Britain’s brightest teenager studying 28 A levels gets A*s in first four subjects

Britain’s brightest teenager, who has 28 A-levels, achieved A* grades in the ones she passed just weeks after the school term started. Mahnoor Cheema, 17, has an IQ higher than Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein – and aims to study at Oxford University.

After sitting 34 GCSEs, he started sixth form in September and enrolled in 28 courses. She completed four A-levels in November and learned she achieved four A*s in environmental management, marine science, English and thinking skills.

And she is sitting final exams for a further eight courses next month – including maths, further maths, chemistry, biology and film studies. She says she has no regrets and would be “bored and understimulated” if she only did the three standard A-levels – and said burnout was “a choice”.

The secondary school pupil, from Slough, Berkshire, said: “Absorbing content and analyzing and evaluating things comes naturally to me.

“I’m busy, but I don’t take on so much that it causes me stress or pressure – I try to do everything within my capabilities. I have many interests, that’s why I wanted to do so many subjects – it doesn’t take that much time or effort.

“I think if you have the capacity to do more, it should be explored – I’d get bored doing just three subjects in two years. Burnout is a big thing for some people, but I’m just motivated and driven and it doesn’t affect me. I see burnout as a choice—it’s not burnout if you love what you do.”

Mahnoor was born in the UK before moving to Lahore, Pakistan with her parents in 2010. Her family then moved back to the UK in 2016 and mum Tayyaba Cheema, 43, a full-time mum with an economics major, said he could tell. Mahnoor was “quite different” from a young age.

By the age of six, Mahnoor had read all seven Harry Potter books and by the age of 11 had learned the entire Oxford English Dictionary “by heart”. She studied 24 GCSEs during her time, alongside 10 at Langley Grammar School, and achieved 33 nines and one eight – equivalent to 33 A*s and one A/A*.

Mahnoor, who dreams of giving a TED talk one day, said: “I just read the book and it just popped into my head. I don’t really take notes – it seems like a waste of time. I don’t think my Memory is photographic, but it’s good!”

As a budding medical student, her favorite subjects are math and science, but she also studies film and French. She said: “The main pleasure for me is studying the subject and the rich knowledge – the exam is just the qualification.

“A big misconception is that I’m just an exam bot, but a lot of topics I need analysis too. For film studies, I have to create a film, edit, write the script. And with English you have to develop your own. critical attitude”.

Mahnoor has an unusual sleeping routine – going to bed for three hours after school, waking up at 7pm and back to bed at 2am. Tayyaba creates a study schedule for Mahnoor to keep her on track, making sure she makes time to see her friends, travel and enjoy her hobbies.

But Tayyaba, also mum to Laila, 14, Jibran, ten, said there was “no pressure” from her or husband Usman Cheema, 48, a lawyer, for Mahnoor to do anything more than she wants Tayyaba said: “I gave him a choice, I just say ‘whatever you do in life, do it to the best of your ability.’

She achieved the last four results in January. Mahnoor is currently studying Psychology, Sociology, Law, Business, Accounting, Economics, Latin, German, Computer Science, Film Studies, Politics, Classical Civilization, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Geography and Media Studies, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English Literature, Studies cinematography, French, statistics and accounting.