Four Romanian students won gold, silver and bronze at the International Chemistry Olympiad, which took place end July in Washington DC, US. This is a better performance than last year, when Romania got three silver medals and a bronze.

Vlad Băcăuanu, a final year student at the IT High School in Bucharest, won the gold medal, after getting silver at the Chemistry Olympiad last year. Silver went to Maria Andreea Filip and Alexandru Paraschiv, both from Bucharest, and bronze to George Silvian Baltac from Calarasi.

This year's Chemistry Olympiad gathered 282 competitors from 78 countries. The competition consisted of two exams - a theoretical examination and a practical examination. Both last up to 5 hours, and are held on separate days. All participants are ranked based on their individual scores and no official team scores are given. Gold medals are awarded to the top 12 percent of students, silver medals are awarded to the next 22 percent of students, and bronze medals are awarded to the next 32 percent of students.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Education Ministry)