A schoolboy from Devon has reportedly joined Mensa after scoring higher on an IQ test than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Rory Bidwell, 12, recently achieved the maximum possible score for his age group of 162 on the Cattell III B test, the North Devon Gazette reported, just above the 160 purportedly assigned to physicists Einstein and Hawking.
Rory has as a result been invited to join Mensa, which describes itself as the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test.
Rory sat the two-hour test in Exeter and according to reports did no preparation for the assessment.
His mother, Abi Bidwell, told the North Devon Gazette he was so relaxed about the assessment he “took a leisurely stroll to the toilet during one section”.
Bidwell said her son was “blessed with an incredible brain, capable of working things out and memorising information”.
Rory, a year 7 student at Great Torrington school, is said to have completed 100-piece puzzles at the age of two and mastered year 7 level algebra in year 2.
During the first eight weeks of the coronavirus lockdown of 2020, he read all seven Harry Potter books – more than 1 million words.
He is also said to be a big sports fan, representing his school in cross-country, football and rugby, earning accolades such as player of the year for Torridgeside football team. He also competes for Torridgeside swimming club.
According to Mensa, IQ is a type of standard score that indicates how far above or below their peer group an individual stands in mental ability.
Mensa admits individuals who score in the top 2% of the population, and they accept different tests, as long as they have been standardised and normed, and approved by professional psychologists’ associations.
