USABO 2017-2018

Pre-College Issues High School Life
21

I’m a upcoming junior, and this is my first year that I’m participating in USABO. I’m hoping to make it to the national level, though that’s probably out of reach lol. A lot of the USABO members in my school usually start studying in December, and usually, only our top members usually make it to semis. Our school has never had a student make IBO or the camp, and the highest a student has gone is to the national level.

I’ve looked at past USABO threads and usually see Campbell and Ravens being recommended as the two best textbooks for making it past opens, and even past semis. I bought a binder version of Campbell and I’ve been reading it for the past 4 days at a rate of ~3 chapters a day. My current plan for the summer is to speed through Campbell quickly, and branch out from there. I saw a post from a past thread that a IBO gold medalist was answering questions on, which mentioned that during their prime, they were able to read the entire textbook in just a few hours. I’d be surprised at myself if I could finish the textbook in a week, but I think that’s a good goal to aim for, however impossible it might be.

I still have some lingering questions regarding USABO however:

  1. How difficult are the open exams? Seeing the cutoff for past years have ranged from 20-30 is slightly concerning for me lol.
  2. How specific are the questions? Not sure if the questions are concept based or memorization (i.e why is cysteine important vs what is the R-Group of aspartic acid.)
  3. Are there any websites with past exams? A lot of the websites I've looked at from past threads no longer have the tests on them, not sure if it's because nobody uses it in the summer or something.

Any help would be appreciated :slight_smile:

22

@suisagrement This link: http://biolympiads.com/2015/01/usabo-past-papers-to-download.html should have all the Open Exams from 2003-2013 and their answer keys (no answer key for 2013). I haven’t actually taken the Open Exam before, but I’ve seen past exams and in my opinion the tests are very hard if you haven’t read Campbell’s fully.

23

Are you guys taking notes as you read Campbell’s? I’ve gotten mixed messages from reading the threads from past years… Some people say it’s good to help you remember but others say it’ll take way too long to read the textbook if you try to take notes.

24

@suisagrement

  1. Open is very difficult until you fully understand Campbell. Fully as in every word. By then, the open shouldn’t be too hard to pass. I’d recommend a slower reading speed, like 1 chapter per day, but everyone has a different style. You should know/memorize every minor detail in Campbell. The amino acid side chains and properties are crucial to memorize and will likely net you 1 or 2 points.
    If you have extra time, Raven’s is a good resource to understand since plant A&P is a major topic that historically has little problem solving. Don’t make the textbook a primary focus though.
  1. Questions are very specific that require both memorization and conceptual ideas. The tests up to 2014 don't really reflect this year's test style, but expect ALOT of reading and problem solving (and ■■■ wording).
  2. 2003-2013 test and key: http://varunyilunusabowebsite.■■■■■■■■■■/usabo-exams.html 2013 key: https://www.usabo-trc.org/sites/default/files/USABO%2013%20Semifinal%20%20Answer%20Key.pdf For 2014 open and semi, feel free to pm me.

@ltwixster
I used to take notes and found them pretty much worthless. I highlight the minor details that I’m likely to forget and read them during review.

25

Just wondering, I heard that more recent USABO exams have been a lot more challenging than prior ones. Which year do you guys think that the tests became harder? I want to get an accurate understanding of the true difficulty of the test.

26

Can someone fill in the question marks?
/ / / / / / / / / / / / /
Open Exam
Number of Questions: 50
Points per Question: 1
Guessing Penalty: none
Skipping Penalty: none

Semifinal Exam
Number of Questions: ?
Points per Question: ?
Guessing Penalty: none
Skipping Penalty: ?

27

My experience:
Number of Questions: a lot of really hard ones
Points per Question: either 1 or 2 depending on the question I think
if there’s no guessing penalty how is there a skipping penalty (read: not that I know of)

28

@awesomepolyglot thx

29

@MuscleMan001 always trying to help! that’s why my best friends call me Helpful Steve.

(lol idk where that came from i think summer is rotting my brain)

30

xDD

31

If I finish Campbell’s completely at least twice and I truly understand it, will that help me get a 4 or 5 on the AP Biology Exam?

32

If you finish Campbell’s completely at least twice and truly understand it, you’re nearing god status. Yes. But some of the stuff in Campbell’s (even the AP edition!) is irrelevant for the AP exam.

33

Surely, the USABO open exam cannot be extremely difficult if you fully and thoroughly read Campbell Biology, right? Besides remembering and applying concepts, how else are the USABO exams very difficult? Reading through this thread, it sounds like the exams are ruthlessly difficult.

34

idk man it just hard

35

I’ve only done USABO once, but I ended up with a 123 on the semifinal. Here’s my advice to everyone:

I’ve heard recommendations for Campbell, Raven’s, Albert’s, and Human Physiology by Sherwood. I’ve also heard frequently that if you don’t know every single concept in Campbell, it’s a waste of time to move on to any of the others. For open exam especially, don’t worry about them. That being said, I use a pdf of the 10th edition and a hard copy of the 8th, and both of those work just fine. Honestly, upgrading to a new edition is a very expensive way to get not much advantage at all.

I wouldn’t spend less than a day on a single chapter, especially if it’s your first time through. Plan ahead of time so that you can spend a good amount of time learning, rather than cramming. A good generic plan would be to read the book once over the summer (two days per chapter), and a second time by the end of November or so (spend as much time as you want, but this goal accounts for school work getting in your way). Then you have Thanksgiving and Christmas break to grind (perhaps read Campbell again, but 2-3 chapters a day), and throughout January study using practice exams. Take each one, and spend at least a whole day correcting and studying everything you missed. Look through this thread, a couple of people have included good links.

If you are a previous semifinalist or can consistently score over 30 on the open exams from 2004 onward, read this paragraph. Otherwise, it will not help. First off, learn to skim the book. Pick and choose the most important chapters (for example, respiration is much more significant than “themes of biology,” and chapter 51 is weighted with the same percentage of questions as chapters 26-34), as well as the chapters that you struggle with most. In addition, break it down even further to the sections of each chapter. Personally, I know much more about the first half of each chapter than the last half. I have no clue why. Lastly, find new ways to study. USABO has a lot of resources, but make sure they are relevant and concise before spending too much time. In addition, look at MIT open course ware for various biology related courses. Take practice tests for semifinal exam, IBO, and biology olympiads from other countries (as long as you speak the language). Finally, if you have time left over, crack open Raven’s or Albert’s. The advice I stumbled across from a couple IBO medalists a few years ago was that Raven’s is good for diagrams and pictures that Campbell lacks, whereas Albert’s is too dense to read cover to cover and should be used for specific topics where necessary.

This last note goes to all. Don’t just listen to me. I’ve done a significant amount of research for myself, as well as judging from my own experiences last year. Look through old threads, check out studyoflife.org, ask friends about their experience, and most of all, don’t ever stop. Lastly, don’t do any of this unless you have a genuine passion for biology. It looks good for college apps, but that shouldn’t be what you’re thinking about. It’s easier than USAMO, USNCO, and USAPhO, but that also shouldn’t matter at all. You will not be successful unless you study for fun. Hopefully this won’t apply to any of you, but keep it in mind if you ever have to give someone USABO advice.

36

For anyone interested, here are some cutoff scores for previous open exams:

2004: 24
2005: 26
2006: 26
2007: 30
2008: 29
2009: 27
2010: 21
2011: 29
2012: 24
2013: 25

37

Why aren’t there any available open exams on the Internet since 2014 onward?

38

@FearlessLlama5 CEE has a page where teachers can access past exams, but only released 2003-2013

39

Thanks. Do you think they’ll plan on updating exams from 2014 onward in the future?

40

2014 is released. PM me.
There is a 2-year blackout period, so expect 2015 to be released sometime between December and January.