AD Schools' Analyst Competition

The Schools' Analyst Competition is a national competition run by the RSC's Analytical Division for first year sixth form students studying AS level Chemistry or equivalent.  The Analytical Division’s Regions hold heats, generally during March and April, to select a team or teams, to go through to the National Final. Each team comprises three students. 

The first competition was organised in London by then Polytechnic of North London (now the London Metropolitan University) in 1982. In 1985, a similar competition was held in the Manchester area and then, when these proved to be so popular, other regional events were also held. These were brought together for the first time in 1990 in a National Final in London for the winners of all the regional competitions.

The Final of the Competition sees up to 16 teams competing for a Challenge Shield. First, Second and Third placed teams in the National Final receive prizes of £750, £500 and £250 respectively with the other finalists receiving £100 each. There are also prizes for the individual team members of the first and runner-up teams.

Teams are required to undertake various practical analytical determinations based on problems relevant to industrial or social needs. These are judged for skill, understanding and accuracy and are intended to promote team work and safety in the laboratory. Each competition aims to provide some tasks which are relatively familiar to the students such as titrations and others which are likely to be unfamiliar, such as chromatographic separations or atomic and molecular spectroscopy. In this way, it is hoped that the competitors will learn new skills, as well as demonstrate their existing knowledge, skills and aptitude for science.

Over the years, the RSC has had a very generous sponsorship for the Regional and National competitions from industry and public utilities and in particular the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund. 

The 2007 final was held on the 18/19 June at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich. The event was won by Birkdale School from Sheffield, with Manchester High School for Girls second and Blundells School from Tiverton in Devon, third.

The final in 2008 will be held at the University of Wales, Bangor, on the 23/24 June.

The Regions within the UK are: