USA Biology Olympiad

The USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) is a prestigious national competition sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education. Each year, twenty finalists gather in Virginia for a two-week training camp. At the end of this camp, four people are selected as the American team to compete in the International Biology Olympiad.

Organization

USABO finalists are selected in two rounds of tests. The open exam is a short, multiple-choice exam open to all high school students. Competitors in roughly the top ten percent move on to a semifinal exam. This second exam consists of another short multiple-choice section, followed by a short answer/matching section. The twenty highest scorers move on to the USABO finals. After the two-week training camp, the finalists undergo a day of practical examinations and a day of theoretical testing similar, in some respects, to the semifinal examination; however, the finals exam is far more comprehensive.

In 2007, the USABO had more participants than ever before, with 8,798 students from 247 schools (including some overseas) registering for the open exam. Of these participants, 574 were named semifinalists; they hailed from 161 schools, spanning 35 states (as well as Hong Kong). Now only in its fifth year (a very young age among USA Olympiads), the USABO enjoys rising popularity with American students as each annual competition at the IBO brings more recognition to the USABO program's successes.

USA Team Members attending IBO

2003 - Minsk, Belarus Michael Xiang - 21st place, Silver Kay Aull - 27th place, Silver Kelley Harris - 62nd place, Bronze Victor Li - 64th place, Bronze

2004 - Brisbane, Australia Kay Aull - 3rd place, Gold Brad Hargreaves - 5th place, Gold Clinton Hansen - 7th place, Gold ZeNan Chang - 15th place, Gold

2005 - Beijing, China Robin Zhou - 9th place, Gold Chris Krueger - 10th place, Gold Steven Hao - 21st place, Silver Grace Eckhoff - 24th place, Silver

2006 - Río Cuarto, Argentina Jawon Lee - 4th place, Gold Allen Lin - 10th place, Gold Jason Wu - 29th place, Silver Meng Xiao He - 49th place, Silver

2007 - Saskatoon, Canada Meng Xiao He - 2nd place, Gold Helen Yang - 9th place, Gold Barry Liu - 10th place, Gold Mark Shteyn - 11th place, Gold

2008 - Mumbai, India Jonathan Liang - 3rd place, Gold David Huang - 17th place, Gold Seungsoo Kim - 19th place, Gold Jonathan Gootenberg - 21st place, Gold

2009 - Tsukuba, Japan

External links

* [http://www.cee.org/usabo/index.shtml USA Biology Olympiad]