How does Norway choose its IBO team?

Upper secondary students take a multiple choice school round in autumn, the best sit a second round in January, and the top second-round students attend an intensive training week and final at the University of Oslo. The four winners receive a trip to the IBO.

Who organises Biologi-OL?

The Department of Biosciences at the University of Oslo, with the Skolelaboratoriet for Biologi as co-organiser. The IBO lists the programme as Biologi-OL, established in 2015.

Is this guide written by a Norwegian participant?

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

Norway Biologi-OL: Official Outline of the Path to IBO

Q: Who can take part?

Upper secondary students who take biology. Each school needs a teacher as contact person, and registration is free. The sources we could read state no grade or age limit beyond that.

Norway sends a team of four students to the International Biology Olympiad (IBO) through a national programme run by the University of Oslo. Its first IBO medal came in 2019, and at the 2023 IBO in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, Norway won two bronze medals, which the University of Oslo called a national record.⁵ 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.

Programme: Biologi-OL, also called Biologiolympiaden (Norwegian Biology Olympiad), listed by the IBO as established in 2015¹
Organiser: Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, with Skolelaboratoriet for Biologi as co-organiser²
Who can enter: Upper secondary students taking biology, through a teacher at their school^1,2
Stages: School round, second round, training week and final, IBO team of four
Official website: University of Oslo Biologi-OL page
Language: Norwegian for the national competition; the IBO itself is in English

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
Round 1, school round	A 45 minute multiple choice test at school, on a day the school chooses in weeks 40 to 42	Good, from the 2026 to 2027 page
Round 2	A 90 minute test at school on 25 January 2027	Good for the date and format; the number who qualify is disputed
Training week and final	An intensive week at the University of Oslo ending in a final	Medium; the dates differ between two official pages
IBO team	The four winners go to the IBO, with a practical camp beforehand	Good for four winners; the camp date is unclear

Stage 1: the school round

The first round is a standardised multiple choice test of 45 minutes, taken at school on a day the school chooses in weeks 40 to 42; for 2026 that is 28 September to 16 October.² The syllabus for this round is the Biologi1 course. Any upper secondary student who takes biology can enter, each school needs a teacher as contact person, and registration is free.^1,2 The IBO’s country page reports growth from 53 schools and about 750 students in 2017 to 95 schools and 1,169 students in 2023.¹

Stage 2: the second round

Round 2 takes place at school on 25 January 2027 and lasts 90 minutes, with multiple choice, true or false statements and short answers. Its syllabus is Biologi1 and Biologi2, and some questions come from the international final.² The IBO’s page says the best performers in round 1 qualify for it.¹ The number who qualify is covered in the box below.

Stage 3: the training week and the Norwegian final

An intensive training week at the University of Oslo ends in the national final. The university’s page lists it tentatively for week 11, 15 to 19 March 2027.² The IBO’s page describes a four-day camp for the best of round 2, ending in a multiple choice final.¹ The two pages differ on timing and on how many attend, as set out in the box below.

Stage 4: the IBO team

The four winners receive a free trip to the IBO and a practical camp of three to four days beforehand, according to the IBO’s page.¹ University of Oslo news items report Norwegian teams of four at the IBO in 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.^3,4,5 In 2022 in Yerevan one student won a bronze medal, and in 2023 four students were selected but only three travelled, because one was refused a visa.^4,5 The IBO’s published ranking for 2024 in Astana lists four Norwegian students, one with a bronze medal.⁶ We could not find Norway’s results for 2025 or 2026 in a source we opened. The university’s 2026 to 2027 page lists the 38th IBO in Warsaw, 18 to 25 July 2027.²

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

When the final takes place. The University of Oslo’s page gives week 11, 15 to 19 March 2027, as tentative,² while the IBO’s page says the final is in week 12 or 13.¹
How many reach the final. The IBO’s page says the top 10 percent of round 1 qualify for round 2 and that the 16 best of round 2 attend a four-day camp.¹ The university’s page gives no number for the camp.² A search summary of an older university plan mentioned 70 to 100 round 2 qualifiers; we did not open that document and do not rely on it.
The date of the IBO practical camp. The university’s page lists the camp as tentatively 21 to 25 June in week 25 but names the year 2026, which does not fit the rest of that schedule, so it is probably a typing error for 2027.²
Participation figures. The IBO’s page gives two different student counts for 2017, 747 and 757.¹

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

Whether a team size of four is written down anywhere officially, or only in the news items.
Any age or grade limit for the national competition.
How the four winners are decided from the final, and what the reserve rules are.
The Norwegian results at the IBO in 2025 and 2026.
What the school round, round 2 and the final are actually like, and how students prepare.
Who covers costs and travel for students who live far from Oslo.

Our reading of the Norwegian pages (the university’s page above all) is a translation, and every date and test length from it depends on it. 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 Norwegian participant, and they apply to any student aiming at an IBO team.

Train for the international format early. 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.
Go beyond the school course. Round 2 uses Biologi1 and Biologi2, but the final and the IBO go further. Our notes on cell and molecular biology, genetics and evolution are a place to start.
Practise the practical side. The IBO has practical exams, so learn the lab techniques and not only the theory. See our practical skills notes.
Learn the English terms. Even if you study in Norwegian, learn the English names of structures, processes and methods, because the IBO papers are written in English.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Test weeks and camp dates change every year. Your school’s biology teacher and the University of Oslo decide, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, country page for Biologi-OL (in English; it shows figures up to 2023 and is undated). ibo-info.org
University of Oslo, Department of Biosciences, Biologiolympiaden page with the 2026 to 2027 schedule (in Norwegian, official national site). mn.uio.no. Dates and test lengths here rely on our translation.
University of Oslo, Department of Biosciences, news item on the 2019 IBO, 19 August 2019 (in English). mn.uio.no
University of Oslo, Department of Biosciences, news item on the 2022 IBO, 3 August 2022 (in English). mn.uio.no
University of Oslo, Department of Biosciences, news item on the 2023 IBO, 9 August 2023 (in English). mn.uio.no
International Biology Olympiad, ranking of the 2024 IBO in Astana, amended January 2025 (PDF, in English). ibo-info.org

Two more notes on sources. The IBO’s own list of member countries is at ibo-info.org. Social media posts about a Norwegian team at the 2025 IBO appeared in search results, but we did not open them and state nothing from them.

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