Pakistani Boy Genius Sets A-Levels World Record

Ali Moeen Nawazish – An 18-year old wiz-kid from Rawalpindi, wanted to get into Cambridge, so he sat in seven A-Levels exams in just one year – and secured 22 A-grades, one B grade and one C! The Urdu, English and Punjabi speaking boy-wonder is due to win another place – in the Guinness Book of Records. His Cambridge dream came true four months ago when he embarked on a computer science degree course at Trinity Hall. Ali also achieved a top score in the U.S. admissions test and was accepted by most Ivy League institutions, including Harvard and Yale. Sitting seven A-levels might easily have done the trick, even though he had started to study some of the subjects only three days before the exam. But he was determined to get some good grades. So he sat another three, and three more. Then another nine! Just in case, he took a couple of AS levels along the way. When he filled out his university application forms at home in Rawalpindi there was barely enough space to list his qualifications. Ali finished all the exams within 12 months at Rawalpindi’s Roots College International. His entry was organised through accredited boards Ed-Excel and Cambridge International Examinations. Apart from core science subjects he is almost entirely self taught. He studied for up to 12 hours a day, using energy drinks to help concentrate. He said: ‘Then one day it all clicked. I needed to prove to myself, and to others, that I could do it.’ At O-level – still an internationally recognised qualification – he got nine A grades.