Hey guys, I know it’s a little early, but I’m sure I’m not the only one here pumped for the Chemistry Olympiad next year! Anybody have tips on how to make the IChO? Preferably from a camper?
Hello, I was a camper for the past 2 years, and so I have an extreme amount of experience with the program. First of all, the study camp gives you 6 textbooks every year from which you study from over the course of those two weeks. Make sure you know these books inside out! They are Voet’s Biochemistry, Engel and Reid’s Physical Chemistry, Carey’s Organic Chemistry, Skoog and West’s Analytical Chemistry, Wulfsberg’s Inorganic Chemistry, and Anslyn’s Physical Organic Chemistry. There are also lectures by various professors there, but they’re practically useless - all they test on are obscure facts that you would get only if you read those textbooks, so make sure you read each one over at least twice. Next, you need to know labs. The equipment needed to run the labs like vacuum distillation and particle collision are really complicated and expensive, but if you google the processes, you should be able to find some information on them and you can actually practice the lab by miming the entire process! It worked well for me and I was pretty well-prepared for the labs at the camp, but unfortunately, I had not read all of those textbooks cover-to-cover like the other 19 campers. Anyway, best of luck to you over the next year and say goodbye to the rest of your sleep!
Thanks!!! I’ll be sure to get a new edition of these textbooks ASAP to study with.
@Stovn0611 @ahsu01
Is it true that all the students know how to solve every single problem on the preparatory question sets? I think I am not smart enough for IChO…
hi
my friend gets to school 3.5 hours late every day (wow even later than me…) and made icho last year. didn’t even bother taking the exam this year. i think he’s spending most of his time trying to get big. he posted somewhere on the harvard results thread - you can pm him.
@jhgong It’s okay, didn’t you say you made camp this year? How did you do it? Did you use @Stovn0611’s method?
EDIT: My books arrived today! Can’t wait to start studying! http://i.imgur. com/UfMGmGU.png
I also want to know how to make ICHO. How are the problems on the quizzes and final at camp like? Do I have to study from these books specifically, or can I just study from any book I want over these areas with a tutor to do well at camp?
I think @Stovn0611 summarized very well about what you are supposed to do
bump
Why is chem so hard to start learning?
what would you recommend studying to make high honors top 50? all those books or are there some that are not needed?
@ahsu01
He knows everything about ICho and USNCO
can you please be more explicit with the titles Stovn0611 because i see multiple versions of these books
IDK what they used at camp, but I just bought the most recent editions to make sure everything was up to date.
I finished the organic and the analytical, now just have to finish the pchem, biochem, and physical organic.
@titan456 Judging by how stovn and jhgong talked about it, I’d say all the titles are necessary for top 50.
Oh joy. Definitely not making top 50; I don’t have time to read six textbooks.
Out of all of them, which is most essential to the test? Is there any comprehensive test that might help me make honors (I really don’t hope for more–this year will be my first time taking an olympiad)? Also, is Atkins Physical Chemistry a suitable replacement for the one up there? I have that one, so I thought it might be useful.
Also, is Brown Chemistry good for general studying, or is it too shallow (it’s the one my school’s AP Chem class uses lol)? From the first 10 chapters, it seems pretty basic, but do the later chapters actually help?
Yes, Atkins Physical Chemistry should be basically equivalent to Engel and Reid’s Physical Chemistry. Brown is trash. Throw it out. It’s too basic for the Olympiad.
@topaz1116 Also, I stalked your post history a little (oops hehe). You seem to go to a very competitive high school; are you sure you can even make the national round? They only accept top two. How did the people from your school do last year?