<p>yay congratulation frozen tears!</p>
<p>congrats frozen-tears. Chemistry's such an awesome and interesting subject, I'd definitely consider pursuing it in college.</p>
<p>Frozentears, did you qualify through the local section exam? If so, what was your score? (I'm doing it for the first time this year, and I have absolutely no idea about what constitutes a good or qualifying score)</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I'm so psyched. </p>
<p>Randomperson, I don't know what my score was this year yet, but the ACS guy called me last night to tell me I made it. Last year I tied for 6th (third highest score, but b/c there were multiple 1st and 2nds) with a score of 55 (out of 60). </p>
<p>But really, it depends on where you're from. In a competitive state like California, you usually need 52 up or so, but in a less competitive state like Florida or Alabama, it's been in the 40s. If you get upwards of 45 or so, you're quite talented at chemistry already; if you get above a 50, you have some serious chem skills. From my limited experience, people who score 50+ usually have a decent chance of winning at least an Honors in the national exam -- top 150 in the nation -- which is what I got, probably because I messed up my lab practical. </p>
<p>Wrathofgod, I will be pursuing chem in college -- the question is, which branch of chemistry? I love them all so much!</p>
<p>i think biochem is the fastest growing. two of my cousins are studying that.</p>
<p>that's awesome frozen-tears! </p>
<p>anyone want to guess when we'll finally get our letters from RSI?</p>
<p>oh, and does anyone here know anything about WTP? There aren't any threads that i could find about it....</p>
<p>Hey everyone, I haven't posted since before the deadline for apps...I think it was more like 20 pages then, now its 100+, wow.</p>
<p>Just checking things out since the date should be coming up soon...I hope. I'm not even going to try to figure out what is in all those posts since I last checked.</p>
<p>And hmmm I'll make a guess wishful_thinker. I'm gonna go with the 28th. Good luck everyone.</p>
<p>Yah, congrats frozen-tears! chem rocks.</p>
<p>Do you (or anyone else) understand stereoisomerism perchance? :p My class is so confused about it and I'm not sure how to explain it to them (and our teacher had a seizure so we have a sub). So frustrating...</p>
<p>ok the betting pool has just officially opened
whoever wins automatically gets accepted (like i have power over that)
so... im going for the 30th</p>
<p>and wtp is going to get owned by me next year</p>
<p>28th is my bet</p>
<p>Hm. Usually when we talk about stereoisomers, we're talking about optical isomers. Molecules can be r- or s-, levo- or dextro- rotary (same thing, those two prefixes). You can tell if a molecule displays optical isomerism if it has a carbon atom with four different groups bonded to it. (<-- hehe cheap trick) </p>
<p>You've probably heard of left or right-handed molecules. When you have the carbon with four different groups bonded to it, there are two different ways you can arrange the groups. Suppose that one of the legs of the tetrahedron is stationary, and you're looking at the rest of the molecule from the bottom. You see a triangular shape, and the other three groups can be arranged clockwise or counterclockwise along the triangle. That's how you can have two molecules with all atoms bonded in the same way and arranged differently in space.</p>
<p>Hope that make sense. The best way to understand stereoisomerism is to build models. Don't bother with the expensive models -- they're not worth it. Get a thing of PlayDoh or use stryofoam balls.</p>
<p>my bet's the 29th</p>
<p>my bet is that I'd like to know as soon as possible.
So hopefully by thursday
so that I have a whole weekend to mope.
Worst case, I do have other fun stuff that could occupy some of the time over the summer, and I'm sure if I really wanted to I could find a researcher to work under on my own.</p>
<p>Oh, wow, that's great frozentears. Congratulations on your placement last year.</p>
<p>As far as the local section exam goes, I hadn't been seriously thinking about pursuing chemistry before, but I think I got 57 or so. I had figured that there was usually an enormous tie for 59 or 60; the news that it isn't that impossible is quite welcome :)</p>
<p>I think that there's an intermediate exam for my section, however, before anyone can make nationals, which involves a lab practical (which I will inevitably fail). So, I can't afford to get my hopes up too much :)</p>
<p>"wtp is going to get owned by me next year"
lol are you going to be the next owen?</p>
<p>Yea, Locals aren't over yet everywhere, so I'll refrain from talking about it. I do think, however, that ACS is deliberately making the questions more difficult/more random to break those ties.</p>
<p>OMG...</p>
<p>I just found out from my club sponsor that our Science Olympiad team made State Finals this year for the first time in like... 6 years!! This is my first year as club president/team captain, and I don't really know how all of this works yet.</p>
<p>Anyone else been to State before? Do we have to reregister with forms? Are the rules still the same for all of the events (do we still use the same rulebook)? For construction events, should we build a new tower, for example? Do we have to take the same team members?</p>
<p>Been to state, but can't help you on the more administrative questions - I didn't handle it. Rules are still the same, and I'd think you'd want a new tower (doesn't it usually break toward the end of the event?) You don't have to take the same members, my team always had a lot of replacements due to other events. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we're on a downard trend - 2nd, 4th, 7th ... (probably 20th this year :()</p>
<p>Oo, Science Olympiad is awesome; I've done it for 6 years. Yes, you have to reregister for State (at least in Louisiana you do). The rules are still the same for everything (though reread the rulebook; certain rules come into play at State-- for example, the ribbon drop in Wright Stuff). Building new devices is entirely up to you (maybe you got some ideas from looking at the other schools?). And your team can be composed of entirely different members. Hope this helps, and good luck at State!</p>
<p>Yea, our tower won a silver; it's still in one piece but I don't think it'll measure up against some of the other towers at state if it only silvered in our region.</p>