2020 US National Chemistry Olympiad

[trienebutdiene]

Anyone is welcome to post! Especially study camp qualifiers and honors/high honors recipients but that's not necessary!

Hey guys! Starting a thread to discuss chemistry olympiad in the US, but others in the world feel free to discuss and give input! This past year I made it to the national round but didn't make study camp, which is the goal for this coming year. So, those of you who have made the study camp in the past, please give some input - would be highly appreciated!

1. What do you guys recommend for textbooks to prepare for the national round? Most of what I've seen says Atkins for General Chem and Klein for Orgo for all knowledge needed for Parts I and II. Is that accurate? Also, which editions would you recommend - 7th and 3rd respectively? Those are the newest, so I'd think so but not sure. Where can you find these books to buy online for the cheapest? I know Klein is easy to find online for pdf download, but I think I'd rather have a physical copy to use.

2. What resources do you recommend other than textbooks? Obviously doing past papers and problems and studying solutions is important, anything else? Would you say if I were to know those two textbooks backwards and forwards and do a good amount of past test practice would I be in good shape to make the study camp, just based on Parts I and II?

3. That brings me to Part III of the national round: the labs. Best thing here is practice, practice, practice, but does anyone have recommendations as to a list of specific labs to go through?

4. I'm pretty concerned with orgo, since that's my weakest area. That's why I will focus heavily on Klein for this coming year, but I'm wondering if you guys think anything else for orgo prep is a good idea? Such as online orgo courses or lectures? MIT OCW has only exams and problem sets for orgo, but no lectures so that's not ideal. Any other orgo resources to prepare for the orgo on Parts I and II for the national round?

5. Does anyone have any experience with ChemWOOT? Is it worth it or helpful to making study camp?

Again, most of these questions are geared towards past USNCO qualifiers and study camp qualifiers, but anyone interested in the olympiad or chemistry in general feel free to add to the thread.

STUDY CAMP QUALIFIERS: WHAT DID YOU DO SPECIFICALLY IN ORDER TO MAKE THE STUDY CAMP, ESPECIALLY FOR ORGO?