A schoolgirl who found out she has a higher IQ than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking has been accepted into Mensa.
Anwita Patil was 11 when she took the test with Mensa, the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world.
The Manchester schoolgirl exceeded expectations to get the highest possible score in her age category of 162.
Both Mr Einsten and Mr Hawking were believed to have IQs of around 160.
Anwita's mum Anu is a mathematician with a PhD in the subject and her father is an NHS consultant.
Her mum first noticed her daughter's natural intelligence when Anwita would beat her to the answers to maths problems.
Dad Jay Patil told Manchester Evening News: "She got the highest possible score of 162 in her age category."
He added: "Right from primary school onwards, Anwita would be coming up with a few ways of solving problems that my wife doesn’t know. We thought there had to be something else going on here."
Anu said: "We used to do maths challenges together, but sometimes I didn’t get the answer and (Anwita) would. She thinks completely differently, and this is for things that aren’t taught in school."
Anu says she has been following the Mensa society for years.
It's only open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ intelligence test, with an acceptance score of 140 to secure membership.
Anwita's parents decided to take her in for a test, which comes in two parts.
The first tests linguistic ability and lateral thinking, which saw Anwita get 162, and the second tests visual and spatial awareness, in which she achieved 140.
Jay said: "It’s a test of logical problems, there’s nothing to prepare for. It’s testing your inherent capability and can be done on all age groups including children
The Year 7 pupil at Withington Girls’ School took the Mensa test in January and discovered that she received a score of 162.
Her parents said: "When we found out, I thought ‘you must be joking?’
“We expected her to get the membership but were absolutely astounded when we received the email confirmation of her maximum test score.
"Anwita is over the moon about this and made us extremely proud of her achievements.
“We are all very grateful to her teachers and all other staff members at Withington Girls’ School in Manchester and especially, Mrs Aileen Hoare from North West Gifted and Talented organisation who has helped Anwita in recognising her potential and building her confidence to take up exams like Junior Maths Challenge and a few others successfully.”
Anwita celebrated her 12th birthday dates after receiving her results and celebrated her achievement with a get-together with close family and friends.
When not solving maths problems, Anwita is learning to play the piano as well as pursuing her love for dancing by learning Bharatanatyam - a classical Indian dance form.
“Anwita is quite fascinated by the practical applications of maths in various subjects be it science, engineering or computers.
"Anwita hopes that she will help solve societal challenges using her skills and experience when she grows up,” her dad added.
