it for this season, or is there more worth attempting? There genuinely is more — but not everything on the calendar fits every student, and picking based on "what's available" rather than "what actually fits" wastes preparation time on the wrong exam.
What's actually still open right now
- NSEJS (Grade 9-10, science): exam 22 November, but enrollment closes 14 September — the most time-urgent option on this list.
- SOF IMO and NSO (Grades 1-12, maths and science): Level 1 runs on one of three school-selected dates between late October and mid-December, with registration due up to 30 days before that date.
- Math Kangaroo and other SOF tracks (English, GK, Cyber): generally later in the academic year, worth noting now but not urgent this month.
How to actually decide, rather than attempting everything
The right filter isn't "which exams are open" — it's which exam matches the specific skill a student is already building. A student deep in IOQM-style number theory and combinatorics gets more value from SOF IMO, which rewards similar applied-logic thinking, than from NSEJS, which is a different subject area entirely. A student who found NMTC's written proof format engaging is better served staying in that maths-reasoning lane than switching to a science exam purely because it's available.
A common mistake: chasing certificate count instead of skill depth
Attempting every available olympiad in a season can look impressive on paper, but it usually means shallow, last-minute preparation for each one rather than genuine depth in any single track. A student who commits to one or two olympiads that align with their actual strengths — and prepares for them properly, with real diagnostic testing and correction cycles — typically outperforms a student who spreads thin attention across four or five.
Got a question about this?
Talk to an Olympiad Programs mentor directly — no form, just a quick WhatsApp chat.
A simple way to choose
- If your child is in Grade 9-10 and enjoys applied science reasoning, NSEJS is the most time-sensitive option — decide this week, since enrollment closes 14 September.
- If your child is already deep in maths-olympiad mode from IOQM or NMTC, SOF IMO extends that momentum in a lower-stakes, broader-syllabus format.
- If your child is younger (Grades 1-8) and hasn't attempted a national-level olympiad yet, SOF's IMO or NSO are the most accessible starting points on the current calendar.
What this looks like in practice
BuzzyBrains Academy runs a short diagnostic conversation with families at exactly this point in the season — reviewing what a student has already shown strength in through IOQM or NMTC, and recommending one or two olympiads worth the remaining season's attention, rather than defaulting to all of them.
If you're unsure what's worth attempting next, the Olympiad Programs page covers the full current-season lineup — a quick conversation is usually enough to narrow it down to the one or two that actually fit.
