Six Suffolk students were among the 30 competing for the state title in the Chemical Educational Foundation’s You Be The Chemist Challenge at BASF’s Suffolk location on Saturday.

The 30 students spent two nerve-wracking hours answering multiple-choice questions about chemical reactions, formulas, oxidation states, the periodic table, neutrons and protons and more before 26 of them were eliminated. Four went on to a semifinal round, and two advanced to a final round.

None of the home-team students advanced past the elimination of 26. In the end, the title went to Shreyas Arcot of Shady Grove Elementary School in Glen Allen. He will go on to compete in the national competition in Philadelphia.

However, the Suffolk students said they were pleased to be competing and learning more.

“I got to learn a lot about chemistry,” said Zoe Cacanindin, a fifth-grade student at Northern Shores Elementary School.

The six Suffolk students were the winners in a local competition, also held at BASF’s Suffolk location, last month to advance them to the state round. BASF is a major sponsor of the competition.

“The first ones were easy, and then they got harder,” King’s Fork Middle School eighth-grader Noah Hill said.

Charles Wall-Davis, a fifth-grader at Northern Shores Elementary School, said his favorite part was being able to use the periodic table.

“It feels exciting and nervous, especially when they’re putting 26 people out at once,” he said shortly before eliminations were announced.

Joel Ramos, an eighth-grader at John Yeates Middle School, said he was pleased with his performance in the competition.

“I didn’t think I’d get this far,” he said.

Forest Glen Middle School seventh-grader Seth Moore’s favorite part was that he would “get to go to Philadelphia if I win state,” he said before the eliminations were announced.

Forest Glen Middle School sixth-grader Logan Harris said the questions were “pretty hard,” especially in the fifth round, the last round before the 26 eliminations.

The first runner-up was Rubaiya Emran, of the Edlin School in Reston. Justin Zhang, of Blue Ridge Middle School in Purcellville, and Vance Kreider, of Nysmith School in Herndon, rounded out the top four.