A major finding is that the ordering of the excited states can directly influence the predictions of the NSCD. From the SOS study it was illustrated how, in some situations, the sign of the B C term can flip by interchanging two strongly coupled states. As a result, the predicted NSCD can depend on the ordering of the transitions predicted by the theoretical model which, in turn, depends on the chosen combination of method and basis set. This effect resulted in opposite signs of the NSCD in an entire phenyl group between the equivalent excitations of AZO-1 and AZO-2 and between CC2/ES5 and TD-DFT/ES6 of AZO-3.