British Informatics Olympiad

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The British Informatics Olympiad (BIO) is an annual computer-programming competition for secondary and sixth-form students. Any student under 19 who is in full-time pre-university education and resident in mainland Britain is eligible to compete. The competition is composed of two rounds - a preliminary 3-question, 3-hour exam paper sat at the participant's school and a final round. The top-15 performing students each year are invited to the finals (currently hosted by Trinity College, Cambridge) where they attempt to solve several more difficult problems, involving programming. In the past, there also existed written problems, but these have been phased out in recent years. Typically a score of 75 to 90 out of 100 is required on the first round of the competition to reach the final.{{Cite web |title=Introducing BIO Helper: A website to help UK informatics students prepare for our national olympiad. - Codeforces |url=https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/133884?#comment-1203015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425150426/https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/133884?#comment-1203015 |archive-date=25 April 2025 |access-date=25 April 2025 |website=Codeforces}}

Of these fifteen, four are chosen for the British team to participate in the International Olympiad in Informatics, and one is chosen as a reserve. Additionally, two female participants are chosen for the British team to participate in the European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI), and one is chosen as reserve. Furthermore, since 2024, the IOI and EGOI teams alongside their reserves and one additional participant all participate as a team of 9 in the Western European Olympiad in Informatics (WEOI).

Mark schemes are available for all round 1 past papers at the competition's official site, as well as problem statements for all round 1 and round 2 past papers. Official worked solutions{{cite web|title=Computing problems from the BIO and IOI|url=http://olympiad.org.uk/problems.html|website=British Informatics Olympiad|accessdate=18 December 2014}} are available for round 1 papers in the years 1995-1999 and 2004. Unofficial solutions are available for round 1{{Cite web |title=BIO Helper |url=https://www.britishinformatics.org/bio1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425151117/https://www.britishinformatics.org/bio1 |archive-date=25 April 2025 |access-date=25 April 2025 |website=BIO Helper}} papers from 2000-2025 and some round 2{{Cite web |title=BIO Helper |url=https://www.britishinformatics.org/bio2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250425151237/https://www.britishinformatics.org/bio2 |archive-date=25 April 2025 |access-date=25 April 2025 |website=BIO Helper}} questions in the years 2016-2023.