(UK) Chemistry Olympiad

Two Concord chemistry students will be heading to the second round of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry Olympiad over Easter having come in the top 30 students in the country in the first round.

Jerry and Thomas, both in 6.2, will be competing for one of the four places in the UK team for the International Chemistry Olympiad in summer. They were among 11 Concord chemists who won gold awards in round one of the competition.

The challenging round 1 paper included questions on carbon nanotubes, Raman spectroscopy and radioactive decay among a range of topics which are designed to stretch the knowledge and chemistry problem solving skills of sixth form chemists.

More than 16,000 students from schools around the country took part in round one, with the top 8% of entrants receiving a gold award.

In addition to the 11 Concord students who achieved gold awards, a further 22 received silver and there were 14 bronze awards.

Impressively for a competition aimed at challenging top students in 6.2 (year 13), 5 Concord students from Form 5 (year 11) achieved silver or bronze awards.

Round 2 takes place over four days at the University of Nottingham.

2025 UK Chemistry Olympiad Round one results | RSC News | RSC Education