<p>THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS THREAD NSQ
Guys, I need a lot of help, please!!! I tried to start a USABO club, but my AP Biology teacher said she was afraid of a lack of interest -___-. I live in a state where, I think there are no other schools participating, because I haven’t seen any of my state’s schools registered for it last year. So, I’m taking AP Chem this year; my AP Chem teacher is the sponsor of national science honors society and thought USABO was a great idea. So… HOW DO I FIND A SPONSOR WHO WILL ADMINISTER THE EXAM. My old AP Bio teacher didn’t want to administer the exam last year, so I couldn’t take it, even though I spent countless hours and sleepless nights studying and preparing for this.
Please, if anyone could give me advice, I will love you to death. Were your sponsors paid to proctor the exam?</p>
<p>tl;dr HOW DO I FIND A SPONSOR OUT OF MY SCIENCE TEACHER</p>
<p>@mapletree: after lurking and occasionally commenting in the 2012 AND 2013 USABO forums for a while, I have heard a unanimous agreement (even NSQ!) that Campbell’s Biology is the only textbook you need regarding qualifying for semi’s. However, Alberts may help in semi’s and national’s… so will Raven’s biology of plants! The Campbell Biology textbook has ~7 chapters dedicated to plants, so this textbook alone will be sufficient for passing the open exam AS LONG AS YOU READ IT THOROUGHLY, STUDY WELL, AND PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE DIAGRAMS
(but don’t trust me, I haven’t even taken the USABO exam yet XD, I’m just regurgitating what others have said in previous USABO forums)</p>
<p>@poisonivy39: Thanks! But does anyone know the cut off scores for these exams? The open cutoffs range from 21 to 29. Last year was 25. What is the range for the semifinal exams?</p>
<p>I would disagree here - while you can probably make semifinals using only Campbell, I would recommend studying Raven and Alberts to some extent. To score ~30/50, you’d have to get about every Campbell-related question correct. It’s very easy to find questions that require knowledge of Alberts/Raven; for example question 2 of the 2012 open on Western blotting.
NightShadeQueen will have to answer that. If you’re referring to the cutoff for finals, and not honors/high honors/whatever, I’d imagine it would be somewhere around 90% or higher.</p>
<p>@poisonivy39: My understanding is there is no honors high honors in USABO Have the rules changed? Last year the cut off from semi final exam was 140. But the earlier exam cut offs have never been posted. So if everyone can post the cutoffs scores for their years and maybe the one before or after theirs, we can get a list of all the cut offs. Anyone?</p>
<p>No, the rules have not changed: on the semifinal exam it’s finalist or semifinalist. I understand where you’re coming from Opinion559, but don’t worry too much about cutoffs and stuff. I went to camp last year, and believe me the semifinal scores do not at all correlate with results at nationals. Although, if you’re looking for a target, shoot for 150 to be safe.</p>
<p>Don’t waste your time with Alberts until you make camp; focus on Campbell. Seriously. I can’t stress that enough. Also, Raven’s Plants won’t hurt.
And 3+ hours holy… I made it this year with like half that. But better safe than sorry I suppose.</p>
<p>Due to the revamp, the course content in AP Bio has gotten slightly reduced. USABO has stayed constant. Probably, the semi cut off will be one (maybe 2) point(s) lower. That being said, AP Bio students will need to work slightly harder to reach the same level USABO requires, IMHO.</p>
<p>Hi airbusfan or whoever knows:
Does open exam score matter ?
The target shoot for 150 is open + semi scrore or just semi score only ?
Can anyone make it clear ? Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>Below is the quote from airbusfan, </p>
<p>No, the rules have not changed: on the semifinal exam it’s finalist or semifinalist. I understand where you’re coming from Opinion559, but don’t worry too much about cutoffs and stuff. I went to camp last year, and believe me the semifinal scores do not at all correlate with results at nationals. Although, if you’re looking for a target, shoot for 150 to be safe</p>
<p>Hello all,
I’m very interested and very confused about all this. I’m a homeschool student (going into his senior year) who has garnered interest in this competition after reading a bit about it. Does anyone know how I would go about taking the exam? Also, exactly how hard is USABO? If someone set aside 2 hours a day, from now until February (when the exam is administered), hypothetically speaking, how far could one get?</p>
