November 2014

Canadian Chemistry Contest for high school and cégep students

Guillaume Bussière, National Coordinator, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC

Do you have students who excel in your chemistry class and would enjoy a challenge? Have these students participate in the Canadian Chemistry Contest (CCC). Save April 13 for the 2015 edition of CCC. Watch for more information in future issues of Chem 13 News. This article provides some contest guidelines and announces the 2014 winners.

Each year, the Chemical Education Division of the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) coordinates the organization of the CCC and the pre-selection of the Canadian Chemistry Olympiad (CCO). Both contests are combined and are held on the same day.

The preparation and administration of CCC involves the contribution of many chemistry instructors across the country:

Questions Designers supervised by CCC National Examiner, Ms. Jennifer Pitt-Lainsbury; and
Regional and District Coordinators supervised by National Coordinator (me!).

This team works year round to provide Canadian students with a challenging and rewarding exam.

The CCC is available in either English or French to all secondary schools and cégeps in Canada. This contest is intended for the top 10% of chemistry students. For CCC, students must attend a Canadian high school or a Québec cégep, and they must have never been registered to university-level science courses. Cégep students must not have followed more than two courses in chemistry at cégep-level.

The Canadian Chemistry Contest consists of

Part A: Multiple-choice questions (25); to be completed in 60 minutes; and
Part B: Essay questions (two chosen from four questions); to be completed in 90 minutes

The National Winner is awarded a prize of $800; other regional winners receive $450 each while regional second and third prizes are of $200 and $100 respectively. These prizes are awarded in six regions: Atlantic, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba-Saskatchewan-Nunavut, Alberta-NWT and BC-Yukon. Financial support for these prizes is generously provided by the Canadian Society for Chemistry and the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering.

The CCO pre-selection examination consists of

The CCC Part A — see above
Part C: Free response problems (designed to be more challenging than Parts A and B); to be completed in 90 minutes

To participate in the CCO pre-selection process, students must be under 20 years old on July 1, 2015, and they must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents (or have attended a Canadian school for at least two years).

Students interested in both competitions may write Parts A, B and C within a total time of four hours.

Preliminary information about these contests will be sent to schools by December. If your school did not receive information about CCC and CCO in 2013 – 2014, email Guillaume Bussière (bussierg@chem.ubc.ca) so that your school can be added to the mailing list. For more information consult the CCC website.

We are looking forward to your participation in CCC 2015.