Indian National Chemistry Olympiad
The Indian National Chemistry Olympiad (INChO for short) is an Olympiad in Chemistry held in India.
The theory part of the INChO examination is held in end-January/beginning February of every year. It is conducted by the Indian Association of Chemistry Teachers. School students (usually of standards 11, 12) first need to qualify the National Standard Examination in Chemistry (NSEC) held in November of the preceding year. Among the 30,000+ students who sit for the NSEC, only the top 1% are selected for the INChO.
About 35 students are selected from the written examination. A total of 30 students are selected from these to attend the Orientation-Cum-Selection-Camp (OCSC), chemistry, held at HBCSE, Mumbai.
Most of the students qualifying the INChO are those completing their twelfth standard. However, there have been some cases of students qualifying INChO at the end of eleventh, or tenth standard itself.
OCSC Chemistry
The Orientation-Cum-Selection-Camp (OCSC), Chemistry consists of rigorous training and testing in theory and experiment. The top four performers here are selected to represent India in the International Chemistry Olympiad. Before IChO, the selected team undergoes rigorous training in theory and experiment, in a Pre-Departure Training Camp, held in HBCSE.