Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year | Hacker News Reader

Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year

independent.co.uk

14 pointsparenthesis13 comments

I'm deeply impressed and I give him a lot of credit for pulling that off, but does anyone ever know what happens to these kids? I feel like there's a story every year or two about someone who pulls off some kind of bizarrely difficult academic feat like this (massive numbers of A's, graduating early, etc.), but then they're never heard from again and don't seem to show up later in either the high echelons of academia or industry.

I know one. She teaches children to play violin. Perhaps their happiness does not lie in the high echelons of academia or industry. Perhaps if climbing ladders does not pose a challenge, then getting to the top of the tallest is no sort of goal.

If a child prodigy becomes famous in later life, it's probably not because they were a child prodigy but for some other reason.

One example I can think of would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wolfram but I'm fairly certain there are many others.

Mozart

I know three. Two started maths at uni at a young age and got bored. One is now a party animal/heavy drinker and another pushes trolleys at the supermarket. The other is a doctor because his parents pushed him into it.

If you look at the other end, though, those at the top of many fields did have remarkable experiences growing up. Being academically precocious is no marker of predestiny, but for some, it can mean one's ducks are in a line. It can help.

I wrote an essay on this: http://daniellefong.com/2008/05/15/advice-to-the-bright-and-...

I know one. There was a math major at my school who graduated last year at the age of 18 after three years of college. Right now he is in med school. I can't say how far he will go, but I think he's doing fine right now. I talked to him every now and then while he was still in school, and he seemed pretty balanced.So while I'm sure it was hard work, he looked to be happy while he was in college.

"I'm planning to do CompSci for three years and then train in medicine for four."

This somewhat surprises me. If you ignore the crazy number of A levels his grade in Chemistry puts him on shaky ground for Medicine.

http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses/medici...

"For applicants taking three or more science/mathematics subjects at A level the agreed minimum offer* is three A grades in three science/mathematics A levels."

"All Colleges strongly prefer applicants to have Chemistry A level."

Maybe if he didn't spend that much time on all the other 23, he would have aced Chemistry. :) I'm sure he'll do well once he focuses only on medicine.

Okay, crazy question; can (relatively) old adults take A-levels? It might be fun to try to pass tests in things I've never taken formal coursework in like psychology or European History. I did some snooping for US AP tests and at first blush it looks as though taking the tests is restricted to high school students, but perhaps one of the A-levels offering territories is less restrictive?

I'm pretty sure you can sit A-Levels at any age.

You can take them as an adult but you'll have pay for the exams yourself.

he has a great attitude and seems quite balanced. he scored well and decided to aim higher, and then higher and so on. seems like a good natural tendency.

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