2021_ Local Students Win Chance to Qualify for International Chemistry Olympiad! View story here (p. 5-7 & p.10-11).

NEWS & EVENTS USNCO-MD

• 2021 Series of webinars for your USNCO preparation and An Invitation to USNCO, Chesapeake Chemist Vol. 78 No. 5 pages 13 & 14
• 2021 Interview with Anurag Sodhi, The Chesapeake Chemist Vol. 78 No. 3 “Summer Issue” pages 5 & 6
• 2020 Carlos Guardia, PhD, NIH Researcher and former USNCO Gold Medalist , Chesapeake Chemist Vol. 77 No. 3 “I chose Chemistry, the rest is history” page 4

Register for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad 1. Local Exam 2. National Exam

Local Exam and USNCO information: USNCO Maryland   

Open registration begins on January 1^st and closes March 31^st every year. The registration form is available in the USNCO Maryland website. The deadlines for the local exam are different from the deadlines from ACS; each local section has their dates according to the needs of the section. Please contact your local section coordinator if you have questions.

Successful Stories:

2023 Letter of recognition of Anurag Sodhi

• Award established in 2023
• Award presented to Gold Olympian, Anurag Sodhi

2022 Read about Anurag Sodhi’s Chemistry Olympiad Experience at chemistry camp!

My Chemistry Olympiad journey began in the summer of 2020 when I first heard about USNCO. At the time, I was passionate about chemistry; however, my knowledge stretched only as far as an introductory high school chemistry class. However, as a newly-minted teenager, I was confident that this new competition would be a piece of cake. That was until I took my first practice local exam, where I got destroyed – I barely got 50% of the questions right and took well over the allotted 110 minutes. However, my rather unsuccessful first attempts at USNCO only served to motivate me. After self-studying most of the AP Chemistry curriculum and taking many more practice tests, I made it past locals and into the National exams, where I earned Honors. I was thrilled at the time, but I knew I would only be happy the following year if I made it to the study camp.

That summer, I started taking classes from Dr. Jianping Huang; while many concepts taught in his class were already familiar to me from my self-studying from last year, I learned a lot of new things that I had minimal experience in, especially in the organic and inorganic chemistry fields. I also took AP Chemistry in school; despite knowing most of the content already, I still had loads of fun and still managed to learn a lot, especially about lab skills and techniques, something I attribute to the excellent teaching of my teacher Dr. Robert Astri at Centennial High School. After passing the local exam again and taking the national exams, I was very unconfident that I had done well enough to make camp. However, after an agonizing two-week wait, I got the “camp call” – I had made it!

At camp, I met many people just like me – we were not only passionate about chemistry but also shared many similar interests (including a common, extremely outdated sense of humor). Over the course of the camp, we played lots of pool, ping-pong, Science Bowl, and Mario Kart; for someone who’s not very comfortable in new social situations, I was shocked by how quickly I felt welcomed and at home in this new community. However, the camp was also very busy. Every morning, we would start with 2-3 hours of lecture in organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry. We also had guest lecturers who shared their chemistry experiences, many of whom inspired me to pursue chemistry as a career. In the afternoons, we would have 4 hours of lab, where we learned many advanced lab techniques that I had never even heard of before. Adding on the many evening study sessions, camp exams, and laboratory practical exams, I often returned to my dorm exhausted. However, I learned so much due to the tireless effort the camp and peer mentors put in. While I didn’t make the IChO team, I am incredibly grateful to have gotten the camp experience in the first place.

My experiences at camp inspired me to keep on going with Chemistry Olympiad – I plan to continue to study and hopefully get a gold medal at IChO in Switzerland next year. In the long future, I also plan to study chemistry in college and maybe even pursue a chemistry-related career. I want to thank my parents, Dr. Robert Astri and Dr. Jianping Huang, for all of their support and Ms. Beatrice Salazar and Morgan State University for organizing the MD Chemistry Olympiad and allowing me to succeed in the first place. I am looking forward to competing once again next year!
Anurag Sodhi

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2011 _ Read about Joe Wan’s Chemistry Olympiad experience at chemistry camp!

Chemistry Olympiad Experience of Joe Wan

Mr Joe Wan of Wilde Lake HS was one of the twenty high school students who were selected, among nearly 1000 participants of the National Exam for the 43rd International Chemistry, to enter the US Training camp in early June for two weeks at the USAF Academy in Colorado. Here is a report from Mr. Wan describing his exciting Chemistry Olympiad experience.

I began studying for the USNCO National Exam around December of last school year. Using the released previous exams to get a feel for the content of the exams, I supplemented the course material we had already covered in Chemistry AP with online resources such as MIT OpenCourseWare. We hadn’t covered organic chemistry or electrochemistry yet in class, and I felt that I needed to review thermochemistry, so these were the subjects I spent time independently studying. In April, I took the National Exam, which was probably the longest and most intense exam I had taken; its three sections spanned about 4 and a half hours–almost an hour longer than the SAT and with only two breaks. The most important issue for me on the three sections of the test was time–it was difficult to conduct experiments in the allotted time in the lab practical, or to finish all the calculations on time during the multiple choice section. I left the test with mixed feelings–while I was satisfied with my performance on the free response section, I was less confident about the multiple choice and lab practical portions. It came as a complete surprise to me when my chemistry teacher, Ms. Gail Schulman, asked me if I had heard the news–I had qualified for the national study camp! Soon after, the American Chemical Society sent me an organic chemistry textbook and a list of chapters to study; for a few weeks I worked intensively through the textbook.

Then, it was time to travel to Colorado Springs for the training camp at the US Air Force Academy. There, along with 19 other students from across the country, I spent entire days on chemistry: typically, we’d spend the morning in lectures (covering physical chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and inorganic chemistry), eat lunch, then do laboratory work in afternoon. The labs were very exciting: we did everything from organic synthesis to iodometric titration; even though we were given four hours for one or two labs, everybody was rushing to complete the labs on time–once again, the major issue was time management. Interspersed within the two weeks were several 2-hour “quizzes” and a 4-hour final exam. This experience was challenging, but also very rewarding. It was amazing to be surrounded by students who shared my interest in chemistry, and we really became close to each other. When not studying, we’d watch movies, joke around, or play games like Mafia and Contact together. In addition, the camp professors and mentors worked extremely hard to make the camp successful. The professors were always approachable and helpful, and the mentors were incredibly friendly and supportive, often staying up all night grading papers and ceaselessly working to keep the camp organized.

All in all, the US National Chemistry Olympiad was a great experience which allowed me to follow my passion for chemistry and meet great friends. I definitely plan to participate in the USNCO again, and perhaps try to qualify for the international travel team. And last but not least, I very much appreciate the support from the ACS Maryland Local Section, particularly Mr. Mike Zapf, Ms. Beatrice Salazar, Dr. Shirish Shah, and Mr. Pat Bell who coordinated the National Exam at the Notre Dame College in Maryland. I look forward to seeing them again next year.

Joe Wan