<p>@darksigma, yeah i guess you’re right. though iirc the 2010 cutoff was rather high and last year’s was rather low… i guess that just happened to coincide with my perception of the difficulty =P</p>
<p>the test is all fuzzy in my memory now, but i remember seeing a handful of multiple choice questions where i thought there were 2 correct answers. did anyone else have this problem?</p>
<p>Problem? All part B questions could have had multiple answers, though not all necessarily did. (Including those that said “Choose all that apply.”) </p>
<p>The gel sequencing question tripped me up at first too. I forgot it was the template strand, not the coding strand.</p>
<p>@cadaeibfed: I remember a question that had 5 pictures and had us choose which one would cause a long-day plant to flower. Did that require multiple answers, because I was confused by the wording?</p>
<p>@asteraceae I only found one correct answer for that.</p>
<p>did the instructions in part B say that there multiple answers? completely missed that…</p>
<p>The USABO website updated today that the announcement of the finalists has been postponed to April 26th. Check: <a href=“http://www.usabo-trc.org/currentcalendar.php[/url]”>http://www.usabo-trc.org/currentcalendar.php</a></p>
<p>^ LOL no surprise… I’ve been checking the site periodically expecting that update. Perhaps they took spring break too :-)</p>
<p>To clarify, every question in Part B was mark all that apply?</p>
<p>no… i don’t think so; they did not specify in the directions… and it would be weird for them to have only some questions include the phrase “select all that apply…”</p>
<p>That’s what I was thinking, but I didn’t know if I just missed the directions.</p>
<p>@tigertwist: does that mean that the finalists are going to be notified on the 19th and not on 16th as originally planned? or can it still be on the 16th? </p>
<p>@unimpossible: Do you perhaps remember the cutline score and the total score for 2010 exam by any chance? It would be helpful to know…</p>
<p>The test drafts I have are prior to the part A part B directions being added, so I don’t know what they say. The directions I was given for question writing, part A were single answer, and part B could be multiple answer. Looking at the test now, I don’t immediately see any that were multiple answer without an indication of such.</p>
<p>@onthemoon</p>
<p>last year the top 20 cutoff was like 94 i think. Then because some people declined to go to camp, the cutoff for camp ended up being 93. i believe it was out of 160 total points.</p>
<p>in 2010 i know that the cutoff was around 100. unfortunately, i forget how many points it was out of</p>
<p>I don’t think there is any hard and fast date/timeframe of finalist notification (by phone). It would seem logical that there will also be a delay in notification if there is a delay in public announcement.</p>
<p>Has anyone established how many questions in part B were multiple answers (that did not indicate such)?</p>
<p>would you guys wait to take the test after finishing a whole course of bio or take it when only about halfway through the course</p>
<p>the test is given mid-year, so it is somewhat normal to only have had 1/2 year… but do you mean honors/1st year bio or AP/2nd year bio? the class is typically not enough prep, so what material you have covered in class isn’t all that relevant, as you need to do more outside of class.</p>
<p>@fash123: I would just go for it; I took the examination freshman year, with only half of freshman bio under my belt, and I just missed the finals cutoff by about 5 points. In other words, give it your best shot, and maybe you’re more skilled than you think or you might just get lucky with the test :)</p>
<p>darksigma brings up a valid point… your performance on the test definitely can come down to luck (to some degree) as it depends on if the focus of the test is on a topic you are more familiar/comfortable with or is stuff you don’t know.</p>
<p>i think that olympiad members have not made it past semi-finals in subsequent years due to the “luck” of the test. sometimes the test will match what you know, sometimes it won’t :-)</p>
<p>Well…just got notified I didn’t make it. So did anyone here qualify, beside the obvious suspects (i.e.Darksigma, Oldguy, Tigertwist, crazymomster, etc…)?</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten any emails about results at all. How did you find out, kbolisetty?</p>
<p>yeah I don’t think results are even secretly available right now. hmmm.</p>