Category Scholarship (page 1 of 3) National Chemistry Olympiad

Chemistry: A Real Blast

AP Tests

Last summer, I had the chance to participate in the National Chemistry Olympiad. The top twenty students in the nation have the chance to be on the National Chemistry Olympiad team and compete internationally. The entry test consisted of a multiple choice test similar to that of the AP Chemistry test. I placed in the top 10 in the Utah region. The next level consisted multiple choice, free response, and lab sections. I placed in the top 150 in the nation and won the rank of Honors. I was invited to a dinner where I met with distinguished professors and researchers in the Utah area.

The summer after my sophomore year, I took a class at the University of Utah called Chem 1060, or “Chemistry: A Real Blast”. We learned a lot of the conceptual material in college chemistry, including graduate level work, but cut back on the high level math. Topics included complex ions and organic nomenclature. We had two lectures every week from scientists in different departments, including thermoacoustics and science journalism. I consistently had top test scores and ended up with the second highest grade in the class.

My certificate of participation in the National Chemistry Olympiad.

Last year, I took three AP classes. I worked hard to prepare for all of them. In AP Chemistry, I scored a perfect score on all but two subject tests. That ranked me as Top Dog, a position everyone competes for in AP Chemistry. I scored a 5 in AP U.S. History, a 5 in AP Chemistry, and a 5 in AP Calculus BC, which also earned me the AP Scholar Award.

My AP test scores

Exam 1 nomenclature, acids and bases, redox reactions, moles, orbitals, paramagnetism, enthalpy, bond energies, Born-Haber cycle

Exam 2 Lewis structures, VSEPR, hybridization, multiple bonds, MO theory, Lewis acids and bases, complexes and solubility

Exam 3a transition metals, coordination compounds

Exam 3b organic nomenclature, functional groups, polymers, optical isomers, spectroscopy

Topics in Chem 1060

Calculus BC 5 Calculus AB subscore 5 Chemistry 5 U.S. History 5

Category Scholarship (page 2 of 3) QuizMaster Rock Award

Calculus III

Gallery of Stars

On the final in eighth grade science, our teacher allowed ten points to be added to the final score for each perfect test score you had had throughout the year. I had twenty-nine perfect tests. My final score was 380. I was awarded the QuizMaster rock award for the highest score on the final

My QuizMaster rock award.

As I didn’t have a math class this year, I signed up to take Calculus III at the University of Utah. I was amazed at how useful it has been in other classes, especially AP Physics. Many of the concepts we learned in physics were a review for me because I had learned them in Calculus III. I learned triple integrals and gradients. I had high scores on all the exams, always substantially above the class average. On one test, I more than doubled the class average. I earned an A grade in the class.

The Gallery of Stars is a ceremony of recognition for the freshmen class before they move on to high school. I earned many awards. I earned Clove Awards for overall scholarship and math, which each came with a cash prize of about $100. I also earned department awards in music, reading, foreign language, and biology.

My department awards starting from top left: reading, biology, foreign language, and music.

Exam 1 vectors, dot and cross products, vector-valued functions, line in 3-space, curvature, components of acceleration, surfaces, cylindrical and spherical coordinates.

Exam 2 partial derivatives, gradients, tangent planes, Lagrange multipliers

Exam 3 double and triple integrals, surface area, change of variables

Exam 4 vector fields, line integrals, independence of path, Green’s Theorem, surface integrals, Gauss’s Divergence Theorem

Topics in Calculus III

Category Scholarship (page 3 of 3)

My “Awards of Excellence” in AP Biology

Biology Class Awards

“You’ve been spotted!”

AP Biology Board Game

Our AP Biology teacher sends postcards and awards extra credit for doing exceptionally well in AP Biology. I have received three for getting the first perfect score on an essay, consistently being the top AP Biology student, and helping other biology students with the material.

Our AP Biology teacher gives awards out for outstanding performance and citizenship in the classroom. I’ve received three “Awards of Excellence” for top scores on unit exams, including our most recent test on evolution. I also received the “Science Superstar” award for outstanding academics and citizenship in AP Biology in the first quarter.

My “You’ve been spotted!” postcards for exceptional work in AP Biology

In AP Biology, we were asked to create board game related to a specific topic in genetics. I went all-out on mine, and made a series of complex rules and questions like “name the three binding sites on a ribosome.” Titled “Tranzscriplate”, my board game was very well-liked in the classroom. My teacher considered it too hard for to for the unit test, but would be perfect for review before the AP test. Both my AP biology teacher and my MIT interviewer thought I might be able to sell the idea.

Trying “Tranzscriplate” out for a test run.