I think people do pretty well? I’m not sure. It’s not widely publicized, though–I didn’t know when our school was going to host the regional test at all. To be honest, I doubt I will, but I can always hope. I’ve looked at some of the regional tests and they look pretty easy (I’ll have to review a bit of OChem, since last time I learned it I was cramming and promptly forgot the vast majority of it, but that’s about it), so it’s mainly a matter of my not making silly mistakes (my greatest weakness).
Really? The qualifying score at my school this year was only a 44/60, so if they look easy, then I guess you won’t even need to study that much.
Isn’t this thread usually part of AP test prep for science? All the olympiad threads go there. I made a thread in that section for the use of this, since we’ll all be studying. It’s called “Official USNCO 2016”.
@ashu01 I was part of the top 2 at my school, and neither of us made it to nats. Highest score was 42. Cutoff for my section was 45/60. I’ll admit that would have been easy to achieve, but I was pretty nervous and was sick that day. No excuses tho. I may be a rising senior, but I’m still doing it again.
Guys, I’m sorry for this weird question. But from which country are you from?
@omar98 we are all from the US.
@ahsu01 How long are each of the textbooks like organic and analytical chemistry? 
1000+ pages each
woah that is a lot 8-X
On nationals, will not showing sufficient work for calculations (lets say you plug into calculator w/out writing it down) or having wrong # of sigfigs lose you points?
No, they care more that you know the material than whether or not you know how to use sigfigs.
School just started recently for me and my AP Chem class is using Tro’s Chemistry: A Molecular Approach. The teacher seems to love it (says it’s very interesting, easy to read, and explains things really well–I haven’t touched it enough yet to know, barely at all), but will it be advanced enough for camp prep?
I’m also planning to go through Atkins on my own, at the least.
No. Read the comments above (especially stovn’s) that describe the level of rigor that you should expect. You should have read all the textbooks he listed to even have a chance.
You don’t really need to read all those books to make camp…
Did you make camp? If so, how long ago? The competition at nationals has gotten ridiculous recently. You need to read all those books to stand a chance
Hi, I’m not from the US but I have participated in IChO twice, and I won a bronze last year and silver this one. I don’t know if the US examination is harsher than IChO (because they have become quite difficult recently), but I would like to say that you don’t really need to know too much of all those books, in fact, what I did is that I worked throughout every topic that was on the “advanced difficulty” list; and I did pretty well on the theoretical test (but I screwed it up on the practical test, both years 
) So,if you want to know some good books that will help you with those topics (and that can be found on the internet are) :
Clayden’s Organic Chemistry.
Carey’s Advanced Organic Chemistry, Part: B (really helpful when looking for reactions that seem to be magic),
Miessler’s Inorganic Chemistry (I also have Atkins’, but I think that it isn’t as helpful as miessler’s),
Levine’s Physical Chemistry 1 and 2 (Engel’s has more math, but it is good, though)
Skoog’s Analyitical Chemistry
Biochemistry and quantum chemistry don’t come all the years, but I used Steven’s Medicinal Chemistry to cover this year topics (And it was pretty good); however, I think that something like Mathews’ Biochemistry will be a safer bet (because it has broader content). And for quantum chemistry, I think that the things that you could find on Levine’s are enough, but if you want more, I think that she has a book that is only quantum chemistry.
As I said earlier, I’m not from the US, but in my country, the tests contains all the advanced theoretical topics, so I’m not sure if your tests are the same, but anyways, best of luck!!
Those who are planning on starting now, I think that your goals should be doable. At least for me (I didn’t make camp), 3ish months of dedicated study, with 1 month pretty extreme, was enough to get to top 50. Honestly ,Skoog’s Analytical Chem is pretty cool and Carey’s Organic Chemistry is nice for reference but the content is not thoroughly tested on nationals (if you review old exams). It’s mainly just Atkins. I skimmed through Skoog for laboratory stuff and was able to get the descriptive chemistry, but real lab should be done or videos should be watched as reading doesn’t apply easily (for me anyway, I basically got 0 on the lab).
The information here is really good but its focused on Camp/ iCho it seems. Well, good luck guys. I’m dying from senioritis and college apps so I’ll probably just jump in without prep and go for 150 or 50, but it’s really just about dedication.
Hey guys, I have heard rumors that the US will not participate in the IChO 2016 due to political problems. Is it true?
Hey guys, I am from Australia and currently they aren’t planning on sending a team for the 2016 IChO due to travel warnings issued by the government. I have also heard that several countries are pulling out, such as the US.
It is true that the US is not participating in the International Chemistry Olympiad. Heard from prior IChO winner and local advisor. There will not be a study camp either.