11-year-old British Muslim boy Yusuf Shah has scored 162 points on the IQ tests outscoring geniuses Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Shah has landed himself in the percentile of 1% population for scoring maximum points in the list of under-18s. The boy studies in class six at Wigton Moor Primary School in Leeds. Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Shah said, “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.”
Yusuf’s father Irfan told the outlet, “It is a difficult test to prepare for. We just did what we were already doing – nothing specific for the IQ test.” He also added that it is important for his son to keep working hard. “I still tell him that ‘your dad is still smarter than you,” said Irfan, “We take it all lightheartedly. Even if you are talented, you have to be the hardest worker.”
Yusuf Shah, an 11 years old boy from Leeds broke the IQ test score of Einstein and Steven Hawking by scoring 162 at Mensa IQ test. pic.twitter.com/Cuw49yqzXl
— Zulfiqar Ahmed 🤔 (@ZulfiqarAhmed69) November 14, 2022
The family says Yusuf would prepare for Mensa alongside his preparation for the high school application. The young boy plans to study Mathematics at Cambridge University. Before that, he will work on his creative writing skills for the secondary school entrance examinations, said the outlet.
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“I was so proud. He is the first person to take the Mensa test in the family,” his mother Sana said.
She added: “I was 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 center. But he did brilliantly.
“I still tell him that, ‘your dad is still smarter than you.’ We take it all light-heartedly,” Sana said.
It is reported that Yusuf took thirteen minutes to solve 15 questions in a section when only three minutes were given. He misheard the time. Despite this, Yusuf Shah did well in the test and score the highest points registering himself in the top one percent.
To celebrate his achievement, the family had dinner at the restaurant.