NSO Results- The National Science Olympiad (NSO) organised by the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF) registers massive participation each year. A huge number of school students from around the country participate in the Olympiad in order to assess their academic growth. NSO offers the participating students an opportunity to compare themselves with other students and assess their own strengths and weaknesses. Class 1 to 12 students take part in this scientific-reasoning and logical-ability based exam every year. The top-performing students in the NSO results are also rewarded with cash prizes and medals.

For the year 2020-21, the Level 1 exam of NSO took place in multiple sittings in the month of December, January and February and the Level 2 may be conducted based on the prevalent COVID-19 conditions. Many students struggle to find the right information when it comes to checking NSO results and other such details. This article has been written with the sole purpose of helping the NSO participants get clear information about the NSO results including key dates, important links, and cut off marks. Information about where and how to check the results can also be found in this article.

NSO Results – Key Dates

Students must be aware of the fact that NSO takes place in two levels – Level 1 and Level 2 exam. The Level 1 exam is open to students of class 1 to 12 without any requirement for minimum marks. Those performing well in Level 1 then qualify for the Level 2 exam. The table below discusses the key dates concerning the NSO exam and NSO results.

Key dates for NSO

Sr. No.	Event	Key dates*
1.	Deadline for applying	A minimum of 30 days ahead of the exam
2.	NSO exam (Level 1)	December, January and February
3.	NSO result (Level 1)	By end of March
4.	NSO exam (Level 2)	To be decided
5.	NSO result (Level 2)	To be decided

*The dates may change on the discretion of the SOF.

The specific dates for NSO 2020-21 can be found in the table below.

Key dates for NSO 2020-21

Sr. No.	Event	Key dates
1.	Application deadline	1 October 2018
2.	NSO exam (Level 1)	Set A – 19th and 20th December 2020 Set B – 09th and 10th January 2021 Set C – 30th and 31st January 2021 Set D – 13th February 2021
3.	NSO result (Level 1)	Be end of March
4.	NSO exam (Level 2)	To be decided
5.	NSO result (Level 2)	To be decided

*The dates may change on the discretion of the SOF.

NSO Results – How to check

The NSO results for Level 1 and 2, as discussed above, are declared in December and March, respectively. However, for 2020-21, the results may get delayed considering the current pandemic situation. Declared within 8 weeks of the exam, the NSO results are sent directly to the schools registered with the SOF. In case, a school is not registered with the SOF, it can request the SOF for providing the results. Moreover, the results are uploaded on the website of SOF where anyone can easily access them. Thus, a participant can either contact his/her respective school or visit the website of SOF to get the NSO results.

To check the NSO results through the SOF website, one can follow the below steps:

1. Visit the official website of SOF for checking the result.
2. Select the Olympiad as ‘SOF NSO’ using the drop-down menu.
3. Enter the candidate roll number.
4. Provide the answer to a Math question to solve the Captcha.
5. Click on ‘View Results’ to display the results of Level 1 exam.
6. Participants can also save the results for future reference by taking a print out of the results.

It must be kept in mind that SOF doesn’t authorize any third party to share the NSO results. So, participants should be careful of any non-authorized parties claiming to provide authentic results.

NSO Results – Student Performance Report

The NSO results of Level 1 exam also offer the participants a detailed analysis of their performance in the form a Student Performance Report (SPR).  An SPR helps students and their parents/guardians assess their strengths and weaknesses. It has six sections that talk in detail about the various aspects of the participant’s performance.

1. Section A consists of the candidate’s marks and rank achieved in School/City/Zone/International level.
2. Section B provides a section-wise performance report of the candidate.
3. Section C offers the correct answers to questions asked in the Olympiad exam, the answers given by the student and performance comparison of the student’s answers vs other students in the Zone and at the International level
4. Section D provides a percentage score analysis of the student with a comparison with the Class, City, Zone and International level
5. Section E offers a comparison of average marks analysis at the School, City, Zone and International level
6. Section F is a comparison of the student’s performance in the Olympiad exams during the past 8 years

NSO Results – Cut off for 2020-21

The students participating in the Level 1 exam need to score a minimum cut off marks in order to qualify for the Level 2 exam. The SOF NSO cut off marks are declared class wise. In situations where two students score the same marks, the weightage will be given to different sections in the following manner:

Weightage for Class 1 to 10

• Achievers section (M3)
• Science (M2)
• Logical reasoning (M1)

Weightage for Class 11 and 12

• Achievers section (M3)
• Physics (M1)
• Chemistry (M2)
• Science (Math/Bio) [M4]

In terms of the cut-off marks to qualify for the Level 2 exam, the tables below provide all the relevant details:

Cut off marks for Class 3 to 12

Class	Total marks	Achievers section – M3	Science – M2	Logical reasoning – M1
3rd	30	4	22	4
4th	27	6	16	5
5th	40	9	22	9
6th	39	6	24	9
7th	39	3	27	9
8th	37	9	24	4
9th	38	9	21	8
10th	39	15	19	5

Cut off marks for Class 11 and 12

Class	Total marks	Achievers section – M3	Physics – M1	Chemistry – M2	Science (Math/Bio) – M4
11th	30	9	7	5	9
12th	33	9	5	7	12

 The cut-off marks discussed in the tables above are for qualifying for the Level 2 exam. However, it must be noted that Class 1 and 2 students are judged on the basis of the Level 1 exam only and thus do not participate in Level 2. The cut off marks are used for determining class wise top 5% students for the Level 2 exam.

In addition to these top 5% students, the following also qualify for the Level 2 exam:

• Class toppers, where at least 10 students from a class appeared for SOF NSO and scored 50% or more marks.
• Top 25 rank holders, class-wise, from each Zone.

In case you want to know more about NSO, including key dates, eligibility, awards offered and application process etc., check out the article ‘NSO – All about the National Science Olympiad’.