What's new in the 2024 USABO?

Welcome to the 2024 USABO competition! The 2024 changes reflect the continued development and recognition of USABO where students who are passionate about biology find like-minded colleagues in the USA and abroad.

2024 USABO Changes

Registration

Please note that the USABO Registration Payment date has been moved from January to December. The deadline for the USABO Registration Payment Fee is December 15!

Exams

What is the USABO? page

This page is the landing site for the USABO https://www.usabo-trc.org. 

• Click on the Facebook icon at the bottom of the page and friend the USABO. New on the USABO Facebook page:
  • News and interesting facts in biology each day.
  • Opportunities for students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate level in biological research worldwide.

USABO Registration Site

CEE continues to provide a more user-friendly registration site tested for usability by USABO teachers. Once your school information has been entered, it will be permanently stored to ease registration in coming years. Teacher information is not stored as many teachers move on to new positions, retire, or for other reasons no longer participate in the USABO. If you registered your school for the USABO in the years 2011 through 2023, you will find your school in the dropdown menu in the Test Administrator section on the USABO homepage. Although you will find your school in the dropdown menu, all teachers and students will still need to register for 2024 and the $95 registration needs to be paid.

USABO Exam Question Format

The USABO Open Exam uses Multiple Choice format with one response per question.

The USABO Semifinal Exam uses the Multiple Choice, Short Answer, and Multiple True/False Choice formats.

IBO Theoretical and USABO National Exam use the Multiple True/False Choice format.

Teacher Resource Center (TRC)

The TRC is dynamic. Once your school has completed the registration process and payment has been received, please check the TRC for the latest resources and links to help you to prepare your students for the USABO. Content is arranged according to the seven IBO focus groups:

• Cell Biology
• Animal Anatomy and Physiology
• Plant Anatomy and Physiology
• Ethology
• Genetics and Evolution
• Ecology
• Biosystematics
• Neurobiology 
• Bioinformatics 

All Open Exams and the Semifinal Exams from 2003 to 2021 with keys are available online in the Teacher Resource Center (TRC). Test Administrators may use them as they see fit with their students. Under no circumstances is the URL to be provided to students or linked to school or external web sites!

Student Corner (SC)

This area is open to ALL students whether they have registered for the USABO or not. It includes the following sections:

• How to Start a USABO Club: Step by step information and guidance from USABO students who have formed USABO Clubs at their schools. Each year, this information is updated with input from USABO participants.
• General Content: As the title implies, this has information on the areas of the IBO Curriculum.
• Content: This area has been expanded to include:
  • Suggested sites.
  • Suggested texts for in-depth and supplemental study or reading.
  • Scientist of interest
  • USABO Finalists' Favorite Links
  • Introduction to the seven areas of the IBO curriculum resources where more in-depth resources are found in the Student Resource Center.

Student Resource Center (SRC)

This page has information specifically for students who have registered for the USABO.

• All seven areas of the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) have been updated with useful links, study problems, and other resources to prepare for the USABO. In addition, two new areas will be added in 2021; Neurobiology and Bioinformatics.
• The Biodiversity area has an image of a common organism for each taxonomic representative prescribed by the IBO.