Don't try this at home: Professor Peter Wothers about to do something dangerous at the 2024 Chemistry Open Day, being carefully monitored by the lab technicians!
How well do you remember what you learned in Chemistry? Why not check your Chemistry knowledge by taking the same Cambridge Chemistry Challenge paper that more than 13,000 lower-sixth students recently completed in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge competition for the Lower Sixth (C3L6).
The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge
As its name implies, C3L6 is a competition open to all UK students in the Lower Sixth form (Year 12) or below. The competition consists of a 90-minute paper with just two questions. Students take the paper at their own schools, which are later provided with a mark scheme for scoring.
The top 60% of students receive printed certificates ranked according to how well the student does: 30% achieve Copper, 20% Silver and 10% Gold. The very top .5% (usually 60 to 70 students) receive the prestigious Roentgenium award and are invited to stay in Cambridge for a weekend camp, with two full days of practicals and exercises in the department.
It's fun
“This year we sent out over 8,000 certificates for the highest scoring students,” says Professor Peter Wothers, who developed the scheme for Year 12 students who are already studying chemistry. “The questions are designed to be fun and illustrate chemistry in the context of our everyday lives. They are very different from the usual A level questions – they are all accessible, but being less formulaic means the students find them more challenging.”
Peter has long been involved in promoting chemistry to the public and in particular bridging the transition between sixth-form and university. He is well known for his popular and informative Chemistry Open Day lectures, and has been involved with many other outreach activities, including the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemistry Olympiad for students in Year 13.
No cheating!
Challenge yourself and take the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge now. You can also download the mark scheme to check your answers – but no cheating!