Komashisha
A 12-year-old from Colchester has aced the Mensa IQ Test, achieving a perfect score of 162 – the maximum for under 18s.
Lydia Sebastian’s touch of genius means she has joined the ranks of physicist Stephen Hawking, who reportedly achieved around 160, although he has never officially revealed his score.
She took the test over her holidays after pestering her parents the whole year to let her attempt the exams.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said:
“At first, I was really nervous but once I started, it was much easier than I expected it to be and then I relaxed.
“I gave it my best shot really,” Lydia said, who is to start her second year at Colchester County high school for girls.”
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According to Sebastian’s dad, Lydia began talking at six months.
“At the time I was a trainee doctor and my wife was studying chemistry and I was away at the weekends,” he told The Guardian.
“She used to say a few words to me on the phone.”
Currently British Mensa has around 21,000 members across the British Isles. There are more than 110,000 world-wide.
The youngest member is two-and-a-half years old, while the oldest is 103.
