This competition was held at Bangor University for many students in sixth form and colleges to compete. Llandrillo college hadn't competed in a few years so it was a pleasure to be chosen. I was very surprised that I was chosen because I have some very talented classmates in my chemistry class. There was a procedure taken to be chosen and as a class, we were assessed on our written practicals and we were also observed whilst doing the practicals. You had to be quick but careful and be able to work well as a group. I think my group worked very well together because we all get along in all our other classes and are very good friends.
The competition was a great way to experience what laboratories looked like in universities and the equipment they used. We were given a method and answer sheet to work on and the only help we received was a quick talk with our chemistry teacher, Nick, about the scenario given, which was about water contamination. It was very exciting to be just given a method and left to carry out the experiment with new equipment and environment. We saved a lot of time with giving out small jobs for everyone to do so that nobody would be waiting and we would always check each others work whilst communicating. It started off well but we did ran into some problems. One of the equipment used to measure light gave us two readings for the same set of samples we made and I think this was where things went wrong. We needed those result to carry on with our calculations but since we were unsure on which readings to take, we had a 50 50 chance but we did come up with an answer in the end.
.jpg)
After the experiment was done, we had lunch and headed to the lecture theater to hear the announcement of the winners. Unfortunately, we didn't win but it was okay because we had a good time and learnt some new things. Also we had a small show about different chemicals and how they reacted. The most exciting one was when the balloon full of helium was lit up and gave a very loud bang! And anyway we got some glow sticks and a goody bag to take home so everyone was happy.
It would be amazing to compete again next year but I think we need to let the new IB1s next year to have a go, or to even try other competitions. You learn new things and you can put it in your CV that you've been taking part in these kinds of things in your free time. It shows interest and we can find out if we want to carry on in that sort of field. All in all, it was a great day and a great experience. Also, we had lots of photos taken but only three made it!
