Congratulations to all award-winning students in Waterloo Competition 2022

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Recently, two annual global competitions organized by the University of Waterloo: Chem13 and Avogadro exam came to a successful conclusion, and SCIE students once again achieved excellent results.

Congratulations to all award-winning students!

Although this competition happened to conflict with some of the CAIE international examinations, there were still 30 students who insisted on participating. Different from previous competitions, these competitions do not distinguish between gold, silver, and bronze awards, they do however publish global and national rankings.

Chem 13

Three of our students, Sunny Yang; Albert Li; James Zhu, stood out among 1,340 competitors and placed in the top 10% for the world. Benn Zhou; Hannah Wei; Jacky He; Susan Huang managed to place in the top 100 for China entries.

Avogadro

Four students, Cemol Duan; Jack He; Bobby An; Ryan Yao, stood out among 3,691 competitors and achieved the top 10% of the world. Tico Yang and King Li managed to place in the top 100 for China entries.

Among the many competitions available internationally, the Waterloo Competition held in May every year has a relatively high reputation in Canada and the United States, attracting more than 5,000 students a year to compete. More than 300 schools sign up for the competition. The Shenzhen full-score winner of the 2019 Avogadro competition, also the world’s NO.1 student, was successfully admitted to Cambridge University’s natural science major. This indirectly proves that such competitions are beneficial to applications to prestigious universities . Moreover, it is cost-effective, the computer-based test is convenient, and the score can be quickly obtained within a week.

This is a great opportunity to test your chemistry skills and knowledge by competing with other high school students from all over the world, especially for students who aspire to major in science but have a moderate level of math and physics. Because the competition requires a wide range of chemical knowledge, but the depth is general, and the calculation is relatively simple. If you have learned the relevant knowledge, you can find the correct answer after proper reasoning. Especially for applicants majoring in chemistry, being able to get a very eye-catching global top 10% can be a very intuitive proof of their academic ability in chemistry, and it is also a precious material for filling personal statement. On the one hand, there are many applicants with high A-Level scores, and the results can no longer widen the gap; on the other hand, the help of the competition to the subject itself is obvious.

Here's what some of the winners felt:

G2 Cemol “The only thing I can say is that Waterloo competition is not that hard and taking part in it could be a good chance for those who are not so familiar with Chemistry competitions. The way I prepare for competitions is generally using AS and AL materials or channels like Crash Course Chemistry on YouTube. Also practicing past papers of Avogadro on its website is helpful. ”

G1 Bobby “Interest is the best teacher, if you do like chemistry, you can consider participating in it. I have been enjoying studying chemistry since 2 years ago …I finished learning IGCSE chemistry last October, then learned the A-level syllabus and I took the Canadian Chemistry Competition (CCC). The calculation and content covered are difficult. But for the Avogadro exam, my suggestion is that studying a little of the A-Level syllabus will be enough. Most of its components are in IGCSE. For both competitions, the time is limited so we have to practice efficient methods. All in all, the love and enthusiasm of the subject is the most important.”

G2 James “After previewing the AS chemistry, it would be better to do some practice. Quality is much more important than quantity. Since the number of past papers is limited, I strongly suggest doing it under timed conditions and thoroughly going through every detail in the past papers.”

A1 Sunny “Some classmates I know, including me before, often complain about chemistry as ‘the liberal arts’, and they mostly use rote memorization when learning and reviewing concepts, which leads to difficulty in answering questions, always worrying about making up points for short-answer questions, and forgetting after learning, etc. , so that chemistry learning is always not so smooth. Although memory is essential in chemistry learning, combining understanding will always make memory more profound. Building a knowledge system can greatly help understanding. Not limited to textbooks, more extracurricular reading, often It can inspire the knowledge in the class, it is recommended to prepare at least half a year in advance, the value of its own knowledge far exceeds the role of its competition score.”

G1 Jacky”It is important to understand the deep theory instead of only memorizing in chemistry. My strategy is first to read the syllabus of each competition and emphatically review those parts. However, as a G1 student, I have not yet learned A-level. So I don’t mind the rewards. In my opinion, the foremost function of competition is learning knowledge through it and gaining experience. Competition can not only test previous learning but also boost me to learn more. The preparing process is much more important than just the competition. However, there is a Chinese proverb saying ‘When water flows, a channel is formed.’ As long as you pay time and effort into it, a good result will naturally come.”

G1 Jack “Taking part in these competitions provided me with a platform to compete with students from abroad. Taking the exams was not stressful, rather it was an enjoyable experience as some of my peers also took the exams and they found the competition to be within acceptable limits.”

The Chem 13 News Exam, designed for grade 12 students, includes topics such as: organic chemistry, equilibrium equilibria, kinetics, redox, chemical bond bonding, structure, chemical reactions, solutions, and gases.

The Avogadro Exam, designed for grade 11 students, includes topics such as: the structure of matter, chemical bond bonding, reactions, solutions, and gases.

Competition form: online; Question type: 40 multiple-choice questions; Duration: 75 minutes

Prize setting: Each participating student will receive a certificate of participation, and those with high scores will receive a limited-edition plaque.