<p>Hey guys, this thread can be used to discuss all things pertinent to the USABO and biology in general. This will be my first time taking this test so I look forward to it. If any veteran test takers could get things started, that would be great. Lets talk bio!</p>
<p>Each of the seven topics is covered in each of the four exams:
- Animal anatomy and physiology: 25%
- Cell Biology: 20%
- Genetics and Evolution: 20%
- Plant anatomy and physiology: 15%
- Ecology: 10%
- Ethology: 5%
- Biosystematics: 5%</p>
<p>USABO Open exam 2004 and 2006 questions and answer are available on the web by google.
There are many links and here is one of them
[url=<a href=“http://www.sanjuan.edu/webpages/dkaragianes/resources.cfm?subpage=95524]USABO[/url”>http://www.sanjuan.edu/webpages/dkaragianes/resources.cfm?subpage=95524]USABO[/url</a>]
And if you search the web, you also find all kind of exam from other countries’ Biology Olympiad and International Olympiad Exams.</p>
<p>The past exams can be get by asking nicely to nice people or by trading. For example, if you ask me nicely, I will send you one or some past exams I have. It’s also nice if someone send me some exams that I don’t have. It really turn me off by someone who is not honest. What useful for society if you are smart and not honest !</p>
<p>Textbooks
The overall content of the USABO exams comes from the leading textbook in biology, Campbell and Reece’s Biology. The best thing students can do to prepare for the competition is thoroughly study the textbook. Students should attempt to learn the charts and formulas in the book and be able to reproduce them.
Biology (6th Edition)
- by Neil A. Campbell (Author), Jane B. Reece (Author)
- Hardcover: 1175 pages; Dimensions (inches): 1.81 x 11.02 x 9.38
- Publisher: Pearson Higher Education; 6th edition (December 11, 2001)
- ISBN: 0805366245
Additional References
Biology - by Peter Raven, George B. Johnson, Jonathan Losos, Susan Singer
- Hardcover: 1238 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill College; 7 th edition (revised 2005)
- ISBN: 0072921641
Biochemistry - by Donald Voet (Author), Judith G. Voet (Author)
- Hardcover: 1664 pages
- Publisher: Winway Corporation; 3rd edition (December 2003)
- ISBN: 047119350X
Biology of Plants - by Peter H. Raven, Ray F. Evert, Susan E. Eichhorn
- Hardcover: 944 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 1.45 x 11.20 x 9.42
- Publisher: W H Freeman & Co.; 6th edition (January 1999)
- ISBN: 1572590416
Life: The Science of Biology (6th Edition) - by Purves, Orians, Heller and Sadava
- Hardcover: 1100 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 1.61 x 11.21 x 9.12
- Publisher: W H Freeman & Co.; 6th edition (December 2000)
- ISBN: 0716738732
Modern Genetic Analysis: Integrating Genes and Genomes - by Anthony J. F. Griffiths, William M. Gelbart, Richard C. Lewontin, Jeffrey H. Mille
- Hardcover: 736 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 1.25 x 1.75 x 8.50
- Publisher: W H Freeman & Co.; 2nd edition (March 2002)
- ISBN: 0716743825
Molecular Biology of the Cell - by Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts, Peter Walter
- Hardcover: 1616 pages; Dimensions (in inches): 2.19 x 11.10 x 8.74
- Publisher: Garland Pub; 4th edition (March 2002)
- ISBN: 0815332181</p>
<p>If you are super rich and money is not a problem, you should buy the latest version of above book in amazon.com
If you try to save money, you should buy previous version used books. They are really cheap, sometimes just less than $5.00 (shipping free !)
If you are broke and cheap, you can get all of above book in electronic format by google.
Of course, test bank and powerpoint slides of above mentioned books also very usefull. Test banks are very expensive and very hard to get, but with persistance, you can get them by googling, buying eletronic copy, or trading. Hey, we are living in the web era, you can do everything at your fingertips. There are many nice people here can trade with you for what you have, you get to read a lot here to know who are the nice people. And watch out the the dishonest one!</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the informative posts. Is it essential to use all those books or is there one main one in order to reach finals+</p>
<p>Campbell’s is probably most important</p>
<p>bump10char</p>
<p>Yeah, guys lets continue this important thread. Any other veterans willing to share experience and/or reflect/ponder thoughts?</p>
<p>Thanks for starting the thread and posting information to help each other. So if I’ve only learned Honor Biology, do you think I can just self-study the Campbell book? is it doable?</p>
<p>I’m gonna do some hardcore studying for the USABO and it will probably help me in my AP Biology class :D</p>
<p>cps75, I’ve only taken hon bio and im studying it on my own, so yes it’s doable. Is it easy? No. It will require perseverance and patience.</p>
<p>Re: textbooks.</p>
<p>For the open and semis, Campbell is all you need. The latest edition is not mandatory. I have (or had) the 5th, 6th, and 8th…the taxonomy section was updated pretty significantly in the 6th, so I wouldn’t go lower than that, but you’d be fine with 6th. You should also be using the IBO syllabus for taxonomy.</p>
<p>If you want to make team, the next book I would go to is Raven’s Plant. You will be expected to know plant anatomy and physiology (stem sections, etc) to a depth not in Campbell. You will also be expected to know ecology and ethology to about the level of Yale EEB 122 (free online course); I would hit that next. Then, I would get an AP Stats review book.</p>
<p>Camp-level people have often read Alberts, but I don’t believe it is necessary. It’s a bit above level; the first half is worth reading, if only to make you appreciate how short Campbell is, but much of the rest isn’t on the syllabus (cancer, tissue structure, etc). Get it from the library, read it, and give it back.</p>
<p>The theoretical bits of biochemistry are in Campbell - the general consensus is that structures and reactions have to be in there to be fair game. The practical bits are in the IBO syllabus. The rest is AP chem - enzyme kinetics, and spectrophotometric assays in general, are popular.</p>
<p>The genetics textbooks I have seen are a bit too broad and shallow. The USABO genetics problems use basic concepts, but they are written by smart and evil people who like to watch you squirm (hi there). You want to be able to work long, complicated problems efficiently. The MIT OCW problem sets (7.01X, 7.02, 7.03) are more your speed.</p>
<p>I have not personally read the other intro-level texts, though I have heard good things about Raven’s Biology.</p>
<ul>
<li>Former IBOer, current Evil Question Writer</li>
</ul>
<p>Thank blueroses67, it’s a great comment ! It seem that you took USABO half a decade ago. I wonder if the USABo evolve a lot. Any comment from a recent IBOer is very appreciated</p>
<p>Yeah, great comments bluerose.</p>
<p>Sooooo summer is about to start, so is USABO studying. W00tt! Anyone else ready to go?</p>
<p>James is right…I’m old. I haven’t seen an open since 2004, so don’t ask me about that. :P</p>
<p>However, I am one of the writers for the team selection exam.</p>
<p>And yeah, it’s evolved a bit. The basic structure has been the same (open->semi->camp), but they’ve tried all sorts of formats for the semis. Now I believe they’re on the “all of the above” model. There have been some minor topic changes - biotech is bigger, and I’m grateful that these newfangled sequencing machines are no longer changing the taxonomy syllabus every year (again, yes I’m that old).</p>
<p>Hey bluerose, I’m about to get the campbells 9th edition with masterbiology. If i study this would that get me to finals?</p>
<p>If by “study” you mean “read it once or twice”, then probably not, unless you’re Good Will Hunting. If you can define most of the terms in the index, and can reproduce most of the figures and tables from memory, then yes.</p>
<p>They’ve got data interpretation on there now, which I haven’t seen myself, but what I understand is that Campbell + logic (+ AP chem?) is enough to survive it. Randomness happens, but then nobody else knows it either.</p>
<p>If you make camp, you’ll get the non-Campbell goodies you’re supposed to know for IBO. This will be taught - but get started early, because with the volume of material, you’ll be in trouble if it’s all brand new. (The people who make team have often been to camp before.)</p>
<p>Is an AP Chem level understanding of chemistry necessary, or is just a general understanding from an honors course enough?(I haven’t taken AP Chem yet,but I have taken an honors Chem course)</p>