RSC Belgium launches 2013 Chemistry Challenge

Following a small pilot run in 2010 and two highly successful full runs in 2011 and 2012, RSC Belgium Section is happy to announce its Schools Chemistry Challenge 2013. 

The RSC Belgium Chemistry Challenge competition is open to students from any school in Belgium. The section is looking to make the 2013 Challenge an even bigger chemistry competition! In 2012, well over 100 students took part.

Details of the 2013 competition format can be accessed here. The Chemistry Challenge questions will be set in English, but may be answered in English, French, Dutch or German.

The competition is open to school students in their penultimate year of High School (usually aged 16 – 17) and consists of a total of two hours of written test papers held in individual schools and designed to demonstrate the participants’ knowledge of chemistry and their ability to think logically.

Two formats
For 2013 the Challenge can be taken in two ways: either as a single two-hour paper (as for 2012) or split into three stand-alone, separate sections (Section A 30 minutes, Section B 60 minutes and Section C 30 minutes) which teachers might find easier to work into their timetable constraints. Teachers would need to decide on their preference by the time they tell us the approximate numbers of students that will participate in the 2013 challenge from their school.

To get a taste of the Challenge you can access the 2012 papers here.

There are plenty of attractive cash prizes on offer for the highest scoring entries, as well as certificates acknowledging participation for everyone who takes part.

We have found that students find that participation in the Challenge is a valuable ‘plus point’ when completing University application forms, clearly demonstrating an ‘extra curricular’ interest in science.

More information
For further information, please contact our challenge coordinator Rita Woodward via email and section secretary Tim Reynolds as soon as possible.

The common curriculum on which the competition will be based will be circulated for validation by teachers in the near future. The Challenge papers will then be distributed to participating schools in mid-May with completed papers to be returned to Rita during June.