A student with a higher IQ than Stephen Hawking has achieved a staggering 23 A-levels with grades of A and A*.
Mahnoor Cheema, 18, has an IQ of 161 – one point higher than the famous theoretical physicist.
The hardworking student achieved her lifelong ambition by being offered a place to study medicine at the University of Oxford, thanks to her outstanding academic performance.
The journey, however, wasn’t easy for the London-based teenager, who faced scrutiny regarding her attendance and was at risk of not being allowed to take her exams due to absences required for testing purposes.
Mahnoor, who attended Henrietta Barnett School (HBS) in north-west London, was challenged by staff over her desire to study 31 A Levels.
Most pupils across England and Wales achieve just three A Level and the high-performing school objected to the star-pupil’s plans.
As a compromise she and the school agreed to just 23 – more than seven times the average.
And it was a mammoth task for Mahnoor who secured four A* in her first two months at the sixth form.
Mahnoor Cheema (pictured) pursued 23 A Levels at Henrietta Barnett School (HBS) in north-west London, securing top grades of A and A*, leading to an unconditional offer to study medicine at Oxford.
The talented teen has an IQ of 161 – one point higher than famous theoretical physicist, Stephen hawking (pictured in 2017)
Henrietta Barnett School (pictured) is one of the best state schools for getting pupils into the prestigious universities of Oxford and Cambridge
The teen sat exams in environmental management, marine science, English language and thinking skills.
Mahnoor expressed no regrets about her decision to take on multiple exams, feeling that limiting herself to three A-levels would leave her ‘bored and understimulated,’ and she views burnout as a ‘choice.’
‘I have loads of interests, that’s why I wanted to do so many subjects – it doesn’t take that much time or effort.
‘I think if you have the capability to do more, it should be explored – I would be bored doing only three subjects over two years.
‘Burnout is a big thing for some people but I’m just motivated and driven and it doesn’t affect me.
She added: ‘I see burnout as a choice – it’s not burnout if you enjoy what you’re doing.’
Alongside completing 10 GCSEs at Langley Grammar School, Mahnoor independently studied 24 GCSEs, achieving 33 grades of nine and one eight, equivalent to 33 A*s and one A/A*, with the support of her mother, Tayyaba, who facilitated her home studies.
On the following Tuesday, she discovered her success in Law and History, earning A*s, and on A Level results day later that week, she learned of additional achievements in French and Physics.
Mahnoor said she was sure she would ace her exams and get in to Oxford and said if she hadn’t managed it this year she would have simply re-applied
In total the teen studied psychology, sociology, law, business, accounting, economics, Latin, German, computer science, film studies, politics, classical civilisation, maths, further maths, geography and media studies, physics, chemistry, biology, English literature, film studies, French, statistics and accounting.
The grammar school pupil, from Slough, Berkshire, had already received an unconditional offer from Exeter College, Oxford, in January having achieved the science A-levels needed earlier in the year.
And while it may have been a difficult slog, the talented pupil was sure she would achieve her dream.
‘I was absolutely set on it [studying medicine at Oxford]. There was not a world in my mind where I would not get in. That is not cocky but that was my determined life path. If I did not get in I would have reapplied,’ she told The Telegraph.
Henrietta Barnett School is one of the best state schools for getting pupils into the prestigious universities of Oxford and Cambridge and according to recent data, it has an average of 34 offers per year meaning pupils have a 43 per cent success rate.
Mahnoor was born in the UK before moving to Lahore, Pakistan with her parents in 2010.
Her family then moved back to the UK in 2016 and her mother Tayyaba Cheema, 43, a full-time mum with a masters in Economics, said Mahnoor was ‘quite different’ from a young age.
By the age of six, Mahnoor had read all seven Harry Potter books, and by 11 had learned the entire Oxford English Dictionary ‘by heart’.
Mahnoor was one of thousands of pupils across the UK who excitedly open their results and was one of just 28.3 per cent of pupils got A/A* this year, compared with 27.8 per cent last year, and 25.4 per cent in 2019.
And she is not the only success story.
At Brampton Manor in East Ham, more than half of all pupils achieved a full set of A* or A grades, with dozens of pupils securing places at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL.
The school is the world’s top school for Oxbridge entry, having sent 85 pupils to the prestigious universities in 2022, up from 57 in 2021 and 53 in 2020.
