On his second read-through of Campbell and Reece's Biology, 18-year-old Jason Wu wrote the words he didn't know into his spiral-bound notebook. By the fifth read-through, he had narrowed his focus to key charts and figures, and by the time he packed the 1,312-page tome into his Argentina-bound suitcase in July, the recent St. Louis, Mo., high school graduate pretty much knew the seventh edition front and back. He was ready to represent the United States at the International Biology Olympiad in Rio Cuarto, where he and students from across the world would be tested on theoretical biology skills and their prowess at the bench.
"Anything remotely mentioned in there is considered to be fair game," says Margery Anderson, director of the United States of America Biology Olympiad (USABO). "Most students pretty much memorize that book." Though Wu's teammate, Meng Xiao He of Chapel Hill, NC, says he read it ...
