The Student Room Group

BIO Preparation Thread 2017/18

What is the BIO?

The BIO, that is, the British Informatics Olympiad, is a computer programming competition for UK school students (i.e that have not yet gone to university). The first round competition is in December-January time, followed by the second round at Trinity College, Cambridge in March/April and finally training over summer towards the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) which the UK sends 4 students to each year.

What's the format?

There's three questions, each with a 25ish mark 'a' part which involves writing a program and then a series of other, shorter, mostly written questions after that. To get a feel for it, have a go at the 2017 paper, for example.

How do I get better at 'Informatics'?

Practise, practise, practise!

On the official website here, you can find all the past papers back to 1995. Use them wisely! You can also view a cherry-picked selection of problems on the website here, which is separated into difficulty ranges.

The USA has a similar competition, the USACO, but this is online (and automated) and anyone can enter. They have four levels of Olympiads, from Bronze to Platinum, and Bronze/Silver is probably the level of the BIO first round. There's also four contests a year as opposed to one in the BIO, so you can get more practise there - the next competition is this February (next week, as of 14/02! I hope to make Gold!).

There is also a training website for the USACO, with loads of practise problems - very useful.

On the IOI website you can find a reading list with a wide variety of suggestions, also.

AoPS, a popular forum for olympiad maths, also has a (less popular) informatics forum for help/discussion of informatics.

Happy coding everyone!
(edited 6 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Okay, 2015 question three.

I'll post my solution on monday, if that's okay. Also I may have done the entirety of 2014 by then as well.
Agreed. Took me an hour, but was 25/25 and managed to do 3b at the same time.



from math import factorial

def total_ways(a, b, c, d):
return factorial(a+b+c+d)//(factorial(a)*factorial(b)*factorial(c)*factorial(d))

def g(a, b, c, d, n):
if a==0 and b==0 and c==0 and d==0:
return ''
ways=total_ways(a, b, c, d)

if n <= (ways*a)//(a+b+c+d) and a>0: ##letter is 'A'
return 'A'+g(a-1, b, c, d, n)

if n <= (ways*(a+b))//(a+b+c+d) and b>0: ##letter is 'B'
return 'B'+g(a, b-1, c, d, n-(ways*a)//(a+b+c+d))

if n <= (ways*(a+b+c))//(a+b+c+d) and c>0: ##letter is 'C'
return 'C'+g(a, b, c-1, d, n-(ways*(a+b))//(a+b+c+d))

else: ##letter is 'D'
return 'D'+g(a, b, c, d-1, n-(ways*(a+b+c))//(a+b+c+d))

a=int(input('Enter value for a >':wink:)
b=int(input('Enter value for b >':wink:)
c=int(input('Enter value for c >':wink:)
d=int(input('Enter value for d >':wink:)
n=int(input('Enter value for n >':wink:)

print(g(a, b, c, d, n))
Ah, but you used an extremely naive algorithm! So did I at first and I believe yours is only 12/25 :frown:
Okay I'm doing 2014 now, will post my answers and marks when I'm done.
No worries.

2014 done, but it's not looking hopeful.

Also BIO is basically procrastinating from learning geometry for me :colondollar:
Okay, for the record:

BIO 2014.

1a. 25/25
1b. 2/2
1c. 3/3 - a good start

2a. 25/25 - obviously good but took waaaay too long
2b. 2/2
2c. 0/3
2d. 2/5

3a. 0/25 oh deary me
3b. 2/2
3c. 3/3
3d. 0/5

So a grand total of 62100\frac{62}{100}
Give me a hint for 3a will ya ?

Also for 2013 3a if you've done it / will do it
Cool. I would have posted my 2013 score, but since I did it in fragmented time periods, and I got less than 50% (couldn't do 2a (because python and lists) or 3a) :biggrin:.

Will do 2012 in timed conditions soon.
BIO 2012

1a. 24/24
1b. 2/2
1c. 0/4

2a. 23/23
2b. 2/2
2c. 5/6
2d. 0/4

3a. 19/23
3b. 0/2
3c. 0/4
3d. 2/6

So total is 77/10077/100. Almost certainly not enough to qualify the next round, but a significant improvement from my previous efforts :redface:.

try 2012 (2011-2012). I have faith in you that you can get 90+, and would like to discuss 3a especially.
BIO 2010 - first paper in a while oops


1a. 25/25
1b. 2/2
1c. 3/3

2a. 25/25
2b.2/2
2c. 1/4
2d. 4/5 [Is the mark scheme wrong in writing 'Yes' ?]

3a. 20/23
3b. 2/2
3c. 2/5
3d. 5/5

So a total of 91100\frac{91}{100}. Though this was 3h 30 mins, this is a very good result :smile:.
No worries! I kinda did as well.

I'm way more into BMO1 at the moment, but I want to be doing both.
BIO 2009 Solutions - finished 3a. with 15 seconds to spare!

1a. 24/24
1b. 0/2
1c. 0/4

2a. 22/24 - such a tiny error!
2b. 3/3
2c. 4/4
2d. 0/4

3a. 23/23
3b. 2/2
3c. 0/5
3d. 0/5

So a total of 78100\frac{78}{100}. Ugh, I hate getting a mark where it is ambivalent if you'd qualify for the next round. Bah!
(edited 6 years ago)
BIO 2008 Results- Question 2 :frown:

1a. 25/25
1b. 3/3
1c. 2/2

2a. 4/25
2b. 0/2
2c. 0/4
2d. 3/4

3a. 22/24
3b. 0/3
3c. 4/4
3d. 3/4

So a total of 66100\frac{66}{100}. :frown::frown::frown:
(edited 6 years ago)
BIO 2007 Results

1a. 24/24
1b. 2/2
1c. 4/4

2a. 24/24
2b. 3/3
2c. 1/3
2d. 0/5

3a. 18/25
3b. 1/2
3c. 4/5
3d. 3/3

So a total of 84100\frac{84}{100}. The lesson learnt here is a shoddy Q2 earns like 2 marks but a shoddy Q3 can earn ... 18 marks! :biggrin: Thought I flopped but definitely didn't
Yes, I can't believe I once told you I found Q2s nicer! What rubbish! :biggrin:
BIO 2008 Results

1a. 24/24
1b. 2/2
1c. 4/4

2a. 20/24
2b. 3/3
2c. 0/3
2d. 4/5

3a. 25/25
3b. 0/2
3c. 0/4
3d. 3/4

So a total of 85100\frac{85}{100}. This is good, but the paper was really weird and I think I'm going to start doing Round 2 exams or Informatics Olympiads from other countries.

How goes BIO preparation for you, ?
Ah, so this thread exists, lovely.
Original post by AryanGh
Ah, so this thread exists, lovely.


How have you got on with the past papers Aryan?

Quick Reply

Latest