The Homi Bhaba Centre for Education has already postponed the first stage of the Indian Olympiad Qualifier in Mathematics (IOQM). Initially, the exam was supposed to be held on January 09 but owing to the third wave of the pandemic, the exam date stands postponement. With this postponement, there will now be some procedural changes in the entire selection process.
Firstly, the Indian National Mathematical Olympiad (INMO) that was scheduled for February 27 now stands cancelled. This decision was made keeping in mind the health safety of the students. As such, it has now been replaced with a new component. This is somewhat an alternative selection scheme that will be used to select students for the International Mathematical Olympiad Training Camp (IMOTC) 2022.
Selection Scheme
Students will now be selected as per a single examination known as the Indian Olympiad Qualifier in Mathematics or IOQM. This examination is going to be held in a single setting for a total duration of 04 hours. There will be two parts in the exam, namely Part A and Part B.
- In Part A, there will be 12 questions followed by an OMR-based pattern. A duration of 75 minutes will be given to the students. For each question in this part, there will be an integer answer within the range of 00-99. The overall pattern is similar to a reduced version of the original IOQM that was planned earlier.
- The second part or Part B will follow a subjective-type pattern. There will be three questions at the INMO level for which a duration of 150 minutes will be given.
Eligibility Criteria
The eligibility criteria is divided into two categories of students. The first one is Category J and the second one is Category S.
1. Category J – Candidates from this category who had registered for the test were already issued hall tickets for the exam that was supposed to be held on January 09. However, they are now eligible to appear for the IOQM examination. Once the date for the test is announced, fresh admit cards will be issued to them.
2. Category S – Students who were exempted from IOQM scheduled on January 09 will be eligible to appear for INMO 2022 scheduled on February 27. However, they must be an INMO awardee in 2021 or earlier and are still eligible for IMO 2022. Alternatively, they must be an INMO merit awardee in 2021 and should appear for the IOQM examination for selection to IMOTC 2022.
