A teenager who is studying for 28 A-levels has an IQ smarter than English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author, Stephen Hawking.
Mahnoor Cheema, a sixth-form student, already has 34 GCSEs in the bag, but still manages to “have a social life” with multiple extracurricular activities also on her radar.
The 17-year-old has a full schedule managing her coursework and exam preparation, with four of her subjects being taken at school, the rest she is studying for at home with mentor, mum Tayyaba, reported BBC.
Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Mahnoor said it was her mother Tayyaba Cheema who instilled in her a “deep passion” for learning and books.
She is enrolled in four A-level courses at Henrietta Barnett School in London and continues her additional studies independently at home.
Mahnoor’s extra A-level subjects include two mathematics courses, three languages, three history variations, economics, business, computer science, and film studies.
She said: “My parents have always made sure I am not so academically focussed that that I forget to have a social life and extra curriculars. So I play the piano, I do chess, I do swimming, I go out with my friends.
“I just didn’t want to narrow down my choices, and I think if I had done four A-levels I would have been very dissatisfied with the academic challenge provided to me, so I just decided to go that extra mile.”
Mahnoor, who returned to the UK from Pakistan at the age of nine, has already accomplished four A-levels since commencing her studies at sixth form in September.
She said: “My study co-partner is my mum and her policy has always been that we take one subject at a time and we tackle that in however long it takes, then we move on to the next one.”
Mahnoor, who is a member of Mensa, will be focussed on gaining a place at Oxford University or Imperial College. She is hoping to train as a doctor and focus her studies on the brain.
She explained: “I was always fascinated by my own brain, by how the brain makes people tick, emotions, memory processing. So neuroscience and neurosurgery is an interest of mine.
“I think I just have a good memory, it’s my biggest tool, I tend to read and process things quite quickly and I’m good at scanning text.
“My mum invested in a lot of brain building activities when I was young, like arithmetic, chess, classical music. Mum really is a role model and inspiration for me.”
