ChemOlympiad'Training' (1 Viewer)

[jayz]

Has anyone attended this 'training' for ChemOlympiad before?
It's conducted by USYD, supposedly a preparation for the RIOTINTO national qualifying exams (i think that's what it is called)
If u have, can u plz let me know if it is worth going, eventhough you are in the middle of your school assessment period?
And is it helpful towards HSC?

Thanks

 

[spice girl]

i haven't been to the USYD chem training, but i assume it's good...

if you've been going well in high school chemistry, yes it's worth going. however, it won't help very much towards HSC chem (because HSC chem isn't real chem, it's english + social science). But it'll help you get thru uni chem...

 

[kini mini]

Damn, I never knew that you could go to training sessions! Not that I even put in much work on my own . I agree with spice girl, it will be quite useless for high school chem.

if they are expensive I wouldn't bother though, do exercises from books like Atkins, Zumdahl and you'll be fine i think...I somehow got an HD in the qualifiers and didn't prepare much because it was in the middle of year 11 yearlys. All I did was look through the past papers. But spice girl was on the team so he should know .

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

if you feel you should, then by all means go, but it's not a guarantee that you will make it.
the nqe tests natural skill and method, but also focuses on content. if ur doin some other kind of olympiad training (ie tuition/school) and you're actually learning something, then i wouldn't go, but you really do need to learn quite a bit if u plan on attempting olympiad. (if nothing else, borrow zumdahl from a library to study, it's apparently quite good). if you do make it past nqe remember you will be untertaking a whole first-year uni course in less than six months.

olympiad is definitely worth going, and occasionally they're timetabled so that its' in the middle of assessments so you don't actually have to do exams; you get estimates ^^
it will help you to understand chem concepts, yes.. to a certain extent. it will also make you realise how stupid the hsc syllabus is, and how it's 80% enlgish and 20% chemistry, that you will be disillusioned for the rest of your high school life about the whole "board of so-called-studies" institution. lol...

 

[jayz]

That all sounds ok to me!
the course is farily cheap, i think it's like $262 for ten, 2hr sessions
and all i really want, is NOT to go in the olympiad team, but just learn some 'proper' chemistry, at least a change from the boring HSC chem.
SO, has anyone done this course before and has anyone heard of the book by Silberbeng, called CHEMISTRY?

Thanks

 

[spice girl]

from wot i've seen of silberberg, it sux. if you can get your hands on zumdahl, it's better

but if you plan to buy the book, i suggest silberberg since UNSW uses silberberg and you might as well get the textbook just in case you study chem in uni.

but yeh, if you want to learn some proper chemistry, you won't be disappointed...

 

[phenol]

hey jayz, i am in the AChO team this year

The rio tinto program is MARVELLOUS, you'll learn a LOT about real chem Silberberg is a great book, but if you do become a RTASO scholar, you'll learn way more
If you do enjoy chem (like meee) then by all means try your best in the NQE - 4 months left

I don't really know too much about the course @ USYD but i know they are starting a chem olympiad program @ Sydney Grammar and it is FREE and REALLY good (they got an AWESOME lab too).

If you are interested, by all means contact me - i'll try to help you out

piboy@hotmail.com

 

[+:: $i[Q]u3 ::+]

hey phenol~!!
good luck in greece~!
(i'm sure aus. will do very well heheh...)

lol...we met at canberra in jan... u prolli dun remember...
(i wasn't in chem)...

 

[kini mini]

Originally posted by phenol
I don't really know too much about the course @ USYD but i know they are starting a chem olympiad program @ Sydney Grammar and it is FREE and REALLY good (they got an AWESOME lab too).

Oh, are they starting a public one now? Our labs are awesome yeah, but that's only since the renovations . Dr. Bishop is an excellent teacher, had him for four years .

 

[spice girl]

oh, if anyone can get their grubby hands on the syllabus of what the USYD ppl or Dr Bishop from SGS are teaching, could u plz post it here?

 

[BlackJack]

Hmm... usyd programs use silberberg, I think. It's used in both first year here and the training program 3 years ago (when I did training).

If they haven't changed in that time... it includes redox, equilibria, structure & bonding, etc... pretty much the more basic part of uni first year syllabus. If you know a lot of uni stuff already, then it's not very useful.

Jeanette Hurst handles the training program, so you can ask her for specifics: j.hurst@chem.usyd.edu.au

Otherwise go check the 'overview' here
http://www.science.usyd.edu.au/school/olympiad_chem.html