Sri Lanka's route to the International Olympiad in Linguistics starts here.
National selection for the International Olympiad in Linguistics
The Sri Lanka Logic Olympiad is a national competition in pure reasoning. Every problem is self-contained: everything you need to solve it is printed on the page. No prior study of logic or linguistics. No tutor. No advantage to any school.
One problem
Three languages
One answer
Online round
Opening round
OnlineEvery problem is written three times over and checked against itself, so no paper is easier than another.
English
English
සිංහල
Sinhala
தமிழ்
Tamil
About
Most olympiads reward the students who were taught the syllabus first. This one cannot, because there is no syllabus.
01
Each problem gives you an unfamiliar system (a puzzle, a pattern, a way of counting) and asks you to work out its rules from the evidence in front of you. Reading carefully is the whole skill.
02
Every problem is written in Sinhala, English and Tamil, and the versions are checked against one another so that no language is easier. You choose your language when you register, and you can see the others during the contest.
03
The strongest contestants are trained through the year and four will represent Sri Lanka at the International Olympiad in Linguistics in Bangkok in 2027, the country's first team.
Sample problems
This one is easier than a real contest problem, but it is the same idea: you are given a system you have never seen, and you work out how it behaves.
On the island of Naru, numbers are written like this:
Solution
The word ba attaches to a number word and multiplies it by five; anything written after it is added on. So nau-ba sol is (2 × 5) + 3 = 13, which matches.
(a) nau-ba is 2 × 5 = 10.
(b) 17 = (3 × 5) + 2, so 17 is sol-ba nau.
Format
Four steps, from signing up to the national team.
Fill in one short form. It takes about two minutes and costs nothing. Registration closes at the end of 28 November 2026.
On 5 December 2026 you log in to the competition platform and answer 25 multiple-choice questions in two hours, wherever you are in the country.
The highest scorers are invited to a written final in late January 2027. At most 30 places are offered.
Finalists join a training programme, and the national team is selected from it to compete in Bangkok in 2027.
The destination
Bangkok
2027
The International Olympiad in Linguistics, July 2027. Sri Lanka's first delegation takes its place among more than fifty countries.
IOL 2027
04
Places in the national team
Any student enrolled in a school in Sri Lanka may enter, in any grade and any stream: Arts, Commerce, Science, Technology. There is no minimum grade. Students in Grade 9 and above tend to find the papers most rewarding, but younger students are welcome and are ranked in the same list.
To be eligible for the national team, a contestant must meet the age and schooling rules of the international olympiad in the year they compete.
No, and this is the point of the competition. Every problem contains all the information needed to solve it. Students who have never studied logic regularly outperform students who have.
Yes. There is no entry fee, no fee for the final, and no fee for the training programme.
The one you think most comfortably in. The three papers are prepared together and checked against each other, so none is easier. During the contest you can look at the other versions if a sentence is unclear.
Any student enrolled at a school in Sri Lanka, in any grade and any stream. There is no minimum grade or age. Students who left school this year may sit the competition, but should check the age rules for international selection.
A computer, laptop or tablet with a browser, a working internet connection, and paper and a pen for rough work. A phone will work but is uncomfortable for two hours. If you cannot get online, write to us and we will try to arrange a supervised centre.
One form, two minutes, no fee. You will get an email confirming your place, and your login details a few days before the online round.