ScienceArena benchmark: LLMs score 64.5% on chemistry tasks needing structural diagrams vs 74.1% without

geoffwolfe · x · 2026-09-27

Researchers from Qiyuan Tech, Peking University, Tsinghua and HKU introduced ScienceArena, a benchmark built on 13 years of recent science olympiad contests to counter benchmark saturation and data contamination. Headline finding: chemistry turns requiring structural diagrams earn only 64.5% of available points versus 74.1% without them — models can narrate plausible reaction stories but falter when they must commit to a precise molecular structure. The authors argue evals should grade actual structural commitment, not fluent scientific prose.

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