How does South Africa choose its IBO team?

According to the IBO, learners take a practice round, a final round in August and a selection round in February, then the chosen learners attend a week-long university training programme. The sources we could read do not state the exact criteria or how many learners are chosen from the selection round.

Is it called the South African Biology Olympiad?

No. The IBO lists the programme as the South African Life Sciences Olympiad, and its country page also calls it the South African Science Olympiad (SASO). We found nothing called SABO.

The IBO page says learners in grades 10, 11 and 12 studying Biology can take part and that entry is voluntary for schools. The organiser's own page says Life Sciences is for grades 10 and 11, so the two do not agree.

Is this guide written by a South African participant?

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

South African Life Sciences Olympiad: Official Outline of the Path to IBO

South Africa sends four learners a year to the International Biology Olympiad (IBO); the IBO’s published results for 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 each list four South African competitors.² The path runs through the South African Science Olympiad, which the IBO lists as the South African Life Sciences Olympiad, established in 1997.¹ This page outlines the path according to the sources we could read. The IBO’s description is undated and some of its figures may be old, so it is a map of the structure, not an insider’s account of what the exams feel like.

Programme: South African Life Sciences Olympiad, also called the South African Science Olympiad (SASO)¹
Organiser: The South African Science Olympiad, run by the National Science Olympiad organising committee in Centurion; the IBO names the Department of Science and Innovation as appointing institution¹
Who can enter: Learners in grades 10 to 12 studying Biology, according to the IBO; entry is voluntary for schools¹
Stages: Practice round, final round, selection round, training week, IBO team of four
Official website: scienceolympiad.co.za
Language: The IBO lists English for the website; the exam language is not stated

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
Round 1, practice round	March to June; multiple choice; free for entering schools; up to 5,000 learners	Medium: from the undated IBO page
Round 2, final round	First week of August; multiple choice; about 2,000 learners	Medium
Round 3, selection round	February of the following year; about 20 to 50 learners; mostly multiple choice or true and false, sometimes with theory	Medium
Training	A week-long university programme with lectures and lab work	Medium
IBO team	Four learners; the criteria are not stated	Low for how the four are picked

The three rounds

The IBO’s page describes a practice round from March to June, a final round in the first week of August, and a selection round in February of the following year that is run with staff from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.¹ It says grade 11 learners write the August test and may be shortlisted, and that the selection test is written in grade 12.¹ The organiser’s page on its IBO programme says winners of the national olympiad are selected to represent the country, without giving specifics.³ An older school news article describes four grade 12 pupils chosen from about 3,000 candidates for an earlier IBO; it is undated and we use it only as background.⁵

Training and the IBO team

The IBO page says the chosen learners attend a week-long university programme with lectures and laboratory work in a normal year, and that awards are medals and certificates, not cash.¹ It does not give the team size or exact criteria. The IBO results list four South African competitors in each of 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.² Some learners appear in more than one year. We did not read award details reliably from the extracted results, and the 2026 file’s text was scrambled, so we do not state medals.

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

Grade levels. The IBO page lists grades 10, 11 and 12,¹ while the organiser’s olympiads page says Life Sciences is for grades 10 and 11.⁴ The grade 12 selection round is consistent with the IBO page.
The programme name. The dataset used the name South African Biology Olympiad (SABO), which we found nowhere. The IBO lists the South African Life Sciences Olympiad and also the South African Science Olympiad (SASO).¹
Link to the international olympiad. The organiser’s homepage says it is not affiliated with any international olympiad,³ while its IBO page and the IBO list it as the route to the IBO.^1,3 There is a separate national olympiad for Grade 12 physical and life sciences run by other bodies, and we have not tried to untangle the two.
A 2026 news item. A search result described a South African school’s bronze medals at an “International Biology Olympiad in Russia” in 2026. We did not open it and the 2026 IBO was in Lithuania, so we did not use it.

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

The current dates, entry fee and how a school or learner enters.
Exactly how the four team members are chosen from the selection round, and how many take part in it.
The language of the exams and what the papers, the selection round and the training week are actually like.
What learners from outside the big cities find hard, and what they wish they had known.

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 South African participant, and they apply to any student aiming at an IBO team.

Train for the international format early. The IBO papers 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.
Practise the practical side. The training week includes lab work and the IBO has practical stations, so learn lab techniques as well as theory. Our notes on practical skills are a start.
Build the core theory. Work through cell and molecular biology, genetics, ecology and evolution.
Learn the standard English terms. The IBO papers are written in English, so be fluent in the names of structures, processes and methods.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Dates, fees and eligibility change every year. The South African Science Olympiad decides, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, country page for the South African Life Sciences Olympiad. ibo-info.org. The page is undated and may be old, so we use it for the structure only.
International Biology Olympiad, results files for 2023 to 2026 (PDFs, in English), linked from the IBO results page. ibo-info.org
South African Science Olympiad, home page and IBO page (in English, undated). scienceolympiad.co.za
South African Science Olympiad, olympiads page (in English, undated). scienceolympiad.co.za
Westville Boys’ High School, news item on the International Biology Olympiad in Switzerland (in English, undated, about 2013). wbhs.co.za

We found no Department of Basic Education or Department of Science and Innovation page on this pathway, and we did not read the IBO’s final reports. No fact in this guide depends on a 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.