How does France choose its IBO team?

Through the Olympiades Internationales de Biologie (OIB), the French selection for the IBO. Students take an individual multiple choice test in November and a second one in February. According to the national rules, two of the four places go on the tests alone and two on the tests combined with results in the national project contest (ONB), after phone interviews.

Who organises the French Biology Olympiads?

The association Olympiades Françaises de Biologie (OFB), working with the Ministry of Education, as listed by the IBO. The IBO names the general directorate for school education (DGESCO) in Paris as the appointing institution and gives an address in Toulouse.

For the IBO selection test, the national rules say any student in seconde, première or terminale, in any track or school. Students of the AEFE network (French schools abroad) can sit the test but cannot join the French delegation under the IBO's rules.

Is this guide written by a French participant?

No. It is an outline of the official picture from published sources, with tips from BiOGuide. We are looking for a French olympiad participant or coach to write a firsthand guide and replace this one.

France Biology Olympiads (OFB): Official Outline of the Path to IBO

France sends four students to the International Biology Olympiad (IBO). The French programme is newer than most: the IBO lists it as established in 2019, and the national site records a bronze medal for France at the IBO in 2023 and an honourable mention in 2024.^1,6 This page outlines how the path to that team works according to the sources we could read. It is a map of the structure, not an insider’s account of what the exams feel like. The national site is in French, and facts that depend on our own translation are marked.

Programme: Olympiades Françaises de Biologie (OFB), with two parts: the Olympiades Nationales de Biologie (ONB, a project contest) and the Olympiades Internationales de Biologie (OIB, the IBO selection)^1,2
Organiser: The association Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, with the Ministry of Education¹
Who can enter: Students in seconde, première or terminale, registered by their biology teacher^2,3
Stages: Two online individual tests, phone interviews, a combined selection of four, a preparation week
Official website: olympiadesdebiologie.fr, as listed by the IBO
Language: French for the national site and the project abstract; the sources we could read do not say what language the selection tests are in

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
Registration	Your biology teacher registers you between September and December	Good for the structure; the Participer page we read describes the 2025 session
First test	An individual multiple choice test in November	Medium; the national rules page has no year
Second test	A second multiple choice test in February for the best performers	Medium; the number who advance is not stated
ONB project contest	A parallel team project contest with a national final in Toulouse, which feeds two of the four places	Good for the structure
Interviews and selection	Phone interviews in March or April, then the delegation of four	Medium; the weighting is not stated
Preparation week	A week at a university in May or June before the IBO	Medium; two sources give slightly different timing

Registration and who can take part

The national rules say registration for the IBO selection test runs between September and December of the school year, through your biology (SVT) teacher on the contest website, and that you no longer need to be registered for the ONB project contest to sit the test.² The FAQ adds that you do not need French nationality for the national contest, which is the project contest, but you need it for the international one, and that students of the AEFE network cannot join the delegation because of international rules but may sit the test.⁴ If your teacher has no registration link, the registration page points to the academic mission officer or the regional inspector.³

The two selection tests

The national rules describe a first individual multiple choice test in November, then for the students with the best results a second multiple choice test in February.² The registration page for the 2025 session says the test is online and the date was to be confirmed, with details to come from your teacher.³ The sources we could read do not say how long the tests are, how many questions they contain or how many students reach the second one.

The ONB project contest

The ONB is a separate contest in which groups of two to four students carry out a research project on the year’s theme, with at least one experiment, and submit a video of up to five minutes and a 20-line abstract in French.⁵ The best project is chosen in each school, then at an academic final in late February or early March, and the best academic projects go to a national final in Toulouse in early April, where each team is questioned by a jury for about ten minutes.⁵ It matters for the IBO because ONB results count for part of the selection, as described next.

Choosing the delegation and training

Four students form the French delegation. According to the national rules, two are selected on the tests alone and two on the tests together with their ONB results, so the team members need not have worked together and may come from different academies.² The calendar on the same page lists March or April for publishing the test results, phone interviews and naming the delegation, and May or June for a preparation stage, in a university, for the four.² The rules also say the four are known in early April and meet for a week of preparation in June. The national news page records a bronze medal at the IBO in 2023 and an honourable mention in 2024.⁶

Points for an Author

If you went through this programme yourself, these are the points we most need you to settle. They are grouped here so that nothing uncertain is buried in the text above.

Where the sources disagree

How the delegation is chosen. The IBO’s directory says the results of both contests are combined,¹ while the national rules say two places go on the tests alone and two on the tests combined with the ONB, after phone interviews.² We use the national rules because they are more precise.
The format of the individual test. The IBO’s directory describes a test of high-level scientific questions with documents over two hours, and elsewhere says multiple choice,¹ while the national rules describe two multiple choice tests, in November and February.²
The size of project teams. The IBO’s directory says teams of 3 or 4,¹ while the national rules and the FAQ say 2 to 4.^5,4
When the preparation week happens. The rules text says a week in June, and the calendar on the same page says May or June.²
How up to date the pages are. The registration page we read refers to the 2025 session and a registration deadline of 10 December 2024,³ and the rules pages carry no year, so the current season may differ.
The number of participants. The IBO’s directory says about 1,600 in the first round, and its own statistics show 1,500 in 2021.¹

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

How long the selection tests are, how many questions they contain, how many students sit the second test, and the language of the tests.
What the phone interviews cover and how test, ONB and interview results are weighted.
How many project teams reach the academic and national finals.
The results and team of the 2025 and 2026 IBOs, which we could not find on the national site.
What the preparation week is like and what students wish they had known.
How the experience differs between academies.

A firsthand author can settle every one of these points. If that could be you, email us or read how it works.

BiOGuide tips for students aiming at this path

These are general tips from BiOGuide, not advice from a French participant, and they apply to any student aiming at an IBO team.

Talk to your biology teacher early. Registration runs from September to December and only a teacher can do it.
Treat the project contest as a second route. Results in the ONB count towards two of the four places, so a good experimental project can matter even if you also sit the tests. Our practical sections cover lab technique.
Practise reasoning on data. The IBO papers are in English and test reasoning on data and experiments, not only recall. The IBO preparation guide explains the format, and past IBO papers are in our practice papers.
Learn the English terms. Even if you study in French, learn the English names of structures, processes and methods, because the IBO papers are written in English.
Cover the broad range. The IBO covers cells to ecosystems, so see our notes on cell and molecular biology, genetics and ecology.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Registration and test dates change every year, and the national site and your teacher decide, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, country page for the Olympiades Françaises de Biologie. ibo-info.org. The page is undated, partly inconsistent and some figures are old, so we use it for the structure only.
Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, rules of the OIB (in French, undated, no year given). olympiadesdebiologie.fr. Facts from this source depend on our own translation.
Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, OIB registration page (in French, refers to the 2025 session). olympiadesdebiologie.fr. Facts from this source depend on our own translation.
Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, FAQ (in French, undated). olympiadesdebiologie.fr. Facts from this source depend on our own translation.
Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, rules of the ONB (in French, undated). olympiadesdebiologie.fr. Facts from this source depend on our own translation.
Olympiades Françaises de Biologie, news about the OIB, with items from 2023 and 2024 (in French). olympiadesdebiologie.fr. We read the headlines and summaries, and facts from this source depend on our own translation.

This outline was last checked on 8 October 2026 and will age. Spotted an error or out-of-date detail? Email r6394175@gmail.com.