CHEMISTRY RACE

On 4th February, Anushka Acharya (Year 12) and I, alongside three UVl students, Ranvitha Chaparala, Fiona Meng and Mahaab Ahmed, attended the Cambridge Chemistry Race, organised by the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. An international competition with roots tracing back to the University of Pardubice in Czechia, the competition entails a series of unusual yet stimulating chemistry-based questions, with teams from across the nation racing to complete as many as possible within two hours!

To prepare for this exciting competition, we arranged to meet up as a group via Teams and worked our way through questions set in previous years. This was a fantastic opportunity to give us a taste of what the day would be like, as well as allow us to devise strategies on how to adapt our thinking and to approach the questions in the most time-efficient manner. It was interesting to see how our standard A Level knowledge could be so relevant to everyday principles, such as AdBlue, global warming and washing powder, albeit quite confusing at times! Fortunately, we were allowed to bring resources with us on the day to support us during the competition, such as formula sheets and textbooks and we tailored these to topics in science in which we were not so confident.

On the day of the competition, we were one of 60 teams huddled inside the Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre for the welcoming ceremony where we were introduced to the competition and reminded of the rules. Then the real fun began! Starting with six challenging questions, we worked together to answer as many questions as possible, having to run down to the front of the lecture room to check each answer with a judge and receive a new question if it was correct. The competition was intense, and the live leaderboard of the scores certainly added to the pressure. Nonetheless, our perseverance and teamwork prevailed, and before we knew it, the time was up!

Though we did not win, the day proved to be incredibly worthwhile, and we really enjoyed tackling some truly interesting questions. During our free time, we walked around Cambridge and the various colleges, which was a great way to unwind after the intensity of the competition! Overall, the experience has opened our eyes to the many ways Chemistry, as well as Biology and Physics, is integrated into the world around us, and how far it can really take us in the future!

SONALI KOKU HANNADIGE Year 12