Chemistry Students Demonstrate the Elements of Success

The Cambridge Chemistry Challenge is a national competition run annually for lower sixth students studying A level Chemistry. It’s set by the Chemistry Department of Cambridge University and aims to stretch and challenge students’ knowledge of the A level syllabus (and beyond!) by asking questions that encourage them to think the way they’d have to at university. In June 2018, 8000 students from 540 schools in the UK took the 90-minute paper. We had a bumper crop of 33 students who participated.

Any student who attained a certain mark in the paper achieved an award. The copper award was given for students achieving 14-22 marks, silver for 23-30, and gold for 31-49. This year, the paper was incredibly challenging. In spite of that, one of our students – Faris Abulula – achieved the highest mark ever awarded to a Notre Dame student in all the years we’ve taken part! He received a gold award for his efforts. In addition, four fantastic students achieved a silver award and five copper – all their names can be found below.

Head of Chemistry Ms Rachel Hodgetts said: ‘This was an amazing number of awards considering the difficulty of the paper. Our students demonstrated resilience and a have a go attitude which will stand them in good stead both for their A level studies and their future careers. They are a credit to the Chemistry Department.’

Congratulations to all the students who took part, and thanks to Dr Sykes for organising their entry to the Challenge.

The photo above shows all the students who took part in the challenge. Pictured below is Faris Abulula receiving his certificate from College Principal Justine Barlow.