An 11-year-old girl of Indian origin, Kashmea Wahi has cleared the Mensa IQ test in the UK with the top possible score of 162. But sshhhh.... her classmates have not heard her bragging about it! Shy and modest Kashmea would rather keep it a secret. The talented Kashmea speaks to The Quint to share her success mantra.
The Little Wonder
Her score beats that of geniuses such as Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, making her one of the youngest members of Mensa.
Mensa is the oldest and largest high IQ society in the world that provides a platform for intellectual exchanges among its members. It is a society of people whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population.
‘My Parents Expected Me to Ace the Competitive Exams as Soon as I Was Born’
Daughter of two IT consultants Pooja Wahi and Vikas Wahi, Kashmea took the Mensa test to prove her potential to her parents.
The young girl was comfortable learning mathematical concepts such as algebra at home when she was just a six-year-old. Her parents say she was always a quick learner and was never subjected to any pressure. They say they have always encouraged her to participate in academic and co-curricular activities. Her father, Vikas Wahi being a sports enthusiast, stresses upon her training in sports as well.
Kashmea is also a national level chess player and has got a lot of medals for netball and tennis.
In the “frequent breaks’’ she takes during her study time she enjoys watching a lot of television and listening to music.
‘Approaching Exams With a Cool Mind Is My Mantra’
When asked about the preparation she did for her Mensa test, Kashmea explains that she prefers giving all her exams with a cool mind and with very little preparation. She says did not do any special preparation for her Mensa test. She continued studying for her school exams and simultaneously appeared for the Mensa test. Her routine revision pattern is to study for two hours on a weekday and four on a weekend.
‘Do Not Prefer Speaking About My Mensa Membership’
The Mensa kid does not prefer bragging about her Mensa score to her peers. Her parents explain that since she does not wish to be the talk of the school, she prefers to not to touch upon the topic of her achievements in front of her peers.
Ask Kashmea what she has her heart set on doing next and pat comes the reply: Designing gaming apps. She dreams of becoming a new age entrepreneur someday.
She has already started learning the coding language required to make such apps.
(Video Editor: Prashant Bhardwaj)
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