College Discussion's Unofficial USABO 2009 Thread

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi! This is mostly for me I guess and all the random wacky bio questions I may have. Feel free to join and post your own questions about the actual process or bio questions. I'll probably have lots. </p>

<p>A bit of background if you wish (about me):
Junior at a selective urban city school in America (east coast).
I love Bio.
I wish to work in a lab.
I'm planning to apply to colleges with huge research grants and are very good at Bio, but also have decent history and music programs.
I tried this last year and failed miserably.
I'm aiming to be at least in the top 20.</p>

2

<p>I love Bio too :D
Yeah, i'm taking the USABO this year as well. Aiming for Semis but hoping for Finals. Studying like crazzzy...How far did you get last year?</p>

<p>Currently, I'm trying to initiate my own independent reading project. Got into a lab but they can't find me a mentor since my area is not as well research as it should!</p>

<p>Which branch of Bio is your favorite? I <3 Molecular Biology:)</p>

3

<p>Lol, yay! USABO, didn't take it last year as my school didn't offer it, but I've talked to the science department head and they seem to be interested in having students participate, personally, I'm more of a math/physics guy when it comes to science, but like bio as well, hopefully I can take all three of the olympiads this year!</p>

<p>I'll be aiming for semis, if I do take it...</p>

4

<p>I really should take it, but I really don't care enough to do so... I mean, it'll come to late for college apps, and how well I score isn't that important to me...</p>

<p>I think I might have taken it last year though; our biology teacher just popped it on us out of the blue one day and we took it then (and it was so early in the year that we hadn't covered very much material yet, and there were still some sections that I had never taken the interest in to self study). How long do you get on the regular exam? We had 30-something minutes and I didn't finish it completely (lololol, I was trying to dissect the roots on the words that I didn't recognize), so I suspect that taking the test "for real" would have you have more time...</p>

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<p>^if you did you probably took the Open Exam which is 50 minutes and takes place around Feb.</p>

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<p>Just wanted to point out that making it far in USABO (and other such Olympiads) can be INCREDIBLY helpful with waitlists, in response to comments about how "it'll come too late for college apps."</p>

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<p>Junior at Midwestern public school.</p>

<p>Did USABO last year, barely got into Finals last year (By 1 question!) Failed miserably at finals. Trying to study up so I do well this year, but Campbell is getting so boring after 5 readings. </p>

<p>Semis isn't hard to get into, you need ~30 out of 50 questions right.</p>

<p>g'luck to all of you :)</p>

8

<p>What's USABO? Some type of Biology competition?</p>

9

<p>I'll probably do USABO but won't start studying hardcore till after college app season (which will hopefully end for me around early December).</p>

10

<p>i'll try this year if i don't qualify for chem. was bio semifinalist last year, missed finalist by 6 pts. i doubt i'll get it, though...i'm a senior, so i'll have no motivation by then.</p>

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<p>is USBAO the olympiad team for bio?</p>

12

<p>I'm a junior, and I plan on taking the USABO test for the first time this year. I'm hoping many for semis. However, I'm not sure if my school offers the test. How should I go about asking for them to proctor it? Could anyone tell me deadlines/how to get schools to register? I didn't see too much on the site.</p>

<p>And also

[quote]

is USBAO the olympiad team for bio?

[/quote]

Yes.</p>

13

<p>I'm a senior and I'll be taking it. After studying a TON of bio for Science Bowl last year, I think I might as well take it.</p>

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<p>what should i study? specifically, what chapters out of the Campbell book</p>

15

<p>Yeah, I'm thinking about doing it too. First timer as well, PM me tomjones?</p>

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<p>All of them, I guess. There's a syllabus online somewhere which pretty much highlights what you have to know.</p>

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<p>I've never taken this test before and I'm debating whether to take it this year. My school has never offered it and so I'm trying to decide whether its worth asking my teacher to sign me up for it. What kind of topics are on this test? Is it similar to the AP Bio or SAT II Bio Test or is a lot more difficult? Thanks</p>

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<p>Aside from Campbell's, is there anything else that you NEED to study? Thanks.</p>

19

<p>
[quote]

Aside from Campbell's, is there anything else that you NEED to study? Thanks.

[/quote]

There's not much the textbook won't cover. I suppose it's useful to look up labs for practical purposes, and you should also do some research on how diseases/cancers work. AIDS is also probably pretty big from what I've seen.</p>

<p>Anyway, I'm interested in USABO, but I don't think my school's ever offered it. Should I just talk to my biology teacher? Also, when would I need to sign up by?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>@PKWsurf21: Yes, it's much more difficult than the AP Bio and SAT II Bio. To give you an idea, I had a 35/50 on the qualifying test and 800 on Bio-E SAT II, 5 on the exam. This page gives a breakdown of what's on the test at the bottom as well as links to sample tests:
<a href="http://www.cee.org/usabo/usabo_preparing.shtml"&gt;http://www.cee.org/usabo/usabo_preparing.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>@magiscoder: Your school will have to pay $75 to register, and it has to be done by January 23. You have to take it through your school. The actual test is in February. Also, I don't remember any AIDS questions on the qualifying exam, although there were a whole bunch on the semifinals exam.</p>