03. Chemical Nomenclature

Coordinators: Dr. Chaudhery M. Hussain and Dr. Alfredo Castro 

It is a 50-question multiple-choice exam that will be administered on Canvas.  

BACKGROUND and Objectives 

Initially, in chemistry, a compound's chemical name and formula were largely unrelated.  Modern naming methods have corrected this lack of connection between chemical formulas and chemical names.   Mastery of these methods is an important part of communication in the scientific community.  This event assesses both the level to which students can communicate using the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) naming rules and their familiarity with older common names. 

EVENT-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS 

A team of two students must complete this event.  Each of the two students will work independently on separate exams simultaneously.    Once the exam is complete, the combined scores of the two students will yield a raw score. 

During a 25-minute session, students take a computerized exam customized for the NJCO. The exam assesses a student's ability to identify the formulas for the following types of compounds: 

Ionic compounds containing common ions (e.g.,  AgCl) 

Ionic compounds containing polyatomic ions (e.g., sodium tetraborate) 

Simple molecular compounds (e.g.,  CO2; note that subscripts would be written as regular numbers in the program) 

Acids (ex.,  H3PO4) 

Organic compounds, including aliphatic, alicyclic, and aromatic compounds (e.g., isopropanol) 

Organic compounds with functional groups (such as methyl ethanoate) can have only one type of functional group per compound, such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, or halogen.

Hydrated compounds (ex, Pb (CH3CO2)2•3H2O) 

 
PREPARING FOR THE EXAM  

You will have access to at least two demo exams via an online learning management system for 2026; details will be posted here as they become available. 

The program occasionally accepts more than one answer.  Specific notations, such as using parentheses and brackets and properly capitalizing element symbols, must be entered correctly.  Therefore, students must familiarize themselves with the testing platform we will be using. 

However, as noted above, subscripts should be written inline: CO2 is correct for carbon dioxide. 

A periodic table will be provided on the exam page. No printed, digital, or online materials, including papers or books, are allowed. 

Please contact the event coordinators if you have any questions or encounter difficulties with the practice exams. 

The exam uses a learning management system, and students are kindly encouraged to access it and attempt the demo exams at their earliest convenience.  The lockdown browser will be installed on the computers provided on Event Day. 

On Event Day, the tests will be administered in person on computers provided by NJIT. 

NOTES ABOUT THE EXAM 

The exam on Event Day will present the questions in a random format, and the answers will not be shown (type in answers; subscripts and superscripts are not available; read the instructions on the exam carefully). 

Students may not fast-forward, skip questions, or return to a question after they submit an answer.  The correct answers to the questions will not be provided. 

Each student's time to complete the exam is recorded for tiebreaker purposes only. 

Two teams from the same school must compete in the same time slot for the Nomenclature event unless approved by the NJCO Director.  The requested times will be adjusted for this!