Meet the Yorkshire chemistry student who is the best in the country

Introducing Betsie Scott Hall, the talented youngster whose fascination in chemistry was ignited in Year 7 when she first learned about the periodic table, who has since gone on to become the number one ranked student for the national Best Choice Chemistry programme.

On discovering she was the highest-achieving student nationally Betsie, a Year 13 student at Richmond Sixth Form College, said: "I was quite surprised.

"I have been using it quite a lot over lockdown as a more relaxed method of revising previous topics, but I never really took notice of the leader board as I didn’t know my own identification code."

Betsie, 17, who is studying A-levels in chemistry, physics, mathematics and classics, at the community comprehensive on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, added: “I suppose I didn’t realise just how much I had completed of it until then."

The programme, used by many independent and state schools across the UK, was developed by Dr Sheila Woodgate of Auckland University in New Zealand. It is used to consolidate and improve knowledge in topics covered in class and to prepare for subjects that are still to be covered.

Kevin Sandell, Betsie’s chemistry teacher, said: “Betsie is and always has been very enthusiastic about science and is very focused on understanding the challenges of chemistry, both in school and in her free time.

"She will excel with the challenges and puzzles she is set in higher education and we could very well hear of great things from her."

The Richmond local said her interest in chemistry started in primary school, with her interest for the subject "catalysed" in Year 7 when she first learned about the periodic table.

She said: "Chemistry appeals to me because it’s such a limitless subject, and has the ability to evolve with even the most molecular of discoveries.

"I find it really interesting just how much the subject has developed from its origins in alchemy, and what really fascinates me is the question of the permanence of some of our theories in chemistry. When will new technology overthrow what we thought we knew?"

Betsie, who is currently working on an Extended Project qualification on the extent of responsibility of the workers on the Manhattan project for making the atom bomb, said her favourite element of the subject is organic chemistry and finds drawing the diagrams of the molecules and mechanisms "rather satisfying."

For the future she is hoping to study chemistry at university with aim of becoming an experimental chemist. More specifically, she hopes to work towards solving the problem of renewable energy.

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