<p>I wouldn’t say almost guarantee admission, but it can certainly help 
High honors can definitely help, almost as much as camp; nothing to scoff at</p>
<p>What is the Blue Book in the National Exam?</p>
<p>A blue book is (usually) 16 blank notebook pages (8 sheets front and back) inside a blue paper cover, stapled on the spine. It’s a standard test-taking booklet used in college. You’ll write your ID number on the cover (no names this time), open to page 1, and do all your work for the free response questions in the blue book.</p>
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<p>High Honors is significantly more meaningful than National Merit Semifinalist. One goes out to 16,000 students; the other is awarded to only 50.</p>
<p>Who here is taking the national exam this year? My daughter takes it on Monday.</p>
<p>I’m taking it this Saturday. I am not optimistic, to say the least.</p>
<p>Good luck, silverturtle! :)</p>
<p>OH YEAAAH i made Honors, they already announced the high honors and honors on the site!</p>
<p>Just wondering, how good is the Pearson AP Chem textbook?</p>
<p>Has anyone here taken the USPhO?
What books do you guys reccommend for tht?</p>
<p>odd thing about the usnco is that everyone who takes the semifinalist exam is a finalist…</p>
<p>Anyone know what the cutoff for the local exam of USNCO is for the chicago area?</p>
<p>So, I want to take the USNCO and at least make the top 20. I have taken Honors Chemistry this year, and will be taking AP Chem next year using Zumdahl, 8th edition. I heard that this text will only barely get you past the local exam. Is this true? Could this be used instead of Atkins, and just supplemented with the first six chapters of Atkin’s Ogranic Chem? If not, what order should these books be done in?</p>
<p>I’m also going to try this year. So far I’ve done a bunch of the past exams and it seems to be ok. I forgot a little from AP Chem (details, etc.) but I know a lot more specifics and organic stuff than before.</p>
<p>I ordered the following based on recommendations from the previous posts in this thread:
Casio FX-115ES scientific calculator (I hate the TI-30) with good display, at cheapest possible price (no graphing calc. right?)
Atkins’s Chemical Principles
Carey’s Organic Chemistry
(books ridiculously cheap, used, from Amazon)</p>
<p>Then I will study as much as possible and test like crazy. Only three people so far (including me) from my school want to sign up (this is the first year we have done it).</p>
<p>What else should I do?</p>
<p>(sorry for bumping this, but I didn’t want to create a new thread)</p>
<p>Can somebody tell me how to sign up for the local exam please?</p>
<p>Sometimes signing up is easier said than done and the deadline has already passed for ordering the exams for the open. Look on the ACS website and you can find information about your local coordinator, etc. I had to do a lot of tracking to find someone to sponsor the exam locally for me, but this will now be my second year. Good luck for next year!</p>
<p>@barley - the open exam is really quite easy, if you’ve taken AP Chem.</p>