Harvard Undergraduate Science Olympiad India HUSO India Open Round 1

OVERVIEW

All five subjects (Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science) will be provided to you in one singular exam, which you have 3 hours to complete. Your final score will be based on your best four scaled section scores. Each section is weighed equally. All questions are multiple-choice and have 5 possible answers and exactly 1 correct answer. Each correct answer will give you 1 point. You will lose 0.25 points for an incorrect answer. You will receive 0 points for a question left blank

HUSO Olympiad Structure

  • This round will be an online exam of 3 hours conducted for both categories:

    14th November 2026 (For Category 1): Grades 7-8/Years 8 and 9
    Timings: To be announced later

    15th November 2026 (For Category 2): Grades 9-10/Years 10 and 11
    Timings: To be announced later

Exam Format

The exam will be split into two divisions, one for 7-8th grade and one for 9-10

Students will have 3 hours for the entire exam which they may distribute among the sections as they wish

There are 5 sections: Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Math, Physics

All questions will be multiple choice with 5 answer choices (A, B, C, D, E)

Scientific (non-graphing, non-programmable) calculator, ruler, and compass will be allowed

Reference sheets for Chemistry and Physics are available in their respective syllabi. Common formulas will not be provided.

It is strongly recommended to spread your time evenly across the topics.

Each section is designed to have a wide range of difficulties, and students should not expect to finish all questions. Students should do the best they can.

It is strongly recommended to look at every question, because easier questions may appear randomly.

Reference Material

Reference sheets for Chemistry and Physics are available in their respective syllabi. Common formulas will not be provided.

Scoring

On each section (Chemistry, Maths, Biology, Physics, Earth Science), each student’s raw section score (# of correct answers - 0.25 * number of incorrect answers) will be calculated

You will receive 0 points for a question left blank

A student’s scaled section score is defined as the z-score of their raw score on that section compared to the other students. In other words,

Scaled section score=

Student's raw section score - Mean raw section score across testtakers

Standard Deviation of raw section scores across testtakers

A student’s total score is defined as the sum of their best four scaled section scores (the worst section will be dropped). Students will be awarded prizes and qualification for the Final Camp based on their total scores