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Chemistry competitions can help students build their confidence and skills in chemistry and critical thinking. The Chemical Institute of Canada hopes that chemistry teachers across Canada will support their students in enrolling in the Canadian Chemistry Contest (CCC) and/or the Canadian Chemistry Olympiad contest (CCO). 

From our combined experiences as coordinators and instructors of large first-year chemistry classes, we have noticed that students need not only to master subject-specific concepts and problem-solving skills to be successful, but also to think deeply about effective study habits, time management and test-writing skills. Indeed, during individual meetings with students after each initial term test, we spend more time talking about these ideas rather than chemistry concepts.

If you have a student who really likes chemistry and excels in your class, you may want to know more about the kind of questions asked in our national competition. This article presents four examples of questions that were given in part A (multiple choice) and part B (essay-type) of the 2012 Canadian Chemistry Contest (CCC).