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AFRICANGLOBE – An 11-year- old boy has become the latest member of an elite society for the super intelligent after achieving the highest possible score on an IQ test.
Ramarni Wilfred, of Romford, Essex, was invited to join the exclusive Mensa club after scoring an IQ of 162 – higher than Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates and Albert Einstein.
His mother Anthea, 37, of St Lucian heritage, said she first noticed her son’s brilliance when he was just a toddler. “He was quite young when he started talking clearly and as soon as he started walking he would go looking for books,” she recalled.
The beaming mother said Ramarni would watch the TV with the subtitles on because “he wanted to check the words that he did not understand.”
“Soon he was telling me the Greek and Latin origins of words,” Anthea said.
By the time Ramarni started reception, he had already begun to master reading, spelling and writing, and his teachers considered moving him straight into Year 1. But his mother thought it would be best for him, socially, to remain with his peers.
Soon the intellectual was enrolled in the school’s programme for the gifted and had been recruited by The Brilliant Club, a non-profit organisation that works with outstanding students from non-selective state schools.
As part of the programme he was tutored by a PhD lecturer and was able to write a paper on fairness that earned him a 2:1 and a mock graduation at Oxford University.
His former teacher and French tutor, Valerie Mulae, described him as “remarkable.” “He just stood out. He shone,” she said.
Anthea said she tries to support her son as much as possible by engaging him in extra activities like museum visits and educational nature walks.
“But now I realise that he needs a lot more stimulation and Mensa has a range of activities that could help him grow,” she said.
Ramarni’s dream is to study at Oxford and to become an astrophysicist.
He said: “I love all things science and have always wanted to grow up to have a career in this field. I also love maths and history. Now I want to combine all my favourite subjects and hopefully study physics at Oxford.”
Mensa’s chief executive, John Stevenage, said: “Anyone who registers an IQ score which places them in the top two per cent of the population has done remarkably well. The score Ramarni achieved therefore is very good and shows he has great potential.
“Joining the Mensa community will allow Ramarni to network with other extraordinary people and give access to the 100 special interest groups which provide a great opportunity to learn new things.”
Ramarni said: “This is a great opportunity and I think it can open a lot of doors for me. But I also believe that having a high IQ isn’t that important unless you do something really special with it.”
By: Natricia Duncan
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