26 April 2018
Abingdon School sixth form student, Patrick McCubbin, has been selected to represent the UK in the four-person team to compete in the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) 2018 in Iran. The IBO takes place from 15th – 22nd July in Tehran.
The annual IBO brings together the most gifted young biology talents from around the world with more than 60 countries taking part. The pre-university students are all winners of their respective national Biology Olympiads. The IBO aims to challenge this next generation of aspiring scientists through a series of theory and practical biological problems testing inventiveness, creativity and perseverance as well as knowledge of biology.
Patrick was selected following a rigorous process beginning with the British Biology Olympiad back in January which involved two, one-hour multiple choice papers. The top scorers then went through to the preliminary round of the IBO selection, taking a 90-minute written paper. Following this, the top 16 students were invited to the University of Warwick in mid-April, where they took practical assessments and a written paper. From the final 16, four students were chosen to represent the UK at the International Biology Olympiad. Many congratulations to Patrick, it is a tremendous achievement.