The 2026 ACS Orange County Chemistry Olympiad Local Section Exam (LSE) competition took place on Saturday, February 28, 2026, from 8:45 am to11:00 am in the Liberal Arts (LA) building at Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA 92618. There were 237 High School students from 37 high schools from around the County who participated.
A group of 13 top individual students on the LSE advanced to the US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO), which was held on Saturday April 18, 2026, at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). This exam is 4.75 hours long (plus breaks), and includes written & lab components. The top twenty scorers in the entire U.S. on the USNCO are invited to attend the National Study Camp in June.
The top four students at the National Study Camp will represent the U.S. at the 58th International Chemistry Olympiad which is tentatively scheduled for July 10-19, 2026, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
The top student from each school, the top six school teams and those who competed in the USNCO will be honored at the Orange County High School Chemistry Awards Banquet in May.
Read here for more background about the Chemistry Olympiad competition.
For questions, please contact Stacey Hamamura at edchair2@ocacs.org or Stephanie Nobles at edchair1@ocacs.org.