British Biology Olympiad success for Exeter pupils

Ten Exeter School pupils have been awarded medals in the demanding British Biology Olympiad in which over 7,000 pupils took part, with one Upper Sixth pupil qualifying for the next round.

Upper Sixth pupil Suraj Ghandi scored the top mark in school and is one of the top 150 pupils in the country.

Head Girl Rebecca Richardson also achieved a gold medal.

Luke Crocker, George Hoult and Hannah Withers took Silver and AK Addo, Robbie Bell, Alex Jenner, Abby Pelling and Ayesha White obtained a Bronze Award.

The Biology Olympiad is a national on-line competition for schools organised by the Society of Biology.

Head of Biology, Julia Metcalf, said pupils take two rigorous one-hour papers, in which they must demonstrate their understanding of A Level topics as well as tackling questions that require a breadth of knowledge from beyond the syllabus.

“We are delighted with the results this year,” she said.

“From the 21 Upper Sixth pupils who took part, 2 achieved a Gold Award, there were 3 Silver medals awarded and 5 pupils obtained a Bronze Award. Of the remaining Upper Sixth who took part, 7 were Commended or Highly Commended.

“Well done to all participants.”

Suraj said he was pleased but very surprised to have qualified for the next round.

“I definitely think that revising some of the A Level syllabus in preparation for my Medicine interview helped me nail a few extra marks,” he said.

“I definitely recommend that people in the years below opt to do the Olympiad if given the opportunity - it’s likely that you will do better than you expect!”

He will take a third theory paper in March. Sixteen of the successful participants of the second round will be invited to the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick for the third round where their practical skills will be tested and they will take yet another theory paper.