What is the National Biology Competition?

The National Biology Competition (NBC) is an annual competition for secondary school students (grades 9 to 12). This competition provides high school students with an opportunity to test their knowledge and understanding of biology. The NBC was paused due to disruptions caused by COVID-19, it will be revived in an online format starting the 2024 school year. The date for the online competition has been tentatively set for April 18th, 2024. Teachers will be required to proctor the exam in their school for their registered students. On the day of the exam, this will require ~2 hours of time commitment from the teachers. NBC school account registration begins February 25th 2024.

Apply for NBC school account

Online competition registration is available to all schools, both within Canada and internationally. To register for the competition, your school must first have a school account registered to a staff member acting as Competition Coordinator. All schools with accounts will be listed in our school directory.

Follow the link below to submit an application to create a school account: 

https://bioexplorerchallenge.com/school

Steps to create your school account:

  1. Enter your email id,  name and password to create a school account
  2. You will receive a verification link in your email. Use this link to login.
  3. At the top left corner, click ‘New school registration’.
  4. Click ‘New school application’ and enter all the information and submit the form.
  5. You will receive an e-mail from us upon approval of your application. It can take us up to one-week to review and approve your application.

Results of the 2019 Competition

The 25th annual University of Toronto National Biology Competition was held at participating schools on Thursday, April 25, 2019. There were 4,501 eligible contestants, from 346 schools: 3,135 contestants from 254 schools within Canada, and 1,366 international contestants from 92 schools outside of Canada. Over 125,000 high school students have participated in the competition since 1995.

  • 2019 Honour Rolls of Top Students and Schools: see “Past Competitions” tab above
  • 2019 Exam and Answer Key: see “Past Competitions” tab above

Top 10 Students – Canada

Kevin Fan, St. George’s School, Vancouver, BC (1st)
Purab Patel, Marc Garneau CI, Toronto, ON (2nd; tied for 1st in 2018)
Rico Dong, Milliken Mills HS, Markham, ON (tied for 3rd)
Oliver Tong, Burnaby South SS, Burnaby, BC (tied for 3rd)
Ethan Liu, St. George’s School, Vancouver, BC (5th)
Adam Martinez, Waterloo CI, Waterloo, ON (6th)
Alston Lo, Richmond Hill HS, Richmond Hill, ON (7th)    
Adam Glustein, Northern SS, Toronto, ON (tied for 8th)
Catherine Lalman, Vincent Massey SS, Windsor, ON (tied for 8th)
Adrian Tanjala, St. Robert Catholic HS, Thornhill, ON (10th)

Top 10 Students – International
(and those tied for 8th)

Derrick Liang, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA (1st)
Remy Wu, SEED of Paramus Academy, Paramus, NJ (2nd)
Jason Zhang, Troy HS, Troy, MI (3rd)
Nithin Parsan, Clements HS, Sugar Land, TX (tied for 4th)
John Yang, Princeton HS, Princeton, NJ (tied for 4th)
Lucy Zou, Yu’s Elite Education, Raritan, NJ (tied for 4th)
Dhanush Banka, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA (7th)
Risha Chakraborty, Dougherty Valley HS, San Ramon, CA (tied for 8th)
Sean Choi, SEED of Paramus Academy, Paramus, NJ (tied for 8th)
Andrew Ding, Adlai E. Stevenson HS, Lincolnshire, IL (tied for 8th; 1st in 2018)
Daphne Hao, Yu’s Elite Education, Raritan, NJ (tied for 8th)
Phoebe Hartch, Greenwich HS, Greenwich, CT (tied for 8th)
Kameel Khabaz, Fairmont Preparatory Academy, Anaheim, CA (tied for 8th)
Edward Lue, Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA (tied for 8th)
Alvin Zhang, Dougherty Valley HS, San Ramon, CA (tied for 8th)

Top 10 Schools – Canada

Marc Garneau CI, Toronto, ON (1st; also 1st in 2018)
Richmond Hill HS, Richmond Hill, ON (2nd; 10th in 2018)
Western Canada HS, Calgary, AB (3rd; tied for 6th in 2018)
The Woodlands School, Mississauga, ON (4th)
Bayview SS, Richmond Hill, ON (5th; 9th in 2018)
St. George’s School, Vancouver, BC (6th)
John Fraser SS, Mississauga, ON (7th)
Cameron Heights CI, Kitchener, ON (8th; tied for 6th in 2018)
Dr. E. P. Scarlett HS, Calgary, AB (9th; 3rd in 2018)
YES Education Centre, Vancouver, BC (10th)

Top 10 Schools – International

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA (1st; also 1st in 2018)
SEED of Paramus Academy, Paramus, NJ (2nd)
Clements High School, Sugar Land, TX (3rd)
Adlai E. Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, IL (4th; tied for 7th in 2018)
Ridge High School, Basking Ridge, NJ (5th; 4th in 2018)
Dougherty Valley High School, San Ramon, CA (6th)
Cambridge Education Institute, Chino Hills, CA (7th; and tied for 7th in 2018)
Yu’s Elite Education, Raritan, NJ (8th; 2nd in 2018)
White Station High School, Memphis, TN (9th)
Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, CA (10th)