2012 USABO Thread

<p>Congrats Tiger (41 for a frosh ain’t bad) and all others who qualified!! I was wondering, how are you guys prepping for semifinals?</p>

<p>anyone have any semi exams besides the 2006 one? willing to trade…</p>

<p>oh btw, it was a mistake on CEE’s part, and i got in :)</p>

<p>i got in semis as well with a 32
@ tigertwist great job we go to the same school, you asked me in the morning now you know who :P</p>

<p>Congratulations to everyone on their open results. My score predictions were off, seems I was wrong about the difficulty level, hopefully I’m also wrong about the semi. Good luck. </p>

<p>The histogram posted earlier isn’t accessible here, can anyone tell (assuming it has this information) how many students scored 40 and higher? I’d been expecting a bunch of people in the mid 40s.</p>

<p>^ 42 was the high score.</p>

<p>Yeah, I tried to open the histogram too and got lots of places, but nowhere near actually seeing data.</p>

<p>Sorry about the link. Try this one for the histogram:
[url=&lt;a href=“File sharing and storage made simple”&gt;http://www.mediafire.com/?w2grcen5ke4idj3]2012_usabo_OE_histogram.pdf[/url</a>]</p>

<p>It has been tested and should work. BTW it looks like 3 students made 40 or above.</p>

<p>I am taking the semifinal exam tomorrow, the first day, since my school goes out to spring break on Thursday. I am kind of mad about it since it happened last year also and it gives me less time to study, but oh well. Hopefully, its shorter than last years exam.</p>

<p>i think the length is the same every year… good luck!</p>

<p>No crazymonster that is not the case. Though there are always three sections, they are loosely defined and have a different number of questions in them every year. Also the point distribution, per section and per question varies every year.</p>

<p>Don’t worry much about a few days more or less study. By this point, you either know it or you don’t.
Extra credit for guessing which are my questions!
But not really.
And if anyone needs motivation, think about this: the Chinese team is already selected and has had a couple months of focused training. How are you gonna match that?</p>

<p>Does anyone recommend going through all the links on biology olympiad website? Or is it a better use of time to just read over Campbell’s and Ravens Plant Biology?</p>

<p>@emblem - the point distribution was a source of contention for my S last year as the test said one thing, but it was graded another. He’ll be paying very close attention this year as well as keeping a copy of the instructions.</p>

<p>Well I finished taking the semifinal exam. In my opinion, it was easier than the open exam but it was similar in the types of questions and the specificity of questions if you understand what I mean. </p>

<p>@cadaeibfed</p>

<p>Did you think that the semifinal exam was easier or harder than the open exam?</p>

<p>does anyone have the 2011 semi? i have a few semis and all opens up for trade. pm me</p>

<p>To anyone who has actually TAKEN this exam before (or thinks they know for sure) but for the semifinal exam, there are 3 sections, right? Do you have to hand in section A before you receive section B (and then C) or do you receive all 3 sections at once and can you go back and forth between them to work on? Thanks for the answer!</p>

<p>IIRC, Last year we did A and B at once, with C being handed out after A and B were turned in. The year before that all three sections were handed out at once.</p>

<p>Quick Question: </p>

<p>I’ve taken the USABO Semi’s before but I’m still confused about one thing. How does point weight age work between parts A and parts B? I’ve heard from different people that part B’s MC questions are weighted twice as much as MC questions in part A. I’m wondering if this is true because it would effect how I spent my time during the test.</p>

<p>Hi! This was my first time participating in USABO (I’m a junior) and managed to get into the Semifinals somehow. I didn’t study much the opens, having heard about it two days before the test, and all I have is a Campbell’s 8th. Is that sufficient for the semis? Looking over some practice questions, I seriously doubt it.</p>

<p>@jaden… this is the issue that came up last year for my S. His instructions agreed with your question (part B worth more), but when graded, each question was worth 1 point, unless it said specifically different on the question itself. Read your directions carefully (and keep a copy).</p>

<p>I got into semis for some reason. Would it look bad to get a B in AP Bio but make semis for USABO?</p>