Leeds: Boy, 11, beats Hawking’s Mensa score

An 11-year-old boy from Leeds has scored the highest possible Mensa test score for under 18s. Yusuf achieved 162 on the test, which is more than the late physicist and author Prof Stephen Hawking, who is believed to have achieved 160. He said he had taken the quiz after friends at school had commented on how “smart” he was. Yusuf celebrated with a meal out with his family, saying: “It feels special to have a certificate.” “Everyone at school thinks I am very smart and I have always wanted to know if I was in the top 2% of the people who take the test.” He said he hoped to go on to eventually study mathematics at Cambridge or Oxford. When not studying he enjoys Sudoku and solving Rubik’s cubes.

His mum Sana said the family were very proud of him. “He is the first person to take the Mensa test in the family,” she said. “I was actually a little concerned too – he has always gone into a hall full of kids to take tests. “We thought he might be intimidated by the adults at the centre, but he did brilliantly.” She said the family took it light-heartedly and she warned her son his father was “still smarter”.

Yusuf’s father Irfan said it had been a difficult test for his son to prepare for. “We just did what we were already doing – nothing specific for the IQ test,” he said. Yusuf’s success could be a family affair as his eight-year-old brother also hopes to take the Mensa test when he is older.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-63629222