| Examinations | First and Second Stage | Third Stage |
| NSEA and INAO | Is broadly equivalent to senior secondary level (up to and including Class XII) of CBSE. There will be greater emphasis on Physics, Mathematics and Elementary Astronomy. | Equivalent to respective International Olympiad Syllabus. |
| NSEB and INBO | Is broadly equivalent to senior secondary level (up to and including Class XII) of CBSE. | |
| NSEC and INChO | Is broadly equivalent to senior secondary level (up to and including Class XII) of CBSE. | |
| NSEJS and INJSO | Is broadly equivalent to secondary school level (up to and including Class X) of CBSE. All the basic subjects of science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) and Mathematics may have roughly equal emphasis. | |
| NSEP and INPhO | Is broadly equivalent to senior secondary level (up to and including Class XII) of CBSE. |
International Olympiad syllabus:
International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics
International Biology Olympiad
International Chemistry Olympiad
The syllabus for Mathematical Olympiad (regional, national and international) is pre-degree college mathematics. The areas covered are arithmetic of integers, geometry, quadratic equations and expressions, trigonometry, co-ordinate geometry, the system of linear equations, permutations and combination, factorization of polynomial, inequalities, elementary combinatorics, probability theory and number theory, finite series, and complex numbers, and elementary graph theory. The syllabus does not include calculus and statistics. The major areas from which problems are given are algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory. The syllabus is in a sense spread over Class XI to Class XII levels, but the problems under each topic involve a high level of difficulty and sophistication. The difficulty level increases from RMO to INMO to IMO.