Olympiads are all formed to take out the talent of striving students. They give them the push they need to recognize what hidden skills they have. The entire childhood of students should be about discoveries and exploration. They should go towards learning things that they are inclined towards. Olympiads can be very important for students in making those discoveries and exploring their hidden potential. An early realization of individual capacity would be a great start towards reaching adulthood. Teenage years can be confusing and distracting and students of class 7 can be extremely vulnerable to this.
They would hence need a direction to put energy on and Olympiads can serve as that very path that may provide the direction and it is highly known that the more students go for competitive skills, the more they will be confident and aware of themselves. The more they indulge in self-preparation, the more they excel in their knowledge about worldly affairs. Hence, it is very important for them to keep participating in such Olympiad opportunities. However, the benefits of the Olympiad cannot be counted but here are a few of them that are beneficial.
1. Opinionated – The Olympiads along with syllabus knowledge, provides certain skills that will help the students to be more opinionated as and when they grow. The more they experience, the more opinions they will have when they grow up. This is a very important part of an individual’s personality and in a country with such a diversity and abundance of alternatives, to be able to form opinions is very beneficial for any individual. Therefore, if not anything else, let this be a reason for their participation because eventually this will become a survival skill and will help make smart choices.
2. Time management – The students will learn how to manage their time giving equal importance to everything that they do. This will help them form their priorities. Students of this age are not that well informed or experienced with time management. They might have just written essays on it in their language subjects but this exam will allow them to experience and learn this skill in real life because this is the purpose of those essays, to help the students learn in one subject but implement it in any other opportunity that requires it. Students indulging in Olympiads are observed to be better at time management .
3. Results in Classrooms – Students participating in Olympiads pretty much study the same syllabus that they are taught in their class but that is just that it is a little more and usually more difficult and test skills that otherwise are not tested in the classroom due to their moderate level of exam. Now, if a student has prepared more than what they are being taught in the class then they will score more in their classroom results as well. Therefore, it is a double treat for everyone, for the students and the parents for the results that they get and for the teacher as they have to invest less energy and also because their students are doing excellent.
4. Chance to build confidence – Olympiads provides the students with an opportunity to build their confidence and engage with their analytical, logical and reasoning skills. Usually, at around teenage, students tend to lose greater confidence due to many reasons and it can be stressful for them. At such a time, Olympiads can be helpful to build their confidence. However, care should be taken that students are neither forced or pressured to pass or do well because if the student is not able to then they may feel useless and lost which is not good for any individual. Nevertheless, overall if done and prepared in a fun and interactive way then it can skyrocket their self-esteem and self-belief. They would develop greater faith in themselves. Also the more they participate in Olympiads, the more they will develop individually and mentally which is a good sign.
5. Helps build English vocabulary – the Olympiads are usually conducted nationally and internationally and therefore they are mostly done in English. English is becoming an increasing language of communication. The Olympiad requires the students to improve their English and learn new words for them to be able to understand the questions. This way they get prepared for good and fluent English, which of course is an added advantage because of its importance in communication throughout the world. Students because of their increased confidence together with new learnt words speak English fluently and with more confidence than other students.
6. Helps prepare for other competitive exams – The entire structure, functions, preparation, results and experience form what may be needed for many such other competitive exams. Many competitive exams require more or less similar skills that are tested in this exam and are more or less similar. Many other competitive exams are less difficult than this one. This ensures greater preparation. Students as and when they give such Olympiads should be considered to be half prepared for other competitive exams that one can think of at least at school level and at least know the strategy and approach for competitive exams higher than school level. Therefore, they will find it convenient to have a set, easy and light approach towards other exams and will be well prepared for the preparation that they would go about with for other exams. The syllabus can be difficult but the approach remains quite similar.
Students of class 7 can ensure all these advantages once they take up the exam and the preparation itself is not that difficult. All that they need to do is know the syllabus, study it, study some previous class syllabus and practice some SOF IMO Sample Papers Class 7. All these together will give them the above-mentioned benefits and would thereby ensure better individualistic growth of the students.