Five Sixth Form students from Wakefield Girls’ High School had the exciting opportunity to participate in the prestigious Chemistry Race competition at Cambridge University on Saturday 10th February. 

There was an initial opening ceremony, where teams got acclimatised to their surroundings at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and socialised with fellow competitors. Subsequently, teams completed a series of challenging chemistry questions over a two hour period. 

The premise is simple: teams race against each other in solving chemistry problems; and whoever gets the most points within the time limit wins! Once a question is answered successfully, the team is presented with a new one and a live leaderboard is updated. Half an hour before the race ends, the ranking is hidden and the final winners are announced at the closing ceremony. 

Prior to the day, students prepared for the competition by compiling their written notes and textbooks. Notes and books are allowed in the competition as the questions range from easy riddles through tasks of A-level difficulty to complex chemical problems. Notes are allowed since the problems mainly aim to test problem solving skills and chemical understanding, rather than knowledge.

Team WGeHS worked together as a team brilliantly, using their problem solving skills and strong chemistry knowledge to answer some tough questions created by Cambridge chemistry students and the Department scholars. 

Whilst the winning team was being decided, the students toured around Cambridge.

We are so proud of all our students for their brilliant efforts throughout the day, they certainly impressed us with their answers. Ultimately, they were awarded with Honorary Mentions, which is a fantastic achievement. Well done to Amina, Bayan, Emily, Lucy and Serena. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Dr S Duerden-Brown

Associate Assistant Head: Professional Excellence and Head of Chemistry