Chemistry Olympiad

This is a planning page for the ACS Local Section Chemistry Olympiad outreach program.

The program is run by the National American Chemistry Society (ACS) U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad program.

- A letter of invitation in early January to all local section high schools (~81).

- The Local Section exam is given in March (see letter in January for exact dates)

- We meet at Monmouth College on a (TBA) Sat; the local section will reimburse you for travel cost up to $100.

Local Section Exams

There are two multiple choice exams given at the Local Section Chemistry Olympiad event:

1) a Basic Chemistry Exam that can be taken by any "introductory" students who is finishing up their first semester of chemistry; these student do not qualify to take the National exam. The main reason for the exam is to encourage participation. This exam has 60 multiple choice questions.

2) "The" 2018 Local Section Exam developed by the ACS Exams Institute (http://uwm.edu/acs-exams/). This exam has 70 multiple choice questions. Advanced students who perform well on this relatively difficult exam will be invited to take a National Chem Olympiad exam on a Sat in April.

Other info...

- there are ~15-20 student each year that attend the Olympiad; ~1/2 take the Local Section Exam and the others take the Basic Chemistry Exam.

- while we are grading the exams, we “entertain” the students with chemistry demos.

- we usually provide lunch in the Monmouth College cafeteria.

- all costs are covered by the local section.

- We could manage ~40 student total, but we asked that the student be somewhat serious about studying chemistry.

- Top scorers will be given a prize.

The National Exam has 3 parts (multiple choice, essay, and lab practical); 1 part in the morning, then 2 in the afternoon, we provide lunch. Only 10 students can qualify from our local section to take the National exam...usually only 2 or so take the national exam.

Eligibility

Teachers/Schools can check which local ACS section they are in here

Any high school student can attend the Local Section Exams. Since students who qualify academically to take the National Olympiad Exam may represent the United States in the International Chemistry Olympiad, they must be US citizens to take the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam.

Participating Teachers

Katharine Atkinson, PhD

High School Science Teacher

Prince of Peace Catholic School

312 South Fourth Street,

Clinton IA 52732

563-343-5888

katharine.atkinson@staff.prince.pvt.k12.ia.us

Tim Toops (timtoops@bellevue.k12.ia.us)

Bellevue High School

Bellevue, IA

Cheryl Drowns <cdrowns@beckman.pvt.k12.ia.us>

emails

katharine.atkinson@staff.prince.pvt.k12.ia.us, timtoops@bellevue.k12.ia.us, cdrowns@beckman.pvt.k12.ia.us