The 11-year-old boy who beat Hawking and Einstein's IQ score on Mensa test
By Naomi White|
He may only be 11, but Yusuf Shah has just been told he has a higher IQ than both Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein.
The year six student from the UK recently sat a Mensa IQ test - out of 'curiosity', after applying for high school admissions tests.
Yusuf, who likes sudokus, Rubik's Cubes and is passionate about mathematics, told his local paper the Yorkshire Evening Post that after people at school said they thought he was 'very smart', ?he wanted to see where he ranked amongst people who had taken the test.
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But even he was surprised, when after answering 15 questions in three minutes, he received the highest possible score of 162.
Two points above Hawking and Einstein, who are both understood to have had IQs of 160.?
For his parents, it was a huge validation for their son, who they'd always known was bright.
"I was so proud. He is the first person to take the Mensa test in the family. 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 [where he took the test]. But he did brilliantly," his mum Sana told the YEP.
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But his dad Irfan said they were ensuring they kept him grounded. "I still tell him that 'your dad is still smarter than you'," he said. "We take it all lightheartedly. Even if you are talented, you have to be the hardest worker."
?The family, which also includes Yusuf's brothers Zaki and Khalid, celebrated the news with a special trip to their local Nando's. And the certificate he was sent now takes pride of place in their home.
"It feels special to have a certificate for me and about me. I also never thought I would be on the news," he said.
Yusuf, who also loves learning about geography and flags, hopes to one day study mathematics.
In the past, he has been invited to study mathematics with the year above but his parents said: "For his social development, we want him to be with his year group".
