Competitions · Chemistry · USNCO
USNCO, the US National Chemistry Olympiad.
Run by the American Chemical Society since 1984 and sat by close to sixteen thousand students a year. Two rules shape who actually competes: the national exam is closed to non-residents, and each school may nominate only two students to it.
Read this first
Two gates, and the first is nationality.
The national exam requires US citizenship or lawful permanent residence. A student without either can sit the local exam but cannot progress past it, and the route to the study camp and the International Chemistry Olympiad closes there.
The second gate applies to everyone. Each high school may nominate no more than two students per local section to the national exam. Being good enough is not sufficient - you also have to be one of your school’s two nominations, unless you have attended the study camp before, in which case you are exempt from the limit.
For students at magnet programmes, on split enrolment, or studying online, the school is defined as the one issuing the diploma, and an online student competes in the local section where they physically are rather than where the school is registered.
At a glance
What the olympiad is, and who runs it.
The American Chemical Society was founded in 1876, is chartered by the US Congress, and has more than 161,000 members. It has sponsored this olympiad since 1984.
- Organiser
- The American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Since
- 1984
- Scale
- Close to 16,000 American students each year
- Who can sit the local exam
- High-school students in grades 9 to 12 who will not graduate before 1 May of the competition year
- Who can sit the national exam
- US citizens and lawful permanent residents only
- Age limit
- Under 20 on 1 July of the competition year
- AP chemistry
- Having taken it does not disqualify a student
- School nominations
- At most two students per high school per local section may go forward to the national exam
- Calculators
- Non-programmable only, on both the local and national exams
- Disqualifying items
- A programmable calculator, a phone, or any device able to reach the internet, copy or photograph
- Content overlap
- Covers ground shared with SAT, AP, IB and A-Level chemistry
The route
From sixteen thousand students to twenty.
Each stage is a real cut. The camp takes twenty students from the whole national field.
Registration
Registration opens in early October. Students intending to compete must complete the form by the middle of January.
Local exam
Sat through ACS local sections. This is the round open to the widest field.
National exam
For nominated students who are citizens or permanent residents - at most two per school per local section.
Study camp
The twenty highest scorers on the national exam attend a two-week camp.
International Chemistry Olympiad
The team selected from the camp represents the United States.
The rules that catch people out
Eligibility details worth checking early.
USNCO’s rules are more specific than most, and several of them are easy to discover too late.
Two per school, per local section
However strong a school’s chemistry cohort, only two students can be nominated to the national exam. Internal selection therefore matters as much as the exam itself.
Camp veterans are exempt
A student who has previously attended the study camp is automatically eligible for the national exam and does not count against their school’s two places.
One camp per summer
A student who attends the Physics, Mathematics or Biology Olympiad study camp cannot attend the Chemistry camp the same summer. A strong all-rounder has to choose.
Gold medallists step aside
A student who has won gold at the International Chemistry Olympiad is not eligible for a subsequent national exam, study camp or international olympiad.
What it is worth
Why students enter even without the national route.
For a student who cannot progress past the local exam, the question is whether the local round is worth sitting on its own. It generally is.
The content overlaps what you already study
USNCO covers ground shared with SAT, AP, IB and A-Level chemistry. Preparing for it is largely preparing for the qualification a student is taking anyway.
It demonstrates subject interest
For applications to chemistry, chemical engineering, medicine and related programmes, entering a recognised national olympiad shows commitment beyond a transcript grade.
And it is a real standard
The field is large and American. A result here places a student against a substantial national cohort rather than a small local one.
But be clear about the ceiling
Without citizenship or permanent residence the route ends at the local exam. Plan around that rather than discovering it in April.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares students for USNCO.
The syllabus overlap with AP and A-Level makes this one of the more efficient olympiads to prepare for.
Build on AP or A-Level chemistry
Because the content overlaps substantially, a student already working toward either qualification is most of the way there. Preparation extends rather than replaces that work.
Practise without a programmable calculator
Only non-programmable calculators are permitted, and bringing the wrong device is a disqualification rather than a warning. Students practise with the exact calculator they will bring.
Plan for the school’s two places
Where a school has more strong candidates than nominations, internal selection happens before the national exam. Knowing that early changes how a student approaches the local round.
Register by mid-January
The registration form closes well before the local exam in late February. Missing it removes the option entirely.
Why Hanlin
Hanlin has been entering students for USNCO for years, and publishes what they got. The record is further down this page.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for USNCO is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Past papers and preparation pack
The same material our own USNCO students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast papers, every year the organiser has released
- PDFWorked solutions, where the organiser publishes them
- PDFThe syllabus on one page - every topic, and how heavily it is examined
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Dr Li
A Fudan postdoctoral researcher with a PhD in organic chemistry from HKUST, a master's in medicinal chemistry and nano-engineering from East China University of Science and Technology jointly with Myongji University, and a first degree in pharmaceutics. College Board-accredited.
Qiu
PhD in organic chemistry from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, after materials physics at East China University of Science and Technology. College Board-accredited, with published papers on organic small-molecule catalysis in internationally recognised journals.
Shi
Master's in water science and engineering from TU Dresden - one of Germany's TU9 institutes - after environmental engineering at Ocean University of China. A researcher in environmental chemistry at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, a DAAD scholarship holder, and College Board-accredited.
Student results
What Hanlin students got.
Taken from Hanlin's published record of student honours and rewritten in English. Figures are as the organisers reported them.
National Golds in 2019
One line from Hanlin's published USNCO record. The rest of it is below.
USNCO
- 20253 students advanced to the US national final
- 20197 Gold, one of them the highest score in the country
Earlier years
- 20185 Gold, placing 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 15th nationally
The full record, across every subject and year, is on the student honours page.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for USNCO, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
USNCO, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Who can take the national exam?
US citizens and lawful permanent residents only. A student without either can sit the local exam but cannot progress beyond it.
Who can take the local exam?
High-school students in grades 9 to 12 who will not graduate before 1 May of the competition year, and who are under 20 on 1 July that year.
How many students can each school send to the national exam?
Two per high school per local section. Students who have previously attended the study camp are exempt from that limit and are automatically eligible.
Does taking AP Chemistry disqualify me?
No. Students who have taken AP chemistry are explicitly eligible.
Can I attend the chemistry camp and another olympiad camp?
Not in the same summer. Attending the Physics, Mathematics or Biology Olympiad study camp rules out the Chemistry camp that year.
What calculator can I use?
A non-programmable one, on both the local and national exams. Bringing a programmable calculator, a phone, or any device that can reach the internet, copy or photograph is grounds for disqualification.
Which local section do I compete in?
The one covering your school district. Online students compete in the section where they are geographically located, regardless of where the online school is registered, and an online school may nominate up to two students.
What if I have already won gold at the international olympiad?
You are not eligible for a subsequent national exam, study camp or international olympiad.
Related
Other chemistry contests.
What students commonly enter alongside or instead of USNCO.
USNCO enquiries
Check the nationality rule and your school’s two places.
The national exam needs citizenship or permanent residence, and each school may nominate only two students to it. Tell us the student’s status and school, and an advisor will say plainly how far this route goes for them.