What is SChO?

SChO will be the first competition that applies our new proposed tier system into our competitions. Only in the 2021 competition will you be able to choose which tier seems appropriate to your skill level. At the end of this competition, participants may choose to either stay, move down, or move up a tier depending on how well they compete. In future CODS competitions, however, all participants (with the exception of Campers and IChO Participants) will begin at Bronze tier and progress normally.

If you would like to read more about our tier system and syllabus for each tier, please refer to our Competitor's Guide.

Bronze Tier

Bronze tier is aimed at participants who have finished their first year of undergraduate chemistry and are just getting started into competitive chemistry.

Note: A-level chemistry, AP Chemistry, and equivalent will suffice.

Students will be given two hours to solve four IChO-styled free-response questions. Each question will deal with an unique topic in chemistry and will have optional hints, often given in the form of a formula or a knowledge refresher. While the concepts involved will be very limited (we will avoid testing your knowledge on chemistry trivia or advanced topics), participants will still be expected to know how to apply the basic concepts into challenging problems.

Silver Tier

Silver tier is aimed for individuals who can compete at their national level, and will be slightly more difficult than WCC Part II.

Participants will be given 3.5 hours to solve seven IChO-styled free-response questions. Unlike the Bronze tier, the Silver tier and Gold tier competitions will not have any optional hints.

Gold Tier

The Gold tier is for participants who are skilled enough to make their national camp, or even qualify for IChO. The level of difficulty is very similar to our CODSChO exam last year, which is between IChO and Mendeleev difficulty.

Participants will be given five hours to solve nine IChO-styled questions.

Tier Comparisons

Sign-ups and Dates

For this competition, we will be providing six time slots across July 9th to July 11th. Participants will be able to sign-up for a time slot after the secondary form has been sent out (After sign-ups closed, participants will receive the secondary form through their email.)

Sign up here.

Proctoring and Privacy

For SChO, we expect all participants to undergo video proctoring in order to tighten security measures. In the case you cannot undergo video proctoring, please request an appeal at chemolyds@gmail.com.

Video Proctoring

Video proctoring will require two devices, or one device with a detachable webcam or recording device.

• Make sure your video device is fully charged or connected to a power cable. Devices must remain powered during the entire exam.

• Please test that your webcam functions properly.

• Have a fixed camera angle to cover the whole working space, including the following:

• the screen of the PC/laptop that is being used to take the exam

• the body and hands of the students (you are permitted to wear a mask if you'd like to keep your facial identity hidden)

• the working area of the desk as shown below.

• Please have all of your devices in airplane mode with WIFI on or in DND mode.

• Please ensure that your recording device records your hands, your workspace, and your monitor.

1. Do not use your face webcam. We must be able to see your monitor and your workspace.
2. You are permitted to wear a mask during the competition.
3. You may not have any materials on the wall. Please take them off during the competition.
4. You are allowed to have a drink with you during the exam.

General Rules for CODS Competitions

• You may use a scientific calculator. Graphing calculators are prohibited.
• You may use our official periodic table, equations, and constant sheet (PEC packet) here. You may use the USNCO reference sheet, if you desire to do so.
  • You may not use any external resources. This includes searching the web, asking on a discord server, discussing with other teams or with your teammates during individual rounds, etc.
  • You may not receive external assistance. This includes friends and family members, online or in person.
• You or your team must sign and scan the honor code in our PEC packet.
  • We will ask for your honor code in the secondary form , which will be sent out after the sign-ups are complete.
• You may not discuss any parts of the exam unless you are given permission to do so. Failure to abide by these rules will invalidate your exam scores and you will be banned from participating in all ISODN tournaments for one year.
• Do not release any test materials before the official release. You will be banned from participation in all ISODN tournaments for one year if you fail to abide by our guidelines.
• As there are several cheating prevention measures put into place, please think twice before attempting to cheat.

Additional SChO Rules

Specific instructions for the SChO exam will be provided one week before the competition.

Appeals and Clarifications

• During the test, you may ask a proctor for clarification.

• Routinely check for any new clarification on our clarifications document that will be updated during the exam whenever we have a valid reason to clarify a certain question.

• If you would like to appeal or notify us about a possible flawed question, please let us know at chemolyds@gmail.com 3 hours after the exam has concluded at the latest. We will not accept appeals made later than that time.