The British Informatics Olympiad is the computing competition for schools and colleges. We are proud to present BIO'98.

The 1998 British Informatics Olympiad sample paper

This sample paper is taken directly from the 1997 British Informatics Olympiad exam, which was set in schools across mainland Britain.

The paper consists of three questions, to be solved in three hours. Browse the following links to see the paper:

• Full BIO'98 sample paper (40kB)
• Instructions to candidates (rubric) (as BIO'97 exam)
• Question 1: Time (as BIO'97 exam)
• Question 2: Reversi (33kB) (as BIO'97 exam)
• Question 3: Egyptian Fractions (as BIO'97 exam)

Interactive example programs, suitable for use with Java-enabled browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer or a Java interpreter on your PC, and worked solutions can be found through the following links, which are part of the documentation for the BIO'97 exam.

• Time: example of program and worked solution/marking
• Reversi: example programs using strategy 1 and strategy 2 and worked solution/marking (37kB)
• Egyptian Fractions: example solution program for 3(a) and for 3(d), and worked solution/marking

The paper and marks scheme are also available in several downloadable formats:

Paper

• Microsoft Word 6.0: bio97ex.doc in bio97ex.doc.zip (Zipped, 16,510 bytes)
• Compressed Postscript: bio97ex.ps in bio97ex.ps.zip (Zipped, 40,334 bytes) and bio97ex.ps.gzip (G-Zip, 40,846 bytes)

Marks scheme

• Microsoft Word 6.0: bio97mks.doc in bio97mks.doc.zip (Zipped, 11,940 bytes)
• Compressed Postscript: bio97mks.ps in bio97mks.ps.zip (Zipped, 35,904 bytes) and bio97mks.ps.gzip (G-Zip, 34,685 bytes)

Example of a contestant's solutions

Stephen Williams (Torquay Boys' Grammar School) got the highest mark in the BIO. Follow the following links to see his Turbo Pascal solution programs or download PC/DOS executable versions.

• Question 1(a): Time (full marks)
• Question 2(a): Reversi strategy 2 (full marks)
• Question 3(a): Egyptian fractions (20 marks out of 23) - a fast search algorithm
• All three solutions and PC/DOS executables in williams.zip (Zipped, 24,473 bytes)