Olympiada of Spoken Russian - Format

Format

The format for the Olympiada comes from the oral examinations that were common in the Soviet educational system, as well as the Soviet Student Olympiads.

There are three sections to the Olympiada:

1. About yourself
   A conversation is carried on, where the interviewer asks the student questions, often about themselves, and the student answers. The student has access to the questions in advance, in order to prepare answers. On the lowest level, questions include "What is your name?" and "Where do you live?"; on the highest level, students are expected to describe themselves and their friends in detail, and discuss abstract ideas such as the nature of art.
2. Cultural knowledge
   A section of each preparatory packet contains texts about Russia and Russian culture. The student is expected to be familiar with the material, and able to answer questions about it. On the lowest level, this includes basic geography; on the highest level, texts about famous Russian literary figures are included.
3. Text/poem
   The preparatory packets include a selection of narrative texts and poems adapted to the student's expected ability level. Each student must prepare one narrative text, and be ready to read it aloud and answer questions about it. They must also memorize and recite a poem from the packet. The memorization requirement is a recent addition; in the past, the poem was treated the same as the text. At the lowest level, the poetry is adapted to suit the students' abilities, but at the highest level the student must memorize a full poem in the original by such famous Russian poets as Pushkin, Akhmatova, and Tsvetaeva.