Mensa IQ Test Result
In November 2022 an eleven-year-old from Leeds briefly became one of the most talked-about minds in Britain. Yusuf Shah, then a Year 6 pupil at Wigton Moor Primary School, sat the Mensa IQ test and returned a score of 162 — the highest result a child can achieve — placing him firmly inside the top two per cent of the population. The number drew headlines because it edges past the figures of around 160 commonly estimated for Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →Motivation for Testing
Characteristically, he came to the test almost by accident. While preparing for grammar-school admissions exams, Shah noticed that the verbal and non-verbal reasoning he was practising also appeared on the IQ test, and curiosity did the rest. 'Everyone at school thinks I am very smart,' he said, 'and I have always wanted to know if I was in the top two per cent of the people who take the test.'
Early Mathematical Aptitude
His gift had shown itself far earlier. At seven he stumbled on a mathematical pattern he could not explain; his family wrote to a University of Cambridge mathematics professor, who supplied the reasoning, and the principle has been known in the Shah household ever since as 'Yusuf's Square Rule'. Away from numbers he is drawn to anything that stretches the mind — sudoku and the Rubik's cube above all. He first picked up a cube in January 2022 after seeing one at a friend's house; within the month he could solve cubes of every difficulty.
Academic Aspirations
Shah hopes one day to study mathematics at Cambridge or Oxford. For now he balances that ambition against the more immediate business of secondary-school entrance exams and creative writing — and, on the day his score was confirmed, a celebratory family meal out with his parents and two younger brothers.
Achievements
- Scored 162 on the Mensa IQ test at age 11 (2022) — the highest possible score for a child
- Placed in the top two per cent of the population
- Discovered 'Yusuf's Square Rule' at age seven
- Mastered the Rubik's cube across all difficulty levels within a month
