1.

INTRODUCTION AND
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GENERAL TIPS TO
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PREPARE FOR
CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD

Welcome to Chemistry Olympiad! Chemistry

Olympiad is a challenging competition that
tests students on their higher-order thinking
ability and encourages interested high school
students to read up beyond the syllabus. This
book was written to explain tough university
chemistry concepts to high school students,
by building up the student’s knowledge slowly
starting from the basics. When reading this
book, please appreciate the logical flow of
concepts and find the links between different
topics. With time, I hope that you will see the
beauty in chemistry, and have an enriching
journey through Chemistry Olympiad.

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 2   Theory and Problems for Chemistry Olympiad

As the flow of chapters and content in this book is meticulously designed, I would
urge you to read the book following the order of the chapters and sub-chapters. This
will ensure that you have the proper background knowledge required to understand
every chapter fully. After completing the book once, it can be used as a reference
book to refresh yourself on the relevant topics once in a while.
As a tip, it will be good to keep a notebook to write down important concepts
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and equations while reading the book. From the derivations of equations in physical
chemistry to the mechanisms in organic chemistry, it is important to try these on
your own to fully understand the concepts. While looking at complicated reactions
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or concepts, keep questioning in your head why each step proceeds the way it does.
Note down any questions you have and ask your supervisor. While the learning curve
is definitely steep, I am sure that the rewards are worth every bit of time and effort.
The journey through Chemistry Olympiad is most rewarding when you are driven
by your interest in chemistry and curiosity to learn more, instead of just going for a
medal in the competition.
In Chemistry Olympiad, the competition is the final challenge to test your ability.
In most countries, there are various national Olympiad competitions to select stu-
dents for the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO), the dream for most aspiring
Chemistry Olympians. After all the hard work that is put into learning chemistry, it
is critical to perform to the best of your ability at the competition. Here, the authors
list some tips from experience to help students do their best at the competition.
For any competition, stress and mood through the examination play a sig-
nificant role in how well we can think. When years of hard work culminate in a
5-hour long examination, it is difficult to not be overwhelmed by stress. Thus, you
should face every competition with excitement, thinking of the competition as a
new opportunity to learn more chemistry through problem-solving. Even if you
are unsure of the solution to certain problems, do not let it discourage you, as
the Olympiad competition is designed to be challenging. In the end, it is not the
results that matter the most, but that you have given your best effort through the
journey of learning chemistry.
Upon starting the paper, browse through all the questions first. Generally,
Olympiad questions are not ranked by difficulty level. In particular, while one student
may find an organic chemistry question more challenging, another student may
have a difficult time solving a physical chemistry question. In the Olympiad compe-
tition, many students will find themselves having insufficient time to complete all
the questions. Thus, find the questions that you are most confident in solving, and
ensure that they are completed correctly and efficiently before attempting the more
challenging problems.
For some common constants, you should use the value that is given in the
“Constants and Formulae” table in front of the paper, regardless whether the value
is the same or different compared to the value you have memorised. For example, the

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 Introduction and General Tips to Prepare for Chemistry Olympiad   3

speed of light is given as c = 3.000 × 108 m ⋅ s-1 (IChO 2011) and c = 2.998 × 108 m ⋅ s-1
(IChO 2018). You should also use the atomic mass from the Periodic Table given in
the question paper. For example, the mass of a hydrogen atom was given as 1.01
(IChO 2010), 1.008 (IChO 2011) and 1.00794 (IChO 2015).
For physical chemistry questions, it is important to show full workings on how the
answer was obtained. Sometimes, there might be small errors during the calculation
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that lead to a different answer. If the final answer is incorrect, points may be awarded
for correct equations in the working. To avoid losing all the points due to a small care-
less error, please show all key steps leading to the final answer. This also helps when
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checking the answer again for any errors. While working through physical chemistry
problems, it is recommended to leave your answers in symbolic form while working
through the problem. This makes it easier to spot any algebraic errors, and minimise
the time spent on pressing the calculator. If any intermediate value is obtained, try
to leave it to 1 or 2 more significant figures than the final required answer. You do
not need to copy down all the decimal places from your calculator, because that’s
just a waste of your time and it will not affect your final results.
As per all scientific calculations, standard rules for decimal places and significant
figures apply in Chemistry Olympiad calculation. If a question requires students to
report the results to a certain number of significant figures, such requirement should
be stated clearly in the question. If a question has not stated such a requirement, then
you just need to report your value with a reasonable number of significant figures.
For example, a concentration of 0.1028 mol ⋅ dm -3 or 0.103 mol ⋅ dm -3 is reasonable,
but 0.102774125 mol ⋅ dm -3 is obviously not reasonable although that’s the value
shown on the calculator.
For inorganic chemistry, it is important to be familiar with the properties of
different elements and ions, such as the colour of transition metal cations in their
various oxidation states, the flame test results of cations, common oxidation states
of elements, solubility of common inorganic salts and colour of common precipitates.
This information will often give intuition into the identity of unknown compounds
in inorganic elucidation questions. While a summary is provided in the qualitative
analysis Table 5.1, I would still encourage students to test out reactions and make
the observations themselves.
You should also memorise the atomic mass of common elements, as this will
allow you to easily access molecular masses of common compounds. This may be
useful to deduce the identity of inorganic compounds in calculation-type questions.
For example, a molecular mass of 18 suggests H2O, 28 suggests CO, and 44 suggests
CO2 . Now, try the following for yourself: 98, 100, 160. Of course, there are still many
others. You should try to summarise your own table of common molecules and their
molecular masses.
Other than deducing compound identity through calculations, it is also possible
to make good judgements based on periodicity and the trends within each group.

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 4   Theory and Problems for Chemistry Olympiad

Thus, it is good to have a brief understanding of the elemental trends in each group,
as outlined in chapter 3.5.
For organic chemistry, it is useful to work on structural elucidation both forwards
and backwards. The process of visualising a synthesis backwards is known as retro­
synthesis, and is briefly discussed in chapter 4.16. You can compare the reactant and
product to determine the parts of the molecule with no change. After identifying the
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parts that do not change in the reaction, it is possible to focus on the reactive site(s).
This allows us to deduce the reaction mechanism, which may be single or multi-step.
From time to time, you will encounter some organic reagents that you have not
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met before. Based on structural features, it is possible to compare such reagents with
familiar reagents to deduce its role, as solvent, catalyst, acid, base, oxidant, reductant,
nucleophile or electrophile. Once its role is confirmed, it is possible to determine the
reaction mechanism and predict the product.
When analysing reactions, pay special attention to selectivity, including chemo-
selectivity, regioselectivity and stereoselectivity. In particular, stereoselectivity is often
encountered in Chemistry Olympiad. Sometimes, stereochemistry can be deduced
either from the reactant one or several steps before, or from the product one or
several steps after. Also, you should decide whether there is a retention or inversion
of stereochemistry based on the reaction mechanism. In general, stereochemistry
should be shown clearly with wedged or dotted lines.
The tips provided here in this chapter are general and more specific tips regarding
each topic will be given as you move on into the book. I wish all students an enriching
and rewarding Chemistry Olympiad journey!

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