The Local Exam for the 2007 High School Chemistry Olympiad, hosted by the Southern California Section of the American Chemical Society, will be held on Wednesday, March 14th, and Thursday, March 15th, 2007. The exam will be conducted between 3 and 6 pm at over 20 high school campuses covering all of Los Angeles County. Schools with 10 or more participants may request to have the exam administered at their school. If you will not be holding the exam at your school, we will notify you of the exam location, time and date for your school by March 9th.
The Local Exam is a two-hour multiple-choice test prepared by the National Office of the American Chemical Society, Education Division. It is designed to test the student’s knowledge of a wide variety of topics in chemistry. If you would like to review previous years’ exams to practice or to determine if you would like to participate in the contest, you may check out the American Chemical Society web site www.chemistry.org and type in “Olympiad” under search topic. I strongly encourage you to have students prepare for the test by reviewing previous years’ exams. The test essentially covers the same material each year. The exam is not only a way for your students to gauge how well they compare to other students in Los Angeles County, but the results can also indicate how your chemistry program compares to that of other high schools.
The Local Exam top scorers (must be U. S. citizens, with no more than two from any one school) will be nominated to compete in the National Exam, which will be held on Saturday, April 28th at Cal State Dominguez Hills. The top 20 national winners will be invited to attend an all expenses paid two-week study camp, June 3-17th, at the U. S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. At this camp, four finalists will be selected from the U. S. Team to represent the United States in the 39th International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO), which will be held in Moscow, Russia, from July 15-24th, 2007.
On Friday, June 1st, 2007, the annual SCALACS High School Awards Night will recognize and honor the Local Exam winners, the National Olympiad nominees, the individual school high scorers, and their teachers. The student who scores highest will receive $500. Monetary awards and certificates will also be awarded to the remaining top 20 students. School team awards will be presented to the school with the highest combined scores for the top ten participants, and to the school with the highest combined scores of ten first year chemistry students.
In an effort to promote chemistry in our schools, we hope you will encourage your students who show an interest and aptitude in chemistry to enter the contest. You may enter as many students as you wish. There is a participation fee of $7.00 per student. We are once again offering our “Early Bird Special”. If you complete and return the enclosed Participation Form with a check or purchase order made payable to the American Chemical Society by Friday, February 2nd, the cost is only $5.00 per student for 10 or more students instead of $7.00. The deadline for all other entries and fees of $7.00 per student is due by Friday, March 2nd, 2007. After March 2nd, the cost is $10.00 per student. You will receive details of the contest (exam rules, directions and parking information, etc.) by return mail or, preferably, by email.
If you have questions, please contact the Section Office at (310) 327-1216 between 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. any weekday except Friday. You may also contact me at work at (626) 395-5208, at home at (626) 357-7207, or by email at Delker-at-earthlink-dot-net or Gdelker-at-calhounvision-dot-com. We look forward to your participation.
Sincerely,
Gerald Delker, Ph.D.
Chair, SCALACS 2007 ACS National Chemistry Olympiad
& OLYMPIAD
PARTICIPATION FORM
Teacher’s Name:
High School Name:
School Address:
City, State: ZIP
School Phone: ( ) FAX: ( )
E-Mail (used to report results):
I have at least 10 students taking the test and would like to have the exam presented at my school, if arrangements can be made.
I have at fewer than 10 students taking the test and will be notified of the test site.
Number of Students Participating: Amount Enclosed: $
Note: Copies of previous years exams are available to help prepare your students. Please see www.Neopages.com or go to www.chemistry.org and search on H. S. Olympiad Tests. There are copies of many previous local and national Olympiad tests available in pdf format to download. If you do not have access to a computer, please call the Section Office at (310) 327-1216 and we can mail them to you.
TEACHER’S SIGNATURE
($7.00 per student/$5.00 by Feb. 2nd for Early Bird Special).
Please make all checks payable to: American Chemical SocietyAmerican Chemical Society
Southern California Section
14934 S. Figueroa Street
Gardena, CA 90248
(310) 327-1216