How does Sri Lanka choose its IBO team?

Students sit a national exam in August, gold and silver medallists who meet the IBO age rule go to a selection round, and a final selection exam follows. Four students then train and travel to the IBO. The sources we could read do not describe the rule that picks the final four.

Who organises the Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad?

The IBO lists the Institute of Biology, Sri Lanka, in Colombo, with Prof. Hiran Amarasekera as country coordinator. The organiser's own site names the University of Sri Jayewardenepura as the coordinating centre.

Students sitting the Advanced Level (A/L) exams, local or foreign. In the 2026 cycle that means students sitting the 2026 or 2027 A/L exams. There is no age limit for the national round, but IBO team members must be under 20 on 30 June of the IBO year.

Is this guide written by a Sri Lankan participant?

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

Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad (SLBO): Official Outline of the Path to IBO

Sri Lanka’s national olympiad has been running since 2008 according to the IBO, and it selects four students for the International Biology Olympiad (IBO).² The organiser’s 2026 notice says four students will go to the 38th IBO in Warsaw, Poland (18 to 26 July 2027).³ This page outlines the path 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 IBO and the organiser call the programme the Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad (SLBO).

Programme: Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad (SLBO)^1,2
Organiser: Institute of Biology, Sri Lanka; coordinating centre at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura^2,3
Who can enter: Students sitting the Advanced Level (A/L) exams^2,3
Stages: National exam, selection round, final selection exam, pre-IBO training, IBO team of four
Official website: iobsl.org
Language: The 2026 notice says the exam can be taken in Sinhala, Tamil or English³

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
National exam	A two-hour paper of multiple-choice and true or false questions; 2026 was online on 2 August	Good: the organiser’s 2026 notice
Selection round	Gold and silver medallists who meet the IBO age rule take part	Medium: from the IBO’s undated page
Final selection exam	Held at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura	Medium: from the IBO’s undated page
Pre-IBO training	University laboratory training before the IBO	Good for 2024
IBO team	Four students	Good for the 2026 cycle; the rule for picking them is not stated

Stage 1: the national exam

The first round is a two-hour paper with 50 multiple-choice and true or false questions. For the 2026 cycle it was online on Sunday 2 August 2026 from 10:00 to 12:00, and the notice lists an application fee.³ The 2026 cycle covers students sitting the 2026 or 2027 A/L exams, including private and repeat candidates, and the exam may be taken in Sinhala, Tamil or English.³ The IBO’s page says about 2,000 candidates take part,² and an organiser report on the 2024 team agrees on a number of that order.⁵

The syllabus in the 2026 notice has six areas: chemical and cellular basis of life, evolution and diversity of organisms, functioning plant, functioning animal, genetics, and environment. The first four draw mainly on A/L units 2 to 5, genetics and environment need only Ordinary Level knowledge, and A/L units 6 to 10 are excluded.³

Gold, silver and bronze medals and merit certificates are awarded, and cut-offs are set each year. The organiser’s results page for 2021 gives gold at 80 or above, silver at 75 to 79, bronze at 70 to 74 and merit at 65 to 69 as an example.⁴

Stage 2: the selection round

The IBO’s page says only gold and silver medallists who meet the IBO age rule take part in the second round, held at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and the University of Colombo.² The IBO age rule is to be under 20 on 30 June of the IBO year.³ The 2021 results page lists 12 candidates for this round.⁴

Stage 3: the final selection exam

The IBO’s page describes a third round, a final selection exam at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.² The sources we could read do not say how many students go forward from it.

Stage 4: training and the IBO team

For the 2024 team, the organiser reports training at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (molecular medicine and ecosphere research laboratories) and the University of Ruhuna (zoology and biochemistry laboratories) before the IBO in Astana, Kazakhstan.⁵ That report names the four students but reports no medals. For the 2026 cycle the organiser says four students will go to the 2027 IBO.³ The IBO’s page names Campbell’s Biology as study material.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

Where the first round is held. The IBO’s page describes written sittings at seven centres across the country,² while the organiser’s 2026 notice describes an online exam.³ The IBO’s page is probably older.
The application deadline for 2026. The organiser’s notice says the deadline was extended to 21 July 2026, while the FAQ on the same page still says 10 July 2026.³
Size of the selection round in 2021. The organiser’s results page lists 12 candidates, but only 10 medallists are flagged as IBO-eligible.⁴
The name. Our dataset said “Sri Lanka Biology Olympiad”; the IBO and the organiser use “Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad”.^2,3

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

Dates of the selection round and the final selection exam, how many students go forward from each, and how the final four are chosen.
Sri Lanka’s recent IBO medals. We found no confirmed medal table in the sources we could read.
Round 1 sitting numbers by year, and how the online exam is supervised.
The Sinhala or Tamil name of the olympiad.
What the exams and the training are actually like, and what students 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 Sri Lankan 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 A/L syllabus. The IBO covers more than the national syllabus, so use our notes from cell and molecular biology to evolution.
Practise the practical side. The training takes place in university laboratories, so learn lab techniques as well as theory. Our practical notes are a start.
Learn the English terms. If you sit the national exam in Sinhala or Tamil, learn the English names of structures, processes and methods, because the IBO papers are in English.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Deadlines, fees and exam dates change every year. The organiser decides, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, list of countries and regions (undated). ibo-info.org
International Biology Olympiad, country page for the Sri Lankan Biology Olympiad (undated, English). ibo-info.org
Institute of Biology Sri Lanka, 2026 programme notice and FAQ, 11 July 2026 (English). iobsl.org
Institute of Biology Sri Lanka, results page for 2021 posted 3 March 2022 (English). iobsl.org
Institute of Biology Sri Lanka, report on the 2024 team, 23 September 2024 (English). iobsl.org

One more note on sources. The notices were read as summaries of the pages, not as copies, so check exact figures on the organiser’s site. Everything in this guide was read in English, so nothing 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.