ABBC State Finals will be held on 20 July 2010 in Australia and on 21 July 2010 in New Zealand in a University in your area.

General Information

Students who have completed the Round 1 - ABBC Online Quiz and have been advised that they qualify to progress to Round 2 will be invited to Universities in their capital city to enjoy a stimulating day of challenges and fun.

Students will be invited by the ABBC organisers to participate in Round 2 based on their score in the Round 1 quiz. In some States/Regions, selection is also based on the top performing students within each school district within a State. Round 2 competitions will be held in Universities throughout Australia and New Zealand. Please see our website to identify your local ABBC Coordinator under contacts.

Students must be accompanied by one adult per school at the Round 2 competition. On the day of the Round 2 competition, students will participate in tours of the Neuroscience laboratories and University facilities and other events as organised by the local ABBC Coordinator. Parents/Guardians of students may be asked to sign permission forms to allow students to participate in certain events or to have their photograph taken.

In Round 2 students may qualify to compete in one or both of two challenges; the individual challenge and the team challenge. The competition is organised so that students can compete in both parts of the Round 2 competition if they qualify. That is, they can compete as both an individual and as a member of a team on the day.

The Round 2 competition will consist of written and oral tests (live question and answer testing) for both the Individual and Team challenges. Questions for Round 2 of the competition will be derived from "Brain Facts" NEW 2008 Edition which can be downloaded here.

On the day of the Round 2 competition under no circumstances should any of the questions be recorded in any way. Recording of questions may result in disqualification. There is no cost to enter Round 2 of the competition.

Round 2 Individual Challenge

Individual competitors are invited to compete in Round 2 by the organisers (via their teacher) based on their Round 1 score. Schools may not substitute students for the Round 2 individual challenge. The student who wins first place in the Round 2 individual challenge in each State/Region will qualify for Round 3. Only one student from Round 2 will go on to compete in Round 3. If for some reason the first place getter cannot attend Round 3, the second place getter is eligible to compete in Round 3 to represent that State/Region. Similarly, if for some reason the second place getter also cannot attend Round 3, the third place getter is eligible to compete in Round 3 to represent that State/Region.

Round 2 Team Challenge

From the Round 1 competition, schools will be ranked based on the mean score of the top four students from a given school. If a school enters less than four students it will not be ranked for the team competition. Schools who enter more than four students will not be disadvantaged because only the scores of their top four students will be used for the ranking*. Based on the school ranking, schools will be invited to submit a team for the Round 2 final. The team must consist of four students from the same school. Teams of less than four students will not be allowed to compete on the day. Schools determine which of their students will make up the team. Substitutions of other students (who meet the eligibility requirements and who completed Round 1 of the competition) are allowed on the day. Teams compete for science prizes for their schools. However, as there will not be a team in the National Final in 2009, winning teams do not go on to Round 3. Thus, the team competition only occurs at the Round 2 level of the competition.

*School rankings are used by the ABBC organisers for the sole purpose of determining which schools may submit a team for the Round 2 competition. The school ranking results will not be made available to anyone else in any form.