Stage II:

 

ELIGIBILITY FOR INO

The aim of the first stage examination is to have a wide reach, to progressively increase this reach and to attain nationwide representation for Stage II without overly compromising on merit. Hence the selection for the Stage II examinations, i.e., Indian National Olympiad Examinations (INOs) is based on the following scheme.

 

(a) Eligibility Clause: To be eligible for the Stage II INO exam leading to the International Olympiad, a candidate must secure a score equal to or greater than a Minimum Admissible Score (MAS). The MAS for a given subject will be 50% of the average of the top ten scores in that subject rounded off to the nearest lower integer.

 

(b) Merit Index Clause: There will be a high score called the Merit Index (MI) associated with each subject in Olympiads. The MI in a subject is defined as 80% of the average of the top ten scores in that subject rounded off to the nearest lower integer. All students with ascore equal to or greater than merit index MI for the subject will automatically qualify for INO Stage II examination in that subject. For example, if the average of top ten scores in a certain subject is 92, then 80% of this is 73.6. Then the MI in that subject will be 73. All candidates with a score equal to or above 73 in that subject will automatically qualify for INO stage II.

 

(c) Proportional Representation Clause: Students from all States and UTs need to be encouraged to appear for the first stage examination and a nationwide representation for INO Stage II is desirable. The quota for each State/UT used in National Talent Search Examination (NTSE) 2013-14, a nationwide competitive examination will be used as the baseline for calculating the number of students qualifying for Stage II INO in every subject from centres in that State or UT. Suppose the NTSE quota is S for a State, and the total for all States and UTs is T, then the total number of students to be selected to INO Stage II from that State would be S/T times 300, rounded off to the nearest higher integer. This number will include those selected on the basis of the Merit Index. In the event of tie at the last position in the list, all students with same marks at this position will qualify to appear for the INO Stage II examination. The selected students must nevertheless satisfy the eligibility clause. The number to be selected from all the centres in each State or UT will be displayed on the IAPT and HBCSE websites (www.iapt.org.in; olympiads.hbcse.tifr.res.in).

 

(d) Minimum Representation Clause: Notwithstanding the proportional representation clause the number of students selected for INO from each State and UT must be at least one, provided that the eligibility clause is satisfied.

 

Stage III:

 

SELECTION PROCEDURE FOR OCSCs:

 

The exact number of students to be selected for OCSC in each subject will be announced before the INO examinations. Typically this number is around 35 in Biology, Chemistry, Junior Science and Physics, and around 50 in Astronomy. In the event there is a tie at the last position in the merit list of the respective INO all students with the same marks at the last position will qualify to be selected for the OCSC.

 

For Astronomy, a target number of 25 students will be selected from each of groups A and B (see above), according to respective order of merit in INAO. Thus a total of 50 students will be selected for OCSC-Astronomy. Selection of the team to represent India in IOAA will NOT be based on the above groups, but will be done purely on the basis of a combined merit list of all students attending OCSC-Astronomy.

 

The following procedure will be applied for selection of students for OCSCs.

 

In a given year, a student can participate in the orientation/ training/ selection of only one subject including Mathematics (OCSC for the five science subjects, or International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp (IMOTC)) according to a preference order decided by the student himself/herself. A student who qualifies in more than one subject (on the basis of his/her performance in INO or Indian National Mathematical Olympiad (INMO)) will be invited to the OCSC that is ranked highest in his/her preference list. The procedure is as follows:

 

• Before INO/INMO: A student who qualifies to appear in more than one subject in INO/INMO will be asked to arrange the subjects in order of preference of attending the OCSC/IMOTC (and therefore competing for selection in the international team).This preference will have to be indicated during the mandatory registration for INO. This will not affect in any way the evaluation of his/her INO/INMO performance in any subject.

 

• After INO/INMO: A target number of students will be invited to the OCSC camp of each subject. The students in each subject will be assigned a rank according to his/her performance in the respective INO/INMO.

 

If a student obtains qualifying marks in INO in multiple subjects, he/she will be included only in the OCSC/IMOTC for the subject which figures highest in his/her preference list among the subjects in which he/she has obtained qualifying marks. His/her name will not be considered for OCSC/IMOTC in the other subjects, and the next students in those subjects will be considered, till the target number of students is reached in each subject.

 

Irrespective of selection or participation in OCSC/IMOTC, the student will receive a Certificate of Merit in every subject in which his/her score is equal to or higher than the score of the last selected student in that subject.

 

The process of selection is illustrated below in an example with three possible cases. We consider the example of a student, Amita, who has qualified for INO in Astronomy, Physics and Biology. Prior to INO, she declares her preference in the order: Physics, Biology, Astronomy. In this example, the target number of students in each subject is 35.

 

Case 1: Based on her INO performance, Amita is ranked 17th in Physics, 15th in Biology and 4th in Astronomy. She will be selected in Physics OCSC and her name will not be included in Biology or Astronomy OCSCs. As a result, all the students ranked below her in Biology and Astronomy will gain one rank while being considered for OCSC selection. Amita will receive a certificate of merit in all three subjects.

 

Case 2: Amita is ranked 80th in Physics, 15th in Biology and 4th in Astronomy. She is unlikely to be selected for Physics OCSC because her rank is too low to be upgraded to less than 35. She will now be selected in Biology OCSC, and not for Astronomy. She will receive a certificate of merit in Biology and Astronomy.

 

Case 3: Amita is ranked 37th in Physics, 15th in Biology and 4th in Astronomy. She is initially not eligible for Physics, but has qualified for Biology and Astronomy. However, it so happens that two students ranked above her in Physics get selected in some other subject based on their preferences. Since their names are now removed from the Physics list, Amita’s rank goes up to 35, and she becomes eligible for Physics which is her first preference. Therefore she gets selected in Physics, and not in Biology or Astronomy. She will receive a certificate of merit in all three subjects.