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Boy gets highest score on Mensa test, beating Stephen Hawking

“Even if you are talented, you have to be the hardest worker.”

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Yusuf Shah, 11, has been accepted into Mensa after scoring the highest possible score for a boy of his age - 162. (Yorkshire Post via SWNS)

By Geha Pandey via SWNS

A schoolboy has scored the highest possible score in a Mensa test - beating Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Yusuf Shah, 11, registered a 162 - the maximum for under-18s and in the top percent of all people.

Hawking is said to have scored 160 and Einstein, who although never officially took the test, is believed to have achieved the same.

Yusuf, from Leeds, UK, said his friends at school are always telling him he’s very smart and he wanted to test himself by taking the IQ quiz.

He celebrated the achievement with a meal with his parents and brothers.

Yusuf Shah with brothers Zaki and Khalid, mother Sana and father Irfan. (Yorkshire Post via SWNS)

Yusuf said: “Everyone at school thinks I am very smart and I have always wanted to know if I was in the top two percent of the people who take the test.

"It feels special to have a certificate for me and about me.”

Yusuf hopes to study mathematics at Cambridge or Oxford University and said he loves doing anything that stimulates his brain.

When he is not studying, the maths whiz enjoys sudokus and solving Rubik’s cubes.

He started playing with Rubik’s cubes in January after he saw one at his friend’s house and by the end of the month, was able to solve cubes of all difficulties with ease.

His delighted mom Sana said: “I was so proud. He is the first person to take the Mensa test in the family.

“I was actually a little concerned too.

“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 lightheartedly.

“Even if you are talented, you have to be the hardest worker.”

Dad Irfan added: “It is a difficult test to prepare for.

“We just did what we were already doing – nothing specific for the IQ test.”

Younger brother Khalid, aged eight, is also hoping to take the Mensa test when he’s older.

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