USNCO Webinars & Other Support

USNCO Webinars

A series of USNCO webinars for coordinators, teachers, and/or students to help them prepare for the competition. The schedule, topic, links to registartion or archived recordings are below.

Webinars for Students

    
Applying to College as a USNCO Participant 
Presenter: Steve Lantos, Northeastern LS.
Panelists: Chris Peterson, MIT Admissions, Esther Hines, Northeastern LS, Brent Shenton, Orange County LS,
October 12, 20237:00 PM ET 
USNCO Exam Annotation Project
Presenter: Steven Chen, Princeton LS                       
Pannelists: Ritvik Teegavarapu, Caltech, CA, Luke Chen,  Blue Valley North High School, KS, Yiwei Liang, PRISMS, NJ.
November 15, 20227:00 PM ET 
Introduction To The USNCO For Students
Presenter: Christine Saber, Erie LS.
Panelists: Beatrice Salazar, Maryland LS; Mitk'El Santiago, Puerto Rico LS; And Yitian Zhu, 2021 IChO Gold Medalist.
October 22, 2021
7:00 PM ET
 
Preparing For The USNCO Local Section Exam For Students
Presenter: Esther Hines, Northeastern LS.
Panelists: Monica Arroyo, Puerto Rico LS; Denis Merat, Memphis LS; And Andrew Wu, 2018 IChO Gold Medalist
November 19, 20217:00 PM ET 
Preparing For The USNCO National Exam For Students
Presenters: Joshua Pak, Idaho LS And Steve Lantos, Northeastern LS.
Panelists: Steven Chen, Princeton LS; Derek Chien, USNCO Alumnus; Alec Zhu, 2020 IChO Gold Medalist
December 10, 20217:00 PM ET 
Preparing for the National Exam Part III for Students
Presenter: Steve Lantos, Northeastern LS,
Panelists: Kelli Slunt, Virginia LS, Michael Bruno, North Carolina LS
March 10, 2022

7:00 PM ET 
Interactive Workshop: How to Learn Chemistry, for High School Students 
Saundra McGuire, Baton Rouge LS
2020-2021  

Webinars for Coordinators

Webinar TopicDateTime 
Serving as a USNCO Coordinator 
Heather Abbott-Lyon, Georgia LS
2020-2021  
How to Recruit Students for the USNCO 
Craig McClure, Philadelphia LS and Dennis Merat, Memphis LS 
2020-2021  
How to Help Students Prepare for USNCO 
Steve Lantos, Northeastern LS and Ethan Schnell, California LS
2020-2021  
Marketing And Promotion Of The USNCO Program For Coordinators
Presenters: Mitk'El Santiago And Monica Arroyo, Puerto Rico LS
December 17, 20217:00 PM ET 

Closed captioning is available for webinar recordings by choosing the CC icon in the navigation bar.

USNCO Coaching

USNCO Coaching program will be continued in 2024. Applications from high school sudents are now accepted.

Applications are due on Monday, December 18, 2023.

Students will be informed if they will receive coaching by Friday, January 5, 2024.

Students will be informed if they will receive coaching by Friday, January 5, 2024.Coaching sessions will be organized over Zoom and coordinated by the American Chemical Society. 30 minute tutorials will be followed by 1 hour and 30 minutes of small group work in breakout rooms. Up to 40 coaches will be available, coaches will work in teams of two, and each team will work with approximately 10 high school students at a time. Coaching teams will be the same throughout the season.

In total up to 200 students can participate this year. Roughly 100 spots will be reserved for students preparing for the local section exam, and roughly 100 for students preparing for the national exam. Each cohort will have their own 30 minute tutorial before groups work begins. Students will submit an application to be considered for coaching.

Coaching sessions will last for two hours on Fridays every other week in January and February, 2024. The topics for each of the four sessions will be chosen based on student preferences.

Selected students are asked to attend all coaching sessions for the full two hours. Please share this opportunity broadly.

The schedule for 2024 USNCO Coaching Sessions:

  • Friday, January 12, 2024 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
  • Friday, January 26, 2024 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
  • Friday, February 9, 2024 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
  • Friday, February 23, 2024 - 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET

Contact the USNCO office if you have questions.

Slides from the 2020/2021 and 2022 tutorial sessions are shared below. All students can benefit from the USNCO past tutorial slides even if they are not selected for coaching.

Man in lab

USNCO Preparation Hub

This forum is open to anyone interested in the USNCO. Please feel free to share your favorite resources, ask questions of our volunteers, or share comments/suggestions for annotated solution guides in the relevant forums. You only need an ACS ID to login and join the conversation (a member number is not required).

Before you begin, please review these guidelines. ACS does not directly endorse any resources shared here that were not produced by the ACS. For details of the competition in your local area, such as exam dates and times, contact your coordinator.

screenshot of hub web page