Year 13 A Level biology students from Newton Abbot College competed against 3,500 students across the UK in the Intermediate Biology Olympiad, organised by the Royal Society of Biology.

Students sat a gruelling one-hour, multiple choice paper, consisting of topics likely to have been covered at GCSE and during their first year of A Level studies.

The college was thrilled with the participants’ results – Wyn Firth receiving a commendation, Leo Wan was highly commended for his work and Lauren Stent getting a bronze award. All three are pictured left.

Wyn wasn’t fazed by the process: ‘I didn’t find the Olympiad stressful,’ he said.

‘I think this can be put down to, in most part, the preparation we receive at Newton Abbot College.

‘There were some questions that we hadn’t seen before, but using the skills we have learned over the last two years we were able to make confident choices during the test process.

‘I am very pleased we had the opportunity to become involved in the Olympiad; students are encouraged to include their achievements on their UCAS personal statements which will be relevant to my future career in either medicine or medical sciences.’

Teacher of science Alicia Wideman was impressed with the students’ achievements.

‘Students zealously took on the challenge and experienced great success.

‘It was uplifting to see the students take an interest in furthering their exam skills by pushing themselves to apply their newly-acquired knowledge in Year 12 to a scenario outside of the OCR examinations.’