Canada

„Canadian Biology Olympiad/Les Olympiades Canadiennes de Biologie“

Canada

Contact data

Country coordinator

Name:
Ph.D. Sylvie Bardin

Hosting institution

Ontario Tech university
C/O Dr. Sylvie Bardin
Faculty of Science

2000 Simcoe Street North
L1G 0C5, Oshawa
Ontario, Canada


Structure

Appointing institution

There are no appointing institution.

The coordinator is nominated by the CBO committee. The CBO committee is made of 5 biology volunteered high school and university professors.

www.canadianbiologyolympiad.ca/

Organization & structure

We are no currently affiliated with any institution.

We have one round of competition taking place each year in April.

The competition is an online exam.

Number of students in first round

About 300 students

Tests

The online exam include both theoretical and practical questions. We typically have between 40-50 questions that are formatted and graded in a manner similar to the IBO.

1- About 3/4 of the questions are theoretical questions.

2- About 1/4 of the questions are practical questions.

Most questions are true/false or calculation.

The test questions are prepared by the CBO committee.

The students take the online exam at their schools under their teacher's supervision.

Training

The students, selected for the IBO, attend a 5-day camp in a host institution before the IBO where they review/learn proper use of equipment found in biology labs as well as perform experiments and analyze results. The camp workshops are taught by professional in their fields and take place at a host university. The students also attend research seminars from some of the institution scientists.

Study materials

The students study for the theoretical exam on their own using the Campbell text book. For the Practical questions, the students received some instructions and web links to study before the CBO exam.

For the practical exam, students also attend a 5-day camp where they review/learn proper use of equipment found in biology labs as well as performing experiments, and analyzing results. The students are provides with handouts with introduction, protocol and data analysis information for the lab experiments performed.

Awards & prizes

None

Education

Type of students

●      Competitors must be residents of Canada and Canadian Citizens or Landed Immigrants.

●      Competitors are students of a regular secondary school for general education in Canada. In Quebec, first year CGEP students are also eligible to participate.

●      Competitors have not obtained a diploma allowing them to study at a university or equivalent institution, before the 1st of January 2021.

●      Competitors have not yet started study at a university or equivalent institution as part-time or full-time students.

●      Competitors must be under the age of 20 as of July 1st, 2021.

●      Competitors have not already participated in the IBO (can only participate once). 

School year

September 1 to June 30

Biology hours/week

3 hours per week over the course of the year for grade 11 and 12.

110 hours to 125 hours of class per course.

Hours of Classes/week

25 hours a week, having 4 classes per week at 75min per class. (minimum would likely be 20 hours maximum might be 30 hours).  

Public Relations

Promotion

Information about the NBO are posted on the CBO website and Facebook.

We have also emailed teachers that signed up in previous years.

Information is usually posted beginning of January.

Promotion contact

One of the CBO member.

Statistics over the years
  • 2025: 300 students from 100 schools (4% of eligible schools)
Media coverage

Web site only


Downloads

Logo of Canadian Biology Olympiad/Les Olympiades Canadiennes de Biologie [JPG, 68.4 KB] Download Poster of Canadian Biology Olympiad/Les Olympiades Canadiennes de Biologie [PDF, 219.3 KB] Download Leaflet of Canadian Biology Olympiad/Les Olympiades Canadiennes de Biologie [PDF, 124.9 KB] Download
Description of attached files:

The poster is a sample posted sent for the training camp, which is open to the 4 selected IBO students as well as students who may be interested in competing during following years.

The leaflet is the information posted on the website. It includes information about the upcoming IBO and eligibility as well as the procedure for registration to the CBO competition.