<p>One of my kids is self-studying for the USA Biology Olympiad test (no one else at her school does it). She took Honor Biology this year; her school does not offer AP. Next year she will have Honors Chem (again, no AP offered). She took the test this spring, and did pretty well for not having even finished a year of Bio study yet. So she is gearing up and planning to study over the summer and into the fall for next year again.</p>
<p>She is having a hard time with the molecular biology portions of the textbook the USABO recommends (Campbells). I don't know a thing about it (had a creationist for bio back in the day, and obviously even without that bio has advanced a lot).</p>
<p>So maybe this is a dumb question, but will taking chem next year help her understand the molecular bio portions of the textbook better?</p>
<p>In all honesty, I took chem first and that knowledge just got embedded into my brain. The thing is, I reaaaally enjoyed chem, contrary to most people’s likes and dislikes. :)</p>
<p>Bio, on the other hand, I think is more memorization than conceptualization (like chem). Molecular bio deals with the chemical reactions that occur within cells, whereas chem will teach her about chemical reactions in general. Of course, learning all the functional groups helped, but it was a very small percentage of the USABO, and I don’t think there was even a question on that this year.</p>
<p>I know somebody who made it to the USABO finalist summer camp (top 20 in the nation), and though he had a solid knowledge in chemistry, it was just reading the Campbell’s book that got him there. That and the Ravens book. Chemistry will help to some extent, but not nearly as much as AP Bio will.</p>
<p>Yeah… but she can’t take AP Bio, not offered. And those moleculary biology chapters in Campbells are giving her fits. I was wondering if it makes sense for her to wait until she is a couple of months into Chem next fall, then give them another go. She also has the Ravens book (it just arrived, she hasn’t cracked that one yet… very pretty cover :)).</p>
<p>The chemistry you need for biology is pretty basic… you probably don’t need such a sophisticated text.</p>
<p>Did you use any other texts? My S is considering self-study for the USABO too.</p>
<p>USABO is really based on Campbells, the word is that you really have to work through that (memorize it is the phrase often used on online chat forums by those who have taken the test). D’s hs bio teacher calls it the “impenetrable book”. USABO does recommend a couple of other supplemental sources (as mentioned above, we just bought the Raven’s Biology of Plants last week), but Campbells is the main one. Sigh. There are some links to online Bio lectures at MIT from the USABO site, D may look at some of those over the summer as a break from book studying.</p>
<p>D and I discussed it today. She is going to be working her way through the parts of Campbells she hasn’t done yet over the summer. She is going to make a list of the sections that seem chem related that she can’t understand, and take the book in to her Chem teacher in the fall to figure out how to approach them.</p>
<p>S self studied for USABO twice and made the semi finals each time. Also went to a school where he was the only one taking the test. Many top universities have free online courses in a variety of science courses. S used MIT and I know there are others. One important detail for studying is-if there is a chart or list-memorize it. Ditto for labeled diagrams. The amount of time needed to do even OK is tremendous. S also took a lot of old Bio GRE exams. Format is very similar and can help point out weak areas.</p>
<p>Self studying is tough because there are schools that have entire classes geared to this test. S got into a very good college and I think one reason was his results in USABO. Schools like to see national test results and writing about the experience in college essays doesn’t hurt.</p>