How does Sweden choose its IBO team?

Schools register, students take a first selection test in February and, if they score at least half the points, a second test in March. Teachers grade both and the organiser's board checks the best results. The four best students by results represent Sweden at the IBO, according to the organiser's rules page.

Who organises the Swedish Biology Olympiad?

The Biologilärarnas förening (the Swedish Biology Teachers Association). The IBO lists the programme as Svenska Biologiolympiaden, established in 1991, and says Uppsala University helps with training.

Students at upper secondary school (gymnasieskola) in Sweden or at a Swedish school abroad. For the IBO team the student must not turn 20 before 1 July of the year, must not have started a university programme, and must not enter another international school olympiad that year.

Is this guide written by a Swedish participant?

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

Sweden Svenska Biologiolympiaden: Official Outline of the Path to IBO

Sweden sends a team of four students to the International Biology Olympiad (IBO), chosen through two selection tests run by the Biologilärarnas förening, the Swedish Biology Teachers Association.^1,3 This page outlines how that path works according to the sources we could read, including the dates the organiser has published for the 2027 IBO. It is a map of the structure, not an insider’s account of what the tests feel like.

Programme: Svenska Biologiolympiaden (Swedish Biology Olympiad), listed by the IBO as established in 1991¹
Organiser: Biologilärarnas förening (Swedish Biology Teachers Association), with Uppsala University helping with training^1,2
Who can enter: Upper secondary students, through a teacher who registers the school; extra IBO rules on age and studies^1,3
Stages: School registration, selection test 1, selection test 2, training, IBO team of four
Official website: biologilararna.se
Language: Swedish for the national competition; the IBO itself is in English

The path at a glance

Stage	What happens	How sure we are
Registration	A teacher registers the school through an online form; the deadline for the 2027 cycle is 1 February 2027	Good
Selection test 1	Taken at your own school and graded by the teacher; 4 February 2027	Good for the date; the rules page gives the length and pass mark
Selection test 2	For students who reach the pass mark; 16 March 2027	Good for the 2027 date; older pages give other months
Training and team	A training camp, then the four best students represent Sweden	Medium; the camp is described only on the IBO’s page

Stage 1: registration and the first selection test

A teacher registers the school with an online form, and for the 2027 cycle the deadline is 1 February 2027.⁵ The first selection test is on 4 February 2027, taken at the student’s own school and graded by the teacher.^2,4,5 The organiser’s rules page says it lasts 90 minutes and that only students with at least half the points go on to the second test.³ The IBO’s page says the first round is mostly multiple choice and gives about 400 students as the usual number taking part; the page is undated.¹ Eligibility is not stated on the registration page itself, but the rules page says students must attend an upper secondary school in Sweden or a Swedish school abroad.^3,5

Stage 2: the second selection test

The second test is on 16 March 2027 according to the organiser’s 2027 pages, and the IBO’s page describes it as mostly true or false questions.^1,4,5 Teachers grade it and send the results to the organiser’s board, which asks for the ten best results from both tests so that it can grade them again.³ The month of this test differs between pages, as set out in the box below.

Stage 3: training

The IBO’s page describes three days of training in mid-June at Uppsala University, with lectures from teachers, about half of it on practical skills, followed by self-study of the textbook Campbell Biology.¹ The organiser’s own pages say the association arranges training camps and sends leaders to the IBO, but give no dates for a camp.^2,4,6 Whether the camp comes before or after the team is chosen is unclear in what we read.

Stage 4: the IBO team

The four best students by results represent Sweden, and the board’s grading is final, according to the organiser’s rules page.³ For the IBO itself the same page sets three conditions: the student does not turn 20 before 1 July of the year, has not started a university programme, and is not entering another international school olympiad that year.³ The IBO’s page says the four team members receive a diploma and a copy of the textbook.¹ The organiser publishes the team for each year, including 2025 and 2026, and lists the 38th IBO as taking place in Warsaw, Poland, from 18 to 25 July 2027.^4,6,7 We could not find Swedish medal results for 2024 to 2026 in a source we opened.

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

The month of the second test. The IBO’s page says March,¹ the organiser’s rules page says April,³ and the organiser’s 2027 pages give 16 March 2027.^4,5 We use the most specific and most recent, but the rules page is undated.
The 2026 IBO page. The organiser’s page for the 2026 IBO describes the IBO as being in Manila in the Philippines, which looks like text copied from the 2025 page.^7,6 The 37th IBO was in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 12 to 19 July 2026 according to a University of Helsinki item.⁸ The same 2026 page says “the 26 best” but lists 25 names.
Who made the team in 2025. The organiser’s 2025 page lists selection scores in which two students ranked above two others who are named on the team, and gives no reason.⁶
The training camp. The mid-June camp in Uppsala appears only on the IBO’s page and not on the organiser’s own pages.^1,2

Gaps a firsthand author could fill

Whether the camp comes before or after the team is chosen, and what happens at it.
Why the final four are not always the four highest scorers, if that is the case, and what other rules apply.
Medal results for Sweden in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
How many students take part each year; the figure of about 400 comes from an undated IBO page.
Whether there is any practical test in the selection, which we did not find.
The grade or age of students in the first round, beyond “upper secondary”.
What the tests are like and how students prepare.

Our reading of the Swedish pages (all the organiser’s pages) is a translation, and the pass mark, test length and eligibility rules depend 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 Swedish 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.
Study from a university-level textbook. The IBO’s page names Campbell Biology as the self-study book for the Swedish team, and our notes on cell and molecular biology, genetics and animal physiology can help you plan which areas to cover.
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 Swedish, learn the English names of structures, processes and methods, because the IBO papers are written in English.
Use the official channels for anything dated. Registration deadlines and test dates change every year. Your biology teacher and the organiser decide, not us.

Official links and sources

International Biology Olympiad, country page for the Svenska Biologiolympiaden (in English, undated and possibly old). ibo-info.org
Biologilärarnas förening, home page (in Swedish, official national site). biologilararna.se
Biologilärarnas förening, rules page for the IBO selection (in Swedish, undated). biologilararna.se. The pass mark, test length and eligibility rules rely on our translation.
Biologilärarnas förening, page for the 2027 IBO (in Swedish, 2026 to 2027). biologilararna.se
Biologilärarnas förening, registration page (in Swedish, 2026 to 2027). biologilararna.se
Biologilärarnas förening, page for the 2025 IBO (in Swedish, 2025). biologilararna.se
Biologilärarnas förening, page for the 2026 IBO (in Swedish, 2026; it appears to contain text from 2025). biologilararna.se
Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus), University of Helsinki, news item on the 2026 IBO, 27 July 2026 (in Finnish; used here only for the place and dates of the 2026 IBO). helsinki.fi

Two more notes on sources. We did not find or open any Swedish government or news coverage of the programme, so every Swedish fact here comes from the organiser or the IBO. The IBO’s own list of member countries is at ibo-info.org.

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