Mar 13, 2020 05:15 PM
2031 Views
The questions are good for practice and give good exposure to most areas in Mathematics and Science. However, the online portal has many issues that have not been addressed since the last 3 years(I am a regular subscriber from 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20).
First, it does not store performance data, so it's of very little help when you want to review your child's performance after a few tests(like his or her weak areas which might need to be addressed separately). When you go back to a test you have to start afresh! So, when you have about 100+ mock/sample tests the website does not give you any support to download results or papers. You just cannot go back to review anything.
Some of the questions in Science have wrong answers and sometimes even the explanations are wrong! If the child is not watchful, he or she can get the concepts wrong. It requires careful supervision from parents or a tutor. This occurrence is about 1 in 25 questions(wrong answer, wrong or inadequate explanation).
Also, when the SOF exams are approaching(Level 1 is held during Oct-Dec) the website starts hanging up frequently. The portal becomes slow and the servers do not respond for long times. So what happens? You try to call the phone nos - and there is either no response or at times - if you are lucky - you get SMS in response - ''I am busy, can you msg me?''. It is difficult to fathom how such customer response is allowed to exist. Such apathy jeopardizes your preparation.
Some questions do not load properly, i.e., the alternatives do not show up on the screen(it remains blank even if you wait for good 15 minutes). Since this issue happens in a testing mode – a mock test or so, one has to refresh the page which often takes you back to question 1 – the student has to attempt the test from scratch.
This year, in 2019-20, they became too ambitious with their poor technology - they closed the subscription prematurely(subscription end date was 31st March 2020) even before the level 2 exams were over(on Feb 9, 2020). Probably, they assumed that their job is over after the Level 1 Exam – this shows that they cannot be relied upon. [My child got through level 1 and I was dependent on OlympiadTester for a part of the Science syllabus]. There was no response to phone numbers given on their website. Repeated attempts to log in were rejected by the server. Instead, the website took me to a new subscription page for 2020-21! There was no notice or warning that subscriptions would be terminated prematurely. So take your call when subscribing to Olympiad Tester.
It is far better to buy books prescribed by agencies conducting the tests. They are far more accurate 99.99% in their answer keys and have sample papers very close to the original exam. With previous years sample papers which are available with answer keys, one can make better preparation.
By avoiding Olympiad Tester, one can avoid unnecessary screen-time(approx 40 mins per test; and for 100 tests - 60+ hrs) and dependence on an unreliable agency. Cost, of course, is not a prime concern – the discounts are peanuts in the face of problems they create.
