Mimamsa 2018

About Us

Mimamsa is a National level annual Science Quiz organized by the students of IISER Pune for students at the undergraduate level. It is a two-stage event : the Prelims - a written exam with sections from the 4 major disciplines of Science, takes place in January at several centres across India. The top 4 teams selected through the Prelims qualify for the Mains - which is comprised of brain-racking quizzing sessions spread over a pleasant March weekend. The questions are designed to investigate, rather than to simply have an answer, and specifically to promote debate and discussion among teams and the judges. Mimamsa is arguably one of the toughest Science Quizzes at the Undergraduate Level, and tests the concepts of its participants, rather than simply facts, leading its witnesses to go back to the basics and unravel the science behind the science we study.

Mimamsa was conceptualised and founded by Dr. Sutirth Dey - a faculty member in the Biology Department at IISER Pune. The underlying philosophy behind the quiz lies in putting forth arguments and counter-arguments; to arrive at an answer based on deduction and logic, and to debate upon the answers given by other teams. The belief is that questions in science do not demand “correct” answers - they require original thinking.

The first edition of Mimamsa was organised on January 10, 2009, in Pune, as a small inter-college event. We have come a long way since then, and evolved considerably over time. This year marks the 10th Edition of Mimamsa. The 2017 edition of the Prelims saw a record participation of 276 teams in 12 centres across India – Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Vadodara, Bhopal, Kochi, Bhubaneshwar and Tirupati. The 2018 chapter will have a total of 15 centers across India - including the previous 12 centres and Guwahati, Mohali and Varanasi as three new centres.

A college may send any number of teams consisting of four students per team.
All members of a team must be students of the same college.
Since the competition will involve questions from different disciplines of science viz. Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, it is suggested that the teams be chosen to ensure diversity in terms of expertise.
Team members must be from 1st, 2nd or 3rd year of B.Sc., B.Tech., MBBS, Integrated Masters or equivalent programmes. M.Sc. students or 4th year and above students of any integrated course including B.Tech and other 4 year courses are not allowed.
Teams can decide their choice of centres at the time of registration. For all centres prelims will take place only if at least ten teams choose that center. Although efforts shall be made to allot teams to the centre of their choice, IISER-Pune reserves the right of assigning a team to a centre that is different from the one mentioned during registration. However, in all such cases, the teams shall be informed well in advance.
There is no entry fee for participating in Mimamsa.
All participants need to carry their college ID cards for verification.
At the venue of the Prelims, teams must produce completely filled bona fide forms, which can be downloaded from the website at the time of Registration.
Participants are allowed to use (non-graphing) Scientific Calculators during the prelims.
All participants in the prelims will be awarded participation certificates.
Top team from each centre (barring the finalists) will also receive a Centre Topper certificates.
Top team from each subject viz. Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Biology, all over the country (barring the finalists) will also receive Subject Topper certificates.