USABO 2011 Discussion!

<p>Hey test-traders:</p>

<p>I don’t blame you guys for wanting the previous year’s exams, but you do realize that it’s not difficult to track down the real names of any USABO finalist? I mean, there’s only twenty of us. If you knew my gender (not difficult to extrapolate from my username. Although I’m quite aware of the multiple definitions of the word “queen”, I didn’t when I made up the name in…like 7th grade) and the fact that I was one of last year’s finalists, you can narrow my identity down to…like four people. </p>

<p>According to the CEE, test-trading is against the rules. While I certainly wish the CEE would be more transparent with old exams, please be careful and don’t shoot yourself in the foot.</p>

<p>Also: don’t look towards me for old exams. I’m not going to risk trading, and I don’t have many in the first place.</p>

<p>That said:</p>

<p>It appears that the Canadians are a little more transparent: [Past</a> Exams | National Biology Competition](<a href=“http://biocomp.utoronto.ca/past-comps/exams]Past”>Exams | National Biology Competition)</p>

<p>USABO Commitee is very stupid ! W T F reasons not to disclose old exam, most other Olympiad competition release them, Math, Physics, Chemistry … That’s the reason why the number participate USABO is small, average score is low, top score is low. Keeping old exam just benefit the old participant , encourage cheating and promote selfishness of biology major student.</p>

<p>mikepavlov - You are exactly correct. Who should we talk to at CEE for publishing the previous years’ questions? Not publishing the old questions promotes only cheating!!</p>

<p>Please everyone - help us. Let us all complain to CEE as a group.</p>

<p>HELP HELP HELP …</p>

<p>well i mean, if you paid attention on the semis, or even the opens for that matter, you would’ve noticed that CEE likes to reuse test questions… not saying that they should, but I’m guessing that’s why.</p>

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<p>They are so stupid enough not having ability creating test question.
I saw a previous post saying that a half of previous semifinalist get in again.
That’s the reason that old participant sharing info to new potential participant</p>

<p>@NightShadeQueen</p>

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<p>Stop being hypocrisy.Most of the posters here more or less involving in trading !</p>

<p>lawlz, from the looks of this year’s semifinals exam, it seems as though the CEE likes reusing their questions on the same test</p>

<p>Here is the links I found
160 review questions for USABO 2004
<a href=“Stuyvesant High School”>http://www.stuy.edu/pdfs/USABO_study_quest_ans.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is Open Exam2006
<a href=“http://home.earthlink.net/~gjtg/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2006_openexam.pdf[/url]”>http://home.earthlink.net/~gjtg/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2006_openexam.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Why most biology student is so selfish and hypocrisy?</p>

<p>USABO Open Exam 2004 question
[2004_OpenExam[/url</a>]
and answer
[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.scribd.com/doc/39408513/2004-Open-Exam-Solutions]2004”&gt;http://www.scribd.com/doc/39408513/2004-Open-Exam-Solutions]2004</a> - Open Exam Solutions](<a href=“USA Biology Olympiad 2004 Open Exam: Pass or Fail. Please Try To Complete As Much of The Open Exam As You Can | PDF”>USA Biology Olympiad 2004 Open Exam: Pass or Fail. Please Try To Complete As Much of The Open Exam As You Can | PDF)</p>

<p>I hope that the selfish and hypocrisy ones here won’t report to delete the files.
Send me IM if you can’t download them.I got them in my computer.Good luck</p>

<p>USABO Study questions and Answer keys
[USABO</a> Study Questions & Answers](<a href=“http://www.scribd.com/doc/53157673/USABO-Study-Questions-Answers]USABO”>http://www.scribd.com/doc/53157673/USABO-Study-Questions-Answers)</p>

<p>IT guy doesn’t appear to have figured out how to do his job yet this morning. Wondering when we’ll see scores. When someone finds out what the cutoff score was, would you please post it here? Thanks.</p>

<p>Thanks Mike for the links!</p>

<p>scores are supposedly available, but i can’t find them…</p>

<p>Where did you see that scores are available? I checked the website and cee.org and I checked to the USABO sponsor at my school.</p>

<p>my mom contacted cee… who said they were up, but apparently there are “glitches”… ya know.</p>

<p>@mikepavlov</p>

<p>Honey, you may want to look up the definition of the word ‘hypocrite’, since you got it all wrong. I would be a hypocrite if I traded exams, or if I said it was immoral to trade. But I have done neither - I simply said that I am unwilling to trade, and that trading could potentially get someone in trouble, so if you want to trade, then be careful and don’t shoot yourself in the foot.</p>

<p>I am not taking a moral stance. I am just pointing out that, if you do become a finalist, and you announce it on CC, it’s really really easy to figure out who you are. Thus, it’s pretty darned easy to get caught. All I said was “please be careful”. Not “you guys are all immoral idiots”.</p>

<p>Also, if you noticed, the majority of my posts are not in the High School Life part of the forums. I joined in Dec of 2010 and made camp for the first time in the summer of the same year - before I joined. I did not join to trade - I joined for the reason this board was made: to discuss college applications. The link I posted was for the Canadian version of the CEE, and unlike the CEE they post their old exams. </p>

<p>To be quite honest, mike, I am under the belief that you are a ■■■■■ of some sort. Your atrocious grammar and spelling, as well as your knee-jerk attacks on other posters, make me think that you are just trying to get attention. Well, you succeeded. You got my attention, and my contempt.</p>

<p>And the word you want is “hypocritical”. “Hypocrisy” is a noun.</p>

<p>@emblem101</p>

<p>I can confirm that Finalists get a copy of the Semis they took. Not completely sure about the answers: can’t remember if we were told what we got right or wrong, or were actually given the answers. Think we managed to compile a correct answer key from the info we were given, but can’t guarantee its accuracy. If any of you want that, I think I can give that out. Just message me with your email address. Oh, and it’s an OpenOffice (.odt) file, so you’re going to have to convert it yourself. Sorry. I’m lazy like that.</p>

<p>Oh, and if anyone wants the Campbell digest I compiled (aka notes on Campbell), email me <em>after</em> July 31st, and I will give it you then. </p>

<p>Re: Test-trading and reusing question:</p>

<p>Yeah, I wish that they would be more transparent with their exams. Although I think that the scores are low because the tests are tough and occasionally tricky (like the 2010 Open <em>groans</em>…what did I get on that one? 23/50?) </p>

<p>And yes, they reuse the test questions. I recognized a few from last year’s USABO on the Semis this year, for example. Is it fair? Probably not. But I’m not sure what else they can do about it: come up with new questions every single test? That’s a couple <em>hundred</em> questions…each year. I don’t think that’s always possible. </p>

<p>@ Finalists:</p>

<p>A few things:</p>

<p>Firstly: The powerpoints that go with Campbell are an excellent resource. (This actually applies to everyone)
Secondly: Bring a camera to finals. Seriously. I ended up taking pictures of every lab.
Thirdly: Although they say they’ll give you school supplies, they totally don’t give you enough pens. Bring some.
Fourth: Not sure if they provide an internet cable or not, but the wireless internet in the dorm rooms…does not work. Period. Probably better to be safe and bring a cable.
Fifth: What I said about pens probably applies to blankets as well. Unless you want to freeze, I’d recommend bringing your own :P.
Sixth: When names come out, feel free to facebook me, if you can figure out my real identity (Hint: It’s not hard. The list of 2010 finalists is still up). Just use the phrase “USABO 2011” and I’ll add you if you’re also on the list.</p>

<p>NightShadeQueen: It is just outrageous to say that CEE can not come up with a new set of questions every year. If they reuse the questions from previous years, they should have the “morality” to publish the questions too. Otherwise, they will be favoring only some and that is ILLEGAL. </p>

<p>How come Chemistry/Physics/Math Olympiad organizers can publish the questions? </p>

<p>Who is the right person at CEE for complaining about this?</p>

<p>did finalists come out yet?</p>

<p>@besthope11</p>

<p>Why don’t you try it? Come up with twenty questions, from Campbell, that aren’t bleeding obvious. Now imagine coming up with all the questions needed for Open, and Semis…and then the four-hour long USABO National Exam. Every single bloody year. No reusing any questions.</p>

<p>See what I mean by impossible? Hey, chem/phys probably reuse too, just with different numbers.</p>

<p>Plus, they aren’t reusing all of the questions. Just a couple (as far as I know, which isn’t all that far at all, since I’d only recognize the questions I remembered off of last year’s exams).</p>

<p>Would I appreciate it if they would post their old exams? Definitely. Do I think that they should? Yeah. The trading system isn’t fair either - you get a boost if you “know someone”. The fairest - and the best solution, IMO, is to post old exams.</p>

<p>Here’s their contact form: [Contact</a> Form | Center for Excellence in Education](<a href=“http://www.cee.org/about/contact]Contact”>http://www.cee.org/about/contact)</p>

<p>So go ahead. Spam them. I agree with you.</p>

<p>But I wouldn’t declare it illegal until I get an actual lawyer’s opinion on the case. Just saying.</p>

<p>@meganfoxftw</p>

<p>They “are”, but apparently are not visible or something.</p>