Frequently asked questions

Chemistry high school exams are only available for purchase by a teacher at an accredited high school – tutoring schools are not eligible.

Registration

1. Are students eligible to order their own exam?

  • No. Exams are only available for purchase by a teacher at an accredited high school.
  • School email addresses and school phone numbers are required. Shipping address must be entered as the school’s name and physical mailing address. No personal addresses accepted.

2. Are tutoring schools eligible to order exams?

  • No. Tutoring schools are not eligible.
  • All exams must be ordered by a teacher at an accredited high school.

3. How do I register for the Chem 13 News Exam or Avogadro Exam?

4. Is there a minimum order required for the Chem 13 News Exam and Avogadro Exam?

  • No minimum order is required. The School Exam Administrator places orders online through the link on the Exam ordering instructions page and enters the quantity prior to submitting the order.

5. Am I able to order additional exams?

  • Submitted an order and need additional exams? Determine which exam and the number of additional exams required. Complete the appropriate exam order form again, adding a note under the heading “ADDITIONAL NOTES” stating “Please add _ extra exams to my original order.”
  • Note: The order form will no longer be available on the website after the deadline date.

6. I completed an order for the incorrect chemistry high school exam. What are my options?

  • Unfortunately, NO REFUNDS or substitutions will be processed once the order is submitted. It is important to confirm you are ordering the correct exam and quantity at the time of purchase. Students are only eligible to be registered for ONE (1) exam appropriate to their level:
    • Chem 13 News Exam is for Grade 12 students who have completed, or are nearing completion of, their second high school chemistry course.
    • Avogadro Exam is for Grade 11 students who have completed, or are nearing completion of, their first high school chemistry course.

7. How do I receive an invoice to get reimbursed from my school for ordering the Chem 13 News and Avogadro exams?

  • Credit card payment is required when submitting the registration. Once the teacher (School Exam Administrator) completes online ordering and payment, they will receive an automated email confirmation, including the exam registration details. Please retain this email as proof of payment, as this is your official receipt.
  • We are not able to provide invoices or accept purchase orders.

8. Our school in China is unable to checkout when ordering the exam. When I click “Pay Now” the page remains the same as a screenshot. What am I doing wrong?

  • China customs requires you to include your resident ID number on the checkout page where you make your payment. If you are not including the resident ID number as requested when ordering, you will not be able to check out. This is not a University of Waterloo requirement; it is a requirement of the Chinese government.

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Which exam do I order

1. I have a student who is in Grade 10 but has done Grade 11 level work out of country, and so this contest is for him to show an extension to our present curriculum for Grade 10. Is it possible for him to write it?

  • While we appreciate the desire to engage as many students as possible, we only allow students who are in Grade 11 chemistry to write the exam.
  • We get this request each year, and our criteria are set for all exam participants. Anyone who writes outside of our criteria or attempts to write the contest twice is not eligible for any prize recognition upon completion of the exam.
  • You can challenge your student outside of the content with exam questions after the exam closes, and hope that your student looks forward to the contest when they are taking Grade 11 chemistry.
  • NO REFUNDS will be processed. It is important to confirm you are ordering the correct exam and quantity.

2. I have some students who took Grade 11 chemistry in first semester and are currently taking Grade 12 chemistry in second semester. They prefer to write the Avogadro Exam as they have completed that course. Can they write the Avogadro Exam, or do they have to write the Chem 13 News Exam?

  • Grade 11 students who are currently taking Grade 12 chemistry should write the Chem 13 News Exam, not the Avogadro Exam. These students may write the Chem 13 News Exam again next year in their final year of high school.
  • Note: Teachers should not register a student for both exams. Students who are registered to write the Chem 13 News Exam are ineligible to write the Avogadro Exam.

3. A couple of my students have already completed Grade 12 chemistry and are re-taking it to improve their marks. They already graduated last June. Are they allowed to write the Chem 13 News Exam?

  • Yes, they may write it again.

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Administering the exam

1. When will I receive my login and password for the exam?

2. Which browsers can be used to log into SciOn, the testing platform for the Chem 13 News and Avogadro exams?

  • Chrome and Edge are 100 percent supported. Firefox and Safari should work without issue, but are not supported browsers. Other browsers may cause unforeseen issues.

3. What do students/teachers require on exam day?

  • Each student and School Exam Administrator will require a device with Internet access to log into SciOn, the exam testing platform. Approved devices for writing the exams include desktop computers, laptops, Chromebooks, and iPads.
  • A scientific calculator for students.
  • Note: A periodic table is supplied.

4. I am the School Exam Administrator (supervising teacher), but I am unable to login to the online exam platform. What should I do?

  • Confirm you are using a supported browser. Refer to FAQ #2 in this section.
  • Review the instructions email from noreply-scion@uwaterloo.ca to confirm your login username and password. This email is sent to the School Exam Administrator that ordered the exams approximately one week prior to each exam. If the email is not in the School Exam Administrator’s inbox, check spam/junk folders.
  • Confirm you are using the correct login and password information. If you registered for both the Chem 13 News and Avogadro exams, you were sent a separate login and password for each exam.
  • Still unable to login? Please email us at chem13news@uwaterloo.ca.

5. Students are writing the exam at the same time, in different rooms. How do I administer the exam for students in all locations from one computer?

  • Once you click “BEGIN TEST,” students in all rooms will be able to log in to SciOn with the username and password you provided and begin the exam.

6. Is it possible to have students write the exam at separate times during the day?

  • Yes, the exam can be administered multiple times, as long as there is at least 90 minutes between start times.
    • Example: If you start a test at 12:00pm, you can start it again at 1:30pm [75 minutes (test time) + 15 minutes (buffer) = 90 minutes].

7. I accidentally clicked the "BEGIN TEST" button. Can I restart the exam?

  • The exam can only be restarted after waiting 90 minutes.

8. What if a student logs out by accident? Are they able to log back in with the same login and password?

  • If a student accidentally logs out during the test, they can log back in using the same login and password. All their work will be saved, but the exam clock will not stop and will continue even if the student is logged out.

9. Is there any way to remind students of the time left on the exam?

  • The time remaining is continuously displayed on the top-right corner of the exam screen. It changes colour as the time remaining reaches 15 minutes, then again when there are 5 minutes remaining.

10. Has the time difference for overseas schools been taken into consideration when making the tests available online?

  • Yes. The exams should be written in one 75-minute period during regular hours (your local time).

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Special accommodations

1. What if a student requires more time to write the exam?

2. What can we do if we experience an emergency or power outage, and are unable to run the exam on the prescribed day?

  • Should it be impossible to run the exam because of technical malfunctions, contact Mirko Vucicevich (mvucicevich@uwaterloo.ca) with an explanation and a request to extend the exam date for your school.
  • Note: Scheduling conflicts are not an acceptable reason for extending the exam date.

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Exam preparation resources

1. On your website, you have previous PDFs of Chem 13 News and Avogadro exams from 2007 to 2011. Will you be posting any further years of past exams?

  • Unfortunately, we are unable to post further PDFs online.
  • We suggest that your students check out Open Science for some interactive online chemistry lessons. The lessons available are: Significant Figures, The Mole Concept, Stoichiometry, Acids and Bases, The History of Atomic Theory and Atom Economy, and E-Factor.

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Results

1. What is the marking scheme for both exams

  • Each correct answer: 1.0 point
  • An incorrect answer: -0.25 points
  • If you do not answer: 0 points (there is no penalty)
  • All questions have the same value

2. When will school results be available?

  • Although delays may occur, we aim to have results available within a week of the exam date.
  • Once marks are available, the School Exam Administrator will receive an email from noreply-scion@uwaterloo.ca with instructions to login to SciOn to view the school results.

3. When are PDF copies of the exam “questions and answers” available?

  • Once marks are available, the School Exam Administrator will receive an email from noreply-scion@uwaterloo.ca with instructions to login to SciOn to view the school results.
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the page to access PDF copies of the exam “questions and answers.”

4. Are my students able to access their results online?

  • No, only the School Exam Administrator can access results by logging into SciOn to view results and print certificates for their students.

5. How do I access my student results?

6. How do I Configure Distinctions? All my student certificates print as Certificate of Distinction. Should some of them say Certificate of Participation?

  • The “Report to School Exam Administrator” contains instructions on how to access results, configure distinctions, and print Certificates of Distinction or Certificates or Participation.
  • The School Exam Administrator is responsible for distributing certificates to students.
  • If none of your students scored well in the exam, follow instructions to Configure Distinctions. Within the menu you can customize what will show up on your students' certificates. Try using the below setting:
SciOn settings for configuring distinctions

7. I had students participate in exams in previous years. Can I still access their results online?

  • Yes. The exams from previous years are still available on SciOn. The School Exam Administrator (teacher) will require the original password for the year they are trying to view. Passwords are emailed to the School Exam Administrator.
  • Up to and including 2022, the email came from scialert@uwaterloo.ca.
  • Starting in 2023, the email was sent from noreply-scion@uwaterloo.ca.

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