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Ripon pupils achieve rare gold in prestigious chemistry competition

Thursday, 17 April 2025 10:06

Ripon Grammar pupils Harshini Rajasekaran and Herbie Ash.

Two budding Ripon Grammar School chemists have achieved a rare gold award in a prestigious science competition.

The victory puts Herbie Ash and Harshini Rajasekaran in the top 8.2% of students nationally who scored 29 marks or above in the UK round of the International Chemistry Olympiad.

The gruelling challenge consisted of a two-hour written paper full of chemical conundrums, well beyond A-level standards.

Up against 16,216 entrants from 1,502 schools throughout the UK, Herbie and Harshini answered questions on topics including radioactive decay, epoxides, the iodination of ketones, carbon nanotubes and Raman spectroscopy.

One teacher commented that the test, organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry, makes A-level question papers seem easy in comparison:

“It gives students confidence that they can attempt any A-level chemistry question and do very well.”

One of the challenging, but intriguing, questions began:

‘While Charlie XCX’s Brat summer of 2024 may be over, this summer will be Paddington’s BrAt Bear Summer. Much like Brat summer, the compound BrAt doesn’t last forever. This is due to the radioactive decay of astatine.’

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