Another HK whiz kid emerges in UK

A boy from Hong Kong has been accepted to Mensa after posting the same IQ score as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.

Cyrus Leung, 12, who is based in Sheffield, England, after his family emigrated in 2019, passed the entrance test to the exclusive society with a score of 160, just two marks off the maximum possible result for those under 18 years old .

Father Frank Leung, 42, said he urged Cyrus to take the test so he could "find some friends who share a similar interest," according to Mail Online.

Mensa, founded in 1946, is an international group for high-IQ individuals and only accepts members who are above the 98th percentile of IQs worldwide.

"I am very proud of myself," said Cyrus, a year seven student who is a talented pianist and wants to become a mathematician or scientist.

He follows in the footsteps of Adrian Li, who in 20202 moved to Barnet, London, from Hong Kong. Li was 11 when he scored a whopping 162 in the Mensa test in July last year.

Mother Rachel Lau said Adrian could write novels by the age of eight after developing a love and passion for books when he was two.

Leung, an IT manager, said he read articles about children who have joined Mensa and thought it would be good for Cyrus's development.

"He would be able to find some friends who have similar interests and then he can try and develop better in his interests," he told Mail Online.

"I thought it would be good for him to widen his skills."

He said Cyrus was nervous before the exam and arrived at the exam center realizing he had forgotten his watch.

"He didn't know how much time he had left and if he would run out of time to do the questions," Leung said. "But he was really, really excited when he got the results as he didn't expect to get such a high score in the exam.

"He's really proud of himself and I think this is something he will remember for the rest of his lifetime.'

Leung said Cyrus' favorite subject is maths and he was able to do all his multiplication tables at the age of three years old.

"When he was very small we knew he was good with numbers," Leung said. "I'm really proud of him and his amazing achievement - it's not easy for him to do it when he's so young."