<p>@bluerose: Surely the random AP exam thing would only work with easy APs like Psych, World, Human Geo and EnviroSci. You definitely would not be able to do the same with Calculus BC/Physics/Chem, etc.</p>
<p>I did Enviro, Stats and CS…not sure that I’m good enough to do Physics C in a day either. I’ve seen people take the harder AP exams cold, but in all cases they were people who knew the material forwards and backwards anyhow and couldn’t be bothered to take the course.</p>
<p>Oh ok. CS in two afternoons? How’d you pull that off?</p>
<p>Some questions: How specific do I have to go when memorizing certain molecules? For example, I know how to differentiate alpha glucose and beta glucose, but I couldn’t draw them from memory. Must I memorize all the amino acids and the sugars featured in the book (ribose, ribulose, glucose, galactose, fructose, etc)? Are there any specific heavy-memorization sections that you can warn me of? I just want to know if I should memorize everything (figures included, like the testosterone and cholesterol steroids) or just the obvious tables (functional groups, amino acids, protein functions, etc). All help is appreciated.</p>
<p>CS? I knew how to program, at least adequately, so I just had to learn their sample program (something about fish IIRC) and read up about object-oriented things, the runtime of various algorithms, and so on.</p>
<p>As for structures…here’s the thing. It’s a multiple choice test, so nobody is going to make you produce a structure from memory. Not directly anyway. There are sneakier ways of going after the same information, but even in these cases, they will typically ask about the interesting parts (what are the properties of a class, what makes molecules in a class different from one another, why is one used and not the other, etc).</p>
<p>The amino acids you should know. There are enough different properties that you’d otherwise have to memorize that it’s worth your while to just learn the structures. Also, the amino acids are apparently done in most undergrad biochem courses, so the faculty think they’re important.</p>
<p>The distinction between aldoses and ketoses is specifically called out in the IBO syllabus, so I’d know that and number of carbons for the important sugars. The rest of the chiral chain…if you’re really that bored, go ahead, but it’s unlikely to come up.</p>
<p>For glycolysis et al, know what comes in and out at each step, and what the regulators are. The moving parts are the interesting parts. Also, know where the atoms in the starting material end up.</p>
<p>5 on AP in two afternoons? (Holy crap) I am considered “smart” at my school, but if that is what top scorers can do then I feel pretty stupid lol. I will still try my best though, maybe grinding hard will help me succeed.</p>
<p>@Oldguy, I have access to a small lab where I am doing an internship all year long which is why I have a nice setup!</p>
<p>@blueroses, thank you for making clear what is on the practical - its sad that I didn’t think to check the IBO syllabus. If I can just make it into camp then I think I would have a significant advantage as my lab setup would allow me to practice a lot of these! But the problem is I have to get into camp first -_-</p>
<p>@S8on95, don’t let all of this intimidate you. Thats great and all that some people can study for ap exams in a day or two but if you just focus on biology over a long time (6 months) really anything is possible. </p>
<p>And thank you all for the book suggestions (NSQ+OldGuy+BlueRoses) I’m getting Plants by Raven in the mail tomorrow and Alberts in a week or so.</p>
<p>PS. 5 in AP ES in 12 hours of studying and 5 in AP Psych in around 20 hours of studying!</p>
<p>Bluerose, when you say you studied AP exams in a day, did you have extensive knowledge of the subjects already or did you start mostly from scratch?</p>
<p>@StudiousMaximus</p>
<p>Eh…no. I was last of the team (7th). My name is Shulin Ye, I hail from Texas, and I’m certainly not Rebecca the Amazing*.</p>
<p>*I realize that this can come off as sarcasm. It’s not. She really is amazing.</p>
<p>@S8on95:</p>
<p>No photographic memory either (I wish.) I find that different people study in different ways. I have to write stuff down or type it, for example; reading Campbell never did much for me. Hence, I have epic amounts of notes - my spirals fill an entire bookshelf, and that’s not counting the digital notes I have for some classes. But it seems like notes don’t work well for you. From what you’ve said about your studying style, it may help you more to use the Campbell test banks and powerpoints before reading the book proper. </p>
<p>As for the quality of my notes - I tend to a) skip over stuff I already know, b) never did the ecology chapters, and c) haven’t looked at them since 2010.</p>
<p>@JadenSmith:</p>
<p>Data analysis is fair game on semis. So are questions on basic lab technique/reagents/equipment. They were there on 2011 and 2010 semis, at least.</p>
<p>^I realized that you were Shulin after downloading your notes. 7th in the world is an absolutely phenomenal accomplishment that you should be (and probably are) very proud of.</p>
<p>You said that you halted your notes at chapter 40, but they actually go to 51! That was a pleasant surprise.</p>
<p>I have a few questions for you:</p>
<p>Does your school know of your amazing accomplishment and are you respected/honored for it?</p>
<p>What are these test banks/powerpoints you speak of?</p>
<p>Would you say that biology took up most of your time or that you would be able to study for another olympiad (like USAMO) as well?</p>
<p>Do you think your USABO EC was the determinant in your acceptance to MIT and other such schools? Or were you a very strong applicant regardless? (It’s probably the latter seeing as your notes demonstrate great academic diligence.)</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>s8on95: I´m with you there. I could never take notes without my eyes glazing over, so don´t be *discouraged or anything that your note-taking ability is subpar. Like NSQ said, use whatever works for you.</p>
<p>Studious: I realize you aren´t directing those questions to anyone but NSQ but I don´t think it´ll hurt for others to answer them. This is a pub forum, after all. </p>
<p>Our school doesn´t care at all about USABO. It´s sad since our school is pretty strong academically, but the faculty generally doesn´t care much about extracurricular academics. I (and the other finalist who goes to my school (yes, that does basically give away my identity)) had to make arrangements with teachers for leaving early by ourselves. I imagine that school involvement would be different among different schools, especially seeing as how NSQ´s school makes the Open mandatory.</p>
<p>There are lots of people at National Finals that would probably be (or have been) contenders for USAMO/USNCO/the computer science one whose acronym I forgot. I myself am terrible at math and physics, know not a word of programming, and am banned from USNCO because I´m not a citizen. But it´s definitely possible.</p>
<p>Can´t really answer that final question (not in college yet) but being a bronze medialist at USABO is currently by far the shiniest thing on my resume right now. NSQ was also a Siemens semifinalist (correct me if I´m wrong) so she had that, too.</p>
<p>^
Yo bro, do you eat beaver? (jk)</p>
<p>So how are you preparing this summer oldguy? I bet you have Campbell ingrained into your head…</p>
<p>How did she have time for siemens and doing bio lol</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I was the first ever Finalist from my school, so it was a pretty big matter. But, then again, my school’s small, nerdy, and obsessive. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Test banks are basically sample test questions the publishers made to go with the book. Powerpoints are what they sell to lazy teachers who don’t want to actually learn the material. They’re basically a good summary of the textbook in powerpoint format. Example: [ap</a> powerpoints 7th](<a href=“http://www.biologyjunction.com/ap_powerpoints_7th.htm]ap”>AP Powerpoints 7th - BIOLOGY JUNCTION)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, I had time to do Siemens, and Blue had time to do Intel and also make the International Linguistics Olympiad. I know that Yellow did research as well. I wanted to do the Physics Olympiad but missed the deadline, I’ve never done well at AIME, and I got beaten out at Chem’s Open by two juniors from my school. Blah.</p>
<p>However, if you make it to the national level in USAMO, USABO, or USNCO, you can only pick one, I think. (Someone please confirm this…I know that USABO prevents you from competing in USAMO or USNCO and maybe also the physics one, but I’m not sure about the other way around).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>At application time, all I had that was really worthwhile on my resume was the USABO Silver Medal that I got last year and the fact that I was a Siemens Regional Finalist**. I had no leadership and just enough volunteer hours to qualify for NHS at my school (I believe it was something like 150 hours over two years…not many at all). I had a pretty good GPA and test scores, but many, many people have that. So, yeah, without USABO, I’d likely be just another Asian from that math and science school down south, complete with the piano. </p>
<p>**Close, but no cigar, oldguy433. :)</p>
<p>Re: other olympiads:</p>
<p>The math / physics / CS olympiad populations tend to overlap significantly. (Leading to much logistical drama, because the events are all around the same time, and even really awesome mathies can’t be in two places at once.) USABO, not so much. We’ll get a former USAMO qualifier or two at camp some years (one year there was a hard stats question on semis, so we got…five?) but there’s not much beyond this.</p>
<p>There’s just not a whole lot of shared topics with the math-cluster olympiads. The natural overlap would be USNCO (chem), but their policies are restrictive enough that people don’t bother. My school had to nominate one junior and one senior (only!) to take the first-round exam. They would have picked me, but not only would I have been hogging the spot, I would have had to sign a promise to pick USNCO over all other commitments. I thought I had a shot at USABO camp, so I wasn’t willing to bite.</p>
<p>Maybe someone out there is elite enough to make a serious run at both IBO and IMO - if so, I humbly bow to their greatness. I thought about trying for USACO (CS) camp…went to prep team meetings for a year and a half, and did about a third of the training pages. While I enjoyed it, I ultimately didn’t have time to be serious about it. Instead, I danced with the one that brung me (bio) and waited until college to pick up an engineering major.</p>
<p>I’d also say that bio and chem don’t have nearly the training structure that the math ones do. I had no idea this academic contest subculture even existed until 9th grade, when I saw a poster for Science Bowl and wandered in for a practice. (And wondered how I had been missing this my whole life.) I didn’t do mathcounts, or CTY, or any of it. If I’d started then as a novice mathie, I would have already been years behind. This is not such a problem in bio; a dedicated person can prep themselves from near-total, “hey honors bio is cool” noobitude as a 9th / 10th grader to IBO level before they graduate. (This wasn’t my story, but it does happen.)</p>
<p>I also suspect that the kind of smarts that leads to doing well at USABO isn’t necessarily ideal for math, even if one is properly trained. I’ve got perhaps a stronger bias than most…I’d put my intuitive pattern matching skills up against anyone you like, and my reading speed also, but proofs just don’t come naturally to me.</p>
<p>Will say more about other things in the morning, but I just finished a cross-country move (yay grad school) and I am about to fall asleep on my keyboard.</p>
<p>@NightShadeQueen and blueroses76 I was planning to try each of the three olympiads. So what you guys are saying is that if I make semis for all of them, I can only choose one olympiad for which I will take the national exam? Is it possible to do USABO and USAPhO at the same time?</p>
<p>USAPhO tends to be late May IIRC (so it can be combined with MOSP xor USACO). USABO is the first two weeks of June. So you could do both…never seen it done but I think it’s a theoretical possibility.</p>
<p>Also, you can take semis for all, and if necessary, choose between camps when the time comes. USNCO was the only one that objected to this - and if this matters to you, I’d check, because it’s been a while (and may have been a regional policy). Otherwise, this is expected and normal.</p>
<p>Though I’d point out that making one camp and doing well is more impressive than making three semifinals. You know what you know better than we do, but a little academic triage can be a good thing.</p>
<p>(My brain is a bit fried from spending the morning parallel-parking, so if there’s any oddities/typos, please ignore them)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, USABO finalists have to sign a form that says they aren’t allowed to participate, at the national level, for either USNCO or USAMO.</p>
<p>You are, however, allowed to take as many semis as you want. I took both the AIME and USABO semis last year, but I’m nowhere near the level needed for USAMO. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Start of 11th grade 
. It’s possible. </p>
<p>Oh, and a link for anyone who really, really loves biology: [Not</a> Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine](<a href=“http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/]Not”>http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/) . The best science blog I’ve found, so far.</p>
<p>@NightShadeQueen When you said “sign a form at the national level”, does that mean signing a form after you become a finalist? And semis is the test where you become a finalist? Sorry, but I get confused.</p>
<p>ok, so I checked some of the rules for USNCO and I have questions regarding two of them. These are the rules: </p>
<p>1.A student who participates in the Physics Olympiad study camp, the Mathematics Olympiad study camp, or the Biology Olympiad study camp is not eligible to participate in the Chemistry Olympiad study camp during the same summer.</p>
<ol>
<li>Students who have taken advanced placement courses in chemistry are eligible. Likewise, students who have received credit for college level courses (limited to no more than two semesters or three quarters beyond general chemistry) are eligible. </li>
</ol>
<p>According to rule 1, if you do make camp for the other olympiads but choose not to go there, does that mean you can go to the chemistry olympiad camp? In addition, I don’t know if this allows you to take semis in order to see if you make camp or not so I’m hoping someone can clarify. And according to rule 2, do you have to take an ap course already in order to participate?</p>