Two scores, one headline
Anwita Jayaprakash Patil took Mensa's supervised tests in 2023, shortly before turning twelve, and scored 162 on the verbal paper. That is the maximum mark available to a candidate under eighteen. On the visual-spatial paper she scored 140. Versions of the story ran in the Manchester Evening News, in Teesside Live and WalesOnline, and in the Daily Mirror.
The second number is the more revealing one, and it is the one the headlines dropped. A ceiling on one paper and a strong but sub-ceiling result on another is the ordinary shape of a real cognitive profile: people are not uniformly fast at everything. Reporting only the maximum flattens a person into a single digit string.
The family and the school
The reports place her at Withington Girls' School in Manchester and name her parents: her father, Jay Patil, an NHS consultant, and her mother, Anu Patil, who holds a doctorate in mathematics. The quoted framing in the Manchester Evening News version comes from her mother — the story is told, in part, as a parent's account of a daughter's result.
One human detail survives the syndication intact: Anwita is described as a Harry Potter enthusiast. It is a small thing, and it is the only glimpse the coverage offers of a child who is otherwise described entirely in numbers.
The Einstein line, again
All three headline versions run some form of "higher IQ than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking". The line is standard in British coverage of ceiling scores and carries no evidence: none of the reports states that either physicist sat an intelligence test, and no score for either man is cited anywhere in the material.
There is a second caution in the sourcing. The three articles are near-identical versions of the same story, distributed across a network of regional and national titles and read here through the aggregator inkl. A reader counting bylines would see three; a reader counting reporting efforts should see one.
What is documented — and what is not
Documented: a score of 162 on Mensa's verbal paper and 140 on the visual-spatial paper, taken days before her twelfth birthday in 2023; her school; her parents' names and professions; and the fact that the result qualified her for Mensa membership.
Not documented: her exact date of birth; the specific dates of the tests; whether she has taken further tests or entered competitions since; and anything at all about her schooling after 2023. On a child of twelve, the absence of follow-up coverage is the normal and preferable state of affairs.
What the number is worth
A Mensa paper is an entrance test. It sorts candidates against a standardisation sample and admits those above a threshold, which is why a maximum score means the paper ran out rather than the candidate did. For an eleven-year-old, reaching that ceiling on the verbal test means reading, vocabulary and reasoning under time pressure that few adults match.
It settles less than the headlines imply. It does not measure originality, stamina, or the specific obsessive interest that tends to precede serious work in any field. The useful reading of Anwita Patil's 2023 result is that a Manchester schoolgirl demonstrated an unusual verbal facility on a timed paper, that her second score was solid rather than spectacular, and that everything beyond those two facts is press decoration.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Scored 162 on Mensa's verbal paper and 140 on the visual-spatial paper in 2023, days before turning twelve.
- Pupil at Withington Girls' School, Manchester.
- Parents named as Jay Patil, an NHS consultant, and Anu Patil, who holds a mathematics doctorate.
- 162 is reported as the maximum available to under-18 candidates.
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- The Einstein and Hawking comparison is a headline device with no cited evidence behind it.
- Her date of birth and the exact test dates are not published.
- All three articles are versions of one story, read here through the inkl aggregator.
- Nothing is documented about her after 2023.
Questions people ask about Anwita Patil
What is Anwita Patil's IQ?
She scored 162 on Mensa's verbal paper, the maximum for an under-18 candidate, and 140 on the visual-spatial paper. No single overall IQ figure is reported.
How old was Anwita Patil when she took the test?
Eleven. The reports state she sat the tests days before her twelfth birthday, in 2023.
Which school does Anwita Patil attend?
Withington Girls' School in Manchester, according to the 2023 reports.
Who are Anwita Patil's parents?
Her father, Jay Patil, is described as an NHS consultant and her mother, Anu Patil, as holding a doctorate in mathematics.
Did she score higher than Einstein?
No source supports that. The comparison appears only in headlines; no test score for Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking is cited in any of the reports.
Is Anwita Patil on Wikipedia?
No. There is no Wikipedia article about her; the record rests on 2023 news reporting.
Where is Anwita Patil now?
No source used here covers her after 2023, and this page makes no claim about her current schooling or activities.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Anwita’s story?
What did Anwita Patil score on Mensa's verbal paper?
What was her score on the visual-spatial paper?
Where does she go to school?
Sources
- 'My daughter's 12 and has an IQ higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking' — Manchester Evening News (via inkl), 2023
- Schoolgirl, 12, records higher IQ score than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking — Teesside Live / WalesOnline (via inkl), 2023
- Girl, 12, with higher IQ than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking accepted into Mensa — Daily Mirror (via inkl), 2023
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
Discover More Child Prodigies
50+ stories of contemporary young geniuses changing chess, music, science, and art.
Explore All Prodigies →
