The British Informatics Olympiad is the computing competition for schools and colleges. We are proud to present BIO'99.

The 1999 British Informatics Olympiad Round One

The 1999 British Informatics Olympiad paper was set in schools across mainland Britain. It is also the BIO'2000 sample paper.

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

• Instructions to candidates (rubric)
• Question 1: Digital Rivers
• Question 2: Black Box (Atom)
• Question 3: Playing Games
• Entire 1999 BIO paper
• BIO'2000 sample paper

Interactive example programs (suitable for 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. The solution programs are available in Java and Pascal - and also as a zipped DOS executable.

• Digital Rivers: interactive example | zipped DOS .exe | Pascal and Java solution programs | worked solution/marking
• Black Box: interactive example | zipped DOS .exe | Pascal and Java solution programs | worked solution/marking
• Playing Games: interactive example | zipped DOS .exe | Pascal and Java solution programs | worked solution/marking

To compile and/or run the Java programs on your computer you need the Java language and must also download the AppletConsoleApp class.

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

Paper

• Adobe Acrobat viewer: bio99ex.pdf (25,771 bytes)
• Microsoft Word 6.0: bio99ex.doc in bio99ex.doc.zip (Zipped, 14,968 bytes)
• Compressed Postscript: bio99ex.ps in bio99ex.ps.zip (Zipped, 34,953 bytes) and bio99ex.ps.gzip (G-Zip, 32,636 bytes)

Marks scheme

• Adobe Acrobat viewer: bio99mks.pdf (39,812 bytes)
• Microsoft Word 6.0: bio99mks.doc in bio99mks.doc.zip (Zipped, 38,285 bytes)
• Compressed Postscript: bio99mks.ps in bio99mks.ps.zip (Zipped, 64,205 bytes) and bio99mks.ps.gzip (G-Zip, 60,905 bytes)