DCSZ Students Win Top Awards at 2024 UKChO
On 26 January 2024, DCSZ students attended UK Chemistry Olympiad (UKChO) and received fantastic results!
The UKChO offers an excellent platform for students to cultivate and demonstrate essential skills that will benefit them not only in university but also in their future endeavors. By providing abundant opportunities, the competition aims to empower enthusiastic students in China to enhance their understanding of chemistry and sharpen their problem-solving abilities.
What’s more, this is the first time we have Year 12 students who have achieved a gold award, and it is also the first time we have Year 10 students participating and receiving a bronze award at the same time. Let’s see their insights and reflections after attending the competition:
Junhee L, Gold Award
Earlier this year in January, I took the online UKChO test with a couple classmates and somehow ended up recieving the gold qualification. The UK chemistry olympiad was probably one of if not the hardest test i'd ever taken and I spent the entire christmas holiday preparing for it. I was able to learn many new things not in the IB syllabus while studying for the olympiad like unit cells, specific reaction mechanics, etc. I'm very glad that I performed well enough to achieve this gold qualification because I had put a considerable amount of time and effort preparing for the test. I recommend anyone in KS4 (Year 10~Year 11) with an interest in chemistry or chemistry related branches to take this test if you have time as not only is it decent for university application, it can broaden your knowledge on the subject.
Yuva Sree M, Bronze Award
My name is Yuva, and I’m in year 10, and I had been given the prestigious opportunity to partake in this year’s annual chemistry Olympiad. I found that the experience was one that was truly remarkable and unforgettable. The UKChO covers a plethora of interesting and thought provoking topics from the subject and in preparation for this esteemed competition, I was able to go beyond the school curriculum and expand my knowledge and passion for chemistry immensely. I believe that this was a wonderful opportunity to delve into the very foundation of the subject. While some of the topics were challenging and strenuous, my teachers were always there to support me and guide me though the obstacles.
Rio N, Bronze Award
UKCho is a challenging chemistry-competition that rigorously test individual’s skill and knowledge. This challenge gave me a terrifying experience, however, I think that determination and will-power are what is being tested in this competition (by basing in chemistry). So I will keep trying next year, in order to achieve the gold certificate.
Thanks to our Senior School chemistry teacher Ms Ellena Lin and Dr Min Tang for teaching and leading our students for the competition. We will update more good news in the near future in subject learning.
