USA Chemistry Olympiad

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>For selection to the USA Chemistry Olympiad camp, does the local exam play a role besides actually getting you to the national exam? If not, what scores on the national exam guarantee an invitation to the USA Chemistry Olympiad camp?</p>

2

<p>I wouldn’t expect the local exam to count for anything except qualifying for the national. There’s a huge thread about this. A few students who made it to the study camp posted.</p>

<p>A perfect score :smiley: !!!
(guess)</p>

3

<p>How do you get into the US Chemistry Olympiad? I know you have to take a test, but is it provided by the school?</p>

4

<p>There is not a qualifying score per se, you have to be in the top 20? to make it to camp.</p>

5

<p>40/50 MC is good. Do well on labs and short response too</p>

6

<p>Really? It’s possible to get 40 to 50 right on the MC part and still get into the top 20???</p>

<p>How anal do I have to be when answering the short response questions? Do they take off points for slightly different answers (like 2.99 instead of 3.0, or 7.8 instead of 7.85)? How much information do I have to give on the labs?</p>

7

<p>Definitely not…you most likely need 55+ on MC to make top 20. They won’t really very much care if your answer is 0.01 off if your process is right and you just rounded a little differently. For labs, just make sure you write your process well, that’s the most important part. Organize the data you get really clearly, like in a chart or something, and you’ll be fine.</p>

8

<p>Local exam qualification for the Semifinal round of USNCO is dependent on the competition you face in your region. For example, you would need probably a 55/60 on the local exam to advance to Semifinals if you reside in California, but around a 45/60 if you reside in Kansas.</p>

<p>Other than as a means to get you to the National round, the local exam also opens up opportunities for you to pad your college app and therefore distinguish you greatly in college admissions. You can receive distinctions such as Top 150 or Top 50 in the Semifinals round if you don’t make Top 20 for Nationals.</p>