Chemistry Olympiad introductory questions

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Get a taste of the Chemistry Olympiad with these accessible, Olympiad-style questions for 15 years and above, featuring questions, an explainer and mark scheme.

Designed as a first step towards the Olympiad, these introductory questions are ideal for students who may be interested in taking part in the competition, but feel less confident or familiar with the topics that tend to come up. The questions feature less advanced content, but encourage students to apply their knowledge in new contexts, honing their problem-solving skills and rewarding perseverance and curiosity – just like a real Olympiad paper.

Topics covered include:

The composition of air
Reactions of magnesium with oxygen and nitrogen
Bromine and its isotopes
The transformation of propanone into ethyl ethanoate

The resource includes two multi-part questions, as well as an explainer and mark scheme to help students check their answers and working.

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