Junior Science Olympiad: Preparation

The International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) is a major international academical competition held annually and the only international academical competition that covers physics, chemistry and biology at the same time. For the competition, each country may only send a team of up to 6 students, 15 or younger, and 3 official team leaders. Bangladesh has recently received the membership of IJSO.

This article is for the future IJSO participants. 

IJSO Preparation

Book Suggestion

1. Biology by EP Solomon, LR Berg and DW Martin

2. General Chemistry by Ebbing

3. College Physics by Alan Giambattista, Betty McCarthy Richardson, and Robert C. Richardson

4. Physics by by John D. Cutnell, Kenneth W. Johnson

Resources

1. IJSO Past Papers

    Check out the solutions carefully.

2. Hong Kong IJSO Training Manual 

   Check out each of the training manual carefully. This is extremely helpful.

3. Indian Junior Science Olympiad Papers

    INJSO Question Papers and Model Solutions.

4. IJSO Syllabus

Science Skills and Safety:

·         Understanding scientific methods and working in the laboratory.

·         Identify and use basic laboratory equipment

·         Draw scientific diagrams of apparatus

·         Follow instructions in the laboratory

·         Follow safety techniques when using equipment

·         Measure temperature and volume

·         Make observations using the five senses

·         Make inferences based on observations

·         Describe the scientific method

·         Record a science experiment using standard headings

·         Collect, represent and interpret data in tables and graphs

·         Use scientific language

How to win a Gold Medal at International Physics Olympiad (IPhO)?

What is required to be able to grasp the ideas of physics and solve problems so well that you could get a gold medal at IPhO? Do you need just to be gifted? Of course not, there are other students, who have solved a lot of problems – while you are thinking hard trying to "invent a bicycle", they are already writing the solution, because they had solved a similar problem earlier. Is it enough to solve a lot of problems and read a lot of problem solutions? Most often, no. Just solving or reading solutions, of course, will increase your technical skills, but you also need to think over, what were the main ideas which made it possible to solve the problem, and take these ideas into your permanent arsenal; if you solve too many problems, you don't have time to think over. Is it possible to learn "the art of problem solving" and if yes then how? Well, 99% of the Olympiad problems are solved using a rather limited set of ideas (for mathematics, that set is somewhat larger). So, if you acquire those ideas well enough – so that you can recognize them even if they are carefully hidden – then the IPhO gold will be yours! Do not worry, no-one expects you to discover a solving technique which has been never seen before, because that would be an achievement worth of a Nobel Prize!

300+ Scientific Olympiad Paper Links [Past Olympiad Papers]

Based On Country

• Bangladesh Mathematics Olympiad
• Bangladesh Physics Olympiad
• Bangladesh Informatics Olympia

• British Mathematics Olympiad
• British Physics Olympiad
• UK Chemistry Olympiad
• British Informatics Olympiad
• British Biology Olympiad

• South African Mathematics Olympiad
• South African Physics Olympiad

• Sri Lankan Mathematics Olympiad
• Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad
• Sri Lankan Physics Olympiad
• Sri Lankan Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad