53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline

IChO Japan 2021
Examination Guideline
10 June, 2021
Version 2.2
Organizing Committee of IChO2021 Japan

1. General
1-1. Purpose of this Guideline
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IChO2021 Japan will be held remotely. This guideline
is published to ensure that the theoretical examination for this remote IChO isconducted appropriately.
This document institutes the rules to be followed. It also provides countries withrecommended operational methods to protect their delegations from potential (or false)
accusations of cheating. Please read this document carefully.
1-2. Time Zone
All dates and times on this document are based on Japan Standard Time (JST), which
is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +9 hours. Japan does not use daylight saving
time during the summer.
1-3. Future Updates of This Document
This document may be updated in the future. When a modification is made to thisdocument, the IChO2021 Organizing Committee will announce the modification
immediately, and send the updated version of the guideline to all country coordinators.
2. Examination Date and Timetable2-1. Examination Date
The theoretical examination will take place on 28 July, 2021.
2-2. Examination Time- The duration of the examination is 5 hours.
- The details of the examination (printing time, starting time, ending time, scanningtime, times and length of bathroom breaks, and calculator model) must be reported byinvigilators. The report form to be completed by invigilators will be provided with thestudent examination papers.

53rd IChO Japan 2021
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Examination Guideline
2-3. Examination Timetable- The official examination period is 7:00 pm to 12:00 pm JST. If that period is notconvenient in the time zone of the participating country, the examination may start up to
5 hours earlier or later. However, in this case, the participating students must observe a
total communication ban (blackout) that includes the official examination period. For
example, if they start earlier, they must remain secluded until 12:00 pm JST, and if theystart later, they must be in isolation from 7:00 pm JST. If the participating country
wishes to further change their examination time (for example, further earlier start), they
may consult with the Organizer.
- All competitors in each country must have the same examination timetable to avoid illintentioned communication among competitors. Countries with multiple time zones
must set their timetable on the basis of one specific time zone and conduct theexamination accordingly.
- All countries must submit their choices for starting time, location and recording
method via the registration site by 30 June.
2-4. Management of the Examination- The preparation of the examination (discussions, voting, translation, printing) will beconducted using Oly-Exam software. Mentors will read, comment and vote on, andtranslate the examination text using the Oly-Exam software. Only a browser andinternet access are necessary.
- Manuals for the Oly-Exam software can be found at https://demo.oly-exams.org/docs/
In the event of any difficulties, mentors and invigilators should refer to the manual. The
Organizing Committee will also provide technical support during IChO2021.
- The mentor and the invigilator for each country will receive individual accounts toaccess Oly-Exam.
- Online training for Oly-Exam will be held at 9:00 pm JST on 23 July via Zoom. The
details of the Zoom meeting will be announced separately. All mentors and invigilators
are expected to attend the training. Observer countries are also invited. The training
session will be recorded, and the link to the recorded file will be available during
IChO2021.
3. Examination Conditions
3-1. Location of Examination- The examination location must be a calm and quiet room with electricity, PC orsmartphone, web camera, microphone, high quality printer, scanner with PDFconversion software, and stable internet connection. Each location will be checked via
Zoom before the examination.
- It is the responsibility of the country to maintain the location in a state suitable for the53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline
examination. No additional time will be given, even if the examination is interrupted asa result of local problems.
- The examination location should not be the home of a student or a student's relative.
- A single location for the full number of 4 students is highly preferred. If legal travel
restrictions in the country forbid a single location, multiple locations for one country areacceptable. In this case, all locations must follow the same examination timetable, andmust meet all the requirements. All locations must be notified to the IChO2021
Organizer with the names of the invigilators.
- The students in each location are to be supervised by 1 or 2 invigilators during theexamination.
- The students must maintain an appropriate distance from each other in theexamination room.
3-2. Invigilators- Invigilators must be independent of the mentors, must have no relationship withstudents and must have no other activity in IChO2021. Invigilators should be sociallywell-established persons such as school principals. The names, positions, andaffiliations of the invigilators will be open, as well as those of the mentors.
- Invigilators should not be a parent or a relative of a student.
- Each delegation must register all invigilators at the registration site.
- The invigilators need a good command of English.
- Invigilators will receive an individual account to access Oly-Exam. This account only
allows them to access the PDF files of the official English version and final translated
version of the problems, and to upload the scanned answers.
- Invigilators must complete the downloading and the printing of the English version
and the final translated version of the problems for each student before starting theexamination. The problems and answer sheets must be printed clearly. The Organizing
Committee will not take any responsibility if an unclear print-out results in incorrect
answers given by a student.
- Invigilators should clearly announce the examination timetable to the students before
the examination.
- Students are not allowed to use any electronic communication devices (e.g.,smartphone, computers, smartwatches) during the examination and between 7:00 pm
and 12:00 pm JST. Taking account of different examination starting and ending times,
the total blackout periods are as follows:
Exam start
Exam end
Total blackout period
2:00 pm JST
7:00 pm JST
2:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST
3:00 pm JST
8:00 pm JST
3:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST
4:00 pm JST
9:00 pm JST
4:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline
5:00 pm JST
10:00 pm JST
5:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST
6:00 pm JST
11:00 pm JST
6:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST
7:00 pm JST
12:00 pm JST
7:00 pm - 12:00 pm JST
8:00 pm JST
1:00 am* JST
7:00 pm - 1:00 am* JST
9:00 pm JST
2:00 am* JST
7:00 pm - 2:00 am* JST
10:00 pm JST
3:00 am* JST
7:00 pm - 3:00 am* JST
11:00 pm JST
4:00 am* JST
7:00 pm - 4:00 am* JST
12:00 pm JST
5:00 am* JST
7:00 pm - 5:00 am* JST*: 29 July
Students are to give their devices to the invigilators before the blackout period shown
above. The invigilators will store them for the total blackout period. If the total blackout
period includes mid-night or early morning, the invigilators may store them until thenext day or from a day before the examination day. The invigilators must ensure thatthe students do not use any computers installed in the examination location over therelevant total blackout period.
- Invigilators must not allow the students to open the booklet of problems before theexamination starts.
- After the examination, invigilators should scan all answer sheets to prepare one PDF
file per student, sorting the sheets in the order of the page numbers. All PDF files
should be submitted to the IChO2021 Organizer using Oly-Exam within 2 hour after theend of the examination. The answer sheets must be scanned clearly and properly. TheOrganizing Committee will not take any responsibility if grading is impossible due tounreadable scanning. Only a PDF format file is acceptable.
- Students are not supposed to ask questions during the exam. Invigilators are not tospeak with students other than to issue the instructions to begin and end theexamination. Students may view the official English version of the examination only
when they request clarification of a problem.
- Invigilators may prepare water and snacks or refreshments for the students outside
the examination room.
- It is strongly recommended that recording, printing, scanning and uploading files aretested before the examination.
3-3. Equipment- Only a non-programmable calculator, good writing pen and a ruler can be used during
the examination.
- The calculator should be a scientific electronic calculator by which logarithmic
function, using both base 10 and e, exponential function, and root can be calculated.
Students must be familiar with how to use the calculator, and can use their own
calculator. The brand and the model name or number of the calculator must be notified53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guidelinefrom the registration site.
- Students should write their answers only using a pen with dark ink. The invigilators
may test the printing and scanning process in advance for readability.
3-4. Recording
Videos of the students must be recorded from the beginning to the end of theexamination.
All students (whole body) and their activities need to be visible. The IChO2021
Organizer will send the individual Zoom meeting links to invigilators. Invigilators shouldclick on the link at a reasonable time before the examination to directly enter the Zoom
meeting hosted by the IChO2021 Organizer. The recording in the cloud will start
automatically. Invigilators should place their PC or web camera at a location where thewhole room (four students together) can be seen. All devices must have a stableinternet connection and the data-transfer rate must be greater than 2 Mbps.
If a country faces a technical problem regarding a stable internet connection becauseof local factors, it must report the situation to the IChO2021 Organizer before theexamination. In this situation, offline recording of the examination will be approved, andthe invigilators must upload the recorded video data after the examination. If recording
offline, the video-camera or recording device must be able to record at least 5 hours inan easily shared format (e.g. MP4) with a reasonable file size and quality. The
recording can be made in parts without any perceivable time-gaps (e.g. two devices
are used alternatively). The recording file must have time-stamps.
Students or their parents must give their written consent for the recording and its
sharing with the IChO2021 Organizer.
4. Important Dates
9:00 pm JST, 23 July
Online training for Oly-Exam will be held via Zoom.
9:00 am JST, 25 July
The online opening ceremony will start. The access point for the ceremony will beannounced separately. After the opening ceremony, the mentors are not allowed tocontact the students.
9:00 pm JST, 25 July
Oly-Exam will be open for access. The first versions of the problems will be provided tomentors, who can submit questions, suggestions, corrections and comments via OlyExam. Online discussion will end at 9:00 am JST, 26 July. The Organizing Committee
expects mentors to post all discussions on Oly-Exam to keep the Jury meeting short.

53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline

9:00 pm JST, 26 July
The first International Jury meeting will be held via Zoom to finalize the problems. TheZoom meeting link and password will be sent to mentors.
The attendees’ display names should be their Country Code (three letters) followed bytheir name (e.g., JPN_Aaa Bbb). The display name can be changed after entering theZoom meeting.
Only the head mentor can vote in the Jury meeting. When the Jury meeting is split into
two parallel sessions, and the head mentor and mentor attend each session separately,
mentor can also vote.
Observers can attend the Jury meeting, but guests are not allowed. If the display namedoes not match the registered name, the host will dismiss this attendee from the Zoom
meeting after taking care to ensure that only the appropriate people attend the Jurymeeting.
9:00 am JST, 27 July
Translation via Oly-Exam will begin. The official English versions of the problems will
be provided to mentors via Oly-Exam. If any revisions have been made, Oly-Exam willshow the revised version of the problems along with the previous version. The changes
can therefore be readily reflected in the translations by the mentors.
After the translations are completed, the mentors should approve the translated
versions of the problems. Once the mentors approve a translation, no more changes
are allowed. Therefore, approvals must be done carefully. The translations must becompleted by 9:00 am JST, 28 July.
11:00 am JST, 28 July
Invigilators can access Oly-Exam to print out the translated versions of the problems
along with the official English version.
2:00 pm to 12:00 pm JST, 28 July
Invigilators instruct the students to start the examination according to the time schedulein each country.
7:00 pm JST, 28 July to 5:00 am JST, 29 July
Invigilators instruct the students to stop the examination at 5 hours after the start time(i.e. from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm JST in the earliest timetable and from 12:00 pm to 5:00
am JST in the latest timetable). The invigilators collect all answer sheets, sort and scanthem, and convert them to PDF files. The PDF files for each student are submitted toOly-Exam.

53rd IChO Japan 2021
Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline

9:00 am JST, 29 July
The student answers, solutions, and marking scheme are provided to mentors via OlyExam. The Organizer and the mentors begin marking.
9:00 am JST, 30 July
Grading of the students will be announced by the Organizer. The mentors decide thearbitration list and report it via Oly-Exam. The deadline for requests will be 9:00 pm
JST, 30 July.
9:00 pm JST, 30 July
The second International Jury meeting will be held via Zoom. This meeting is intended
mainly for IChO business. The time slots for arbitration will be also announced. Theattendees are requested to follow the Zoom meeting rules noted above.
9:00 am JST, 31 July to 12:00 am JST, 1 August
Arbitration will be conducted via Zoom. The mentors should enter the Zoom meeting forevery problem. Mentors are requested to follow the Zoom meeting rules noted above.
Arbitration time slots will be arranged according to the local time zones of participatingcountries.
9:00 am JST, 1 August
The final points scores will be provided to mentors via Oly-Exam.
9:00 pm JST, 2 August
The online closing ceremony will start. Students may attend the ceremony with theiravatars. The access point for the ceremony will be announced via email and thewebsite. Medals and certificates will be sent to the participants via surface mail.
Certificates can also be sent via email.
5. Contact Us
5-1. Technical Support
During the Olympiad period, technical issues should be reported tosupport@icho2021.org. The support team will get back to you as soon as possible.
5-2. Instant Communication
Telegram will be used for text-based and instant announcements. Information on how
to access Telegram will be provided separately. All mentors and invigilators are
expected to download the Telegram application on their mobile device or computer

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Chemistry! It’s Cool!
Examination Guideline
before IChO2021 to avoid missing any instant information from the Organizing
Committee. Telegram display names should consist of a Country Code (three letters)
followed by the person’s name (e.g., JPN_Aaa Bbb).