About the Brain Bee

The St. Louis Area Brain Bee (SLABB) is an annual competition for high school students that tests knowledge in neuroscience. Questions come from Brain Facts, a book produced by the Society for Neuroscience. The winner will complete in the 2022 virtual US National Brain Bee competition

When and Where

Saturday February 26, 2022
12:30-4:00 p.m. via Zoom
Register to receive updates. If you did not receive the Zoom link for the competition, email herzog@wustl.edu.

12:30 Sign-in and icebreaker

12:45 Welcome and orientation (Dr. Erik Herzog, Adrian Li, and Jake Joseph, SLABB 2022 Coordinators)

1:00 Written quiz 

2:00 Neuroscience panel (Drs. Mayssa Mokalled, Ian Dobbins, and Nikhil Lokesh, Kia Barclay and Jacob Amme, Lari Rays Wahba)

2:30 Oral competition (Judges Drs. Mary Lambo and Larry Snyder)

3:30 Awards ceremony

 

Why Participate?

Participants enjoy hands-on activities, learn more about neuroscience, meet area high school and college students and connect with faculty. There are prizes for the school with the largest team and the top 10 finishers. The winner also gets a paid summer research internship and a trip to the National Brain Bee.

Who can Participate?

Any high school/home student from grades 9-12 is eligible to compete in the SLABB. We encourage family, friends, teachers and classmates to join for the activities planned at the competition.

Expectations of SLABB Participants

SLABB aims to be a fun, educational, and fair competition that promotes the discoveries and ethics of brain science and scientists. Competitors abide by the rules and ethics of SLABB.  All work will be individual with no answers from other sources.

How to Prepare?

Students can come to fun and informative “Tutorial Sessions”(details will be shared with registered students). All exam questions are taken from the Brain Facts book, which can be downloaded online for free as a PDF and listened to on SoundCloud. 

Study Aids that have been helpful for previous Brain Bee participants.  You can email Aryan Kalluvila,a prior SLABB competitor, for coaching and review videos. There are many different learning styles. One strategy, active recall, challenges you to write down or recite what you remember from a lesson or reading. Consider studying in a group and quizzing your friends or family.  Finally, test yourself with flashcards.

Sample Study Schedule

Week Chapters in the Brain Facts Book
Week 1 Read, study and/or make flashcards for the Introduction and Chapter 1. Look at some sample problems in the Study Aids to get a sense for the types of questions that are asked.
2 Chapters 2 and 3
3 Chapters 4 and 5
4 Chapters 6, 7, and 8
5 Chapters 9 and 10
6 Chapters 11, 12, and 13
7 Chapters 14 and 15
8 Chapters 16, 17, and 18
9 Go over any chapters that you are still unsure about. Ask a parent or friend to quiz you or use flashcards.
10 Eat and sleep well the night before the Brain Bee. You can do some light review and practice problems. Look through the Glossary if you want to do some extra studying. You got this!