The IBO examination is composed of a theoretical and practical element. The theory exams cover a wide range of Biology syllabus which includes Cell Biology, Molecular Biology, Plant Anatomy and Physiology, Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Ethology, Genetics and Evolution, Ecology, and Biosystematics. The marks are scaled so that each theory and practical components have a weighting of about 50%.

 

All participants are ranked based on their individual scores. Gold medals are awarded to the top ten percent of students, silver medals are awarded to the next twenty percent of students and bronze medals are awarded to the next thirty percent of students.