Cerys Cooksammy-Parnell playing chess at her home in Northampton (Picture: SWNS) Posted on 08/09/2013 10:53:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Cerys Cooksammy-Parnell playing chess at her home in Northampton (Picture: SWNS)
An 11-year-old girl has become one of the smartest people in the UK by getting the maximum score on a Mensa IQ test – higher than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Cerys Cooksammy-Parnell, from Northampton, scored a mind-blowing 162 on the Cattell B scale.
The schoolgirl sat the supervised test with her father Dean, 45, who is already a member of the elite intelligence club with an IQ of 142.
Her father, who is a lawyer, came out of the test thinking Cerys had ‘fluffed it’ because of the speed at which she completed it.
‘I always joke and say “oh, you know you’re not as smart as me”, we always have that banter’, Mr Cooksammy-Parnell said.
Cerys has a higher IQ than Albert Einstein (Picture: AP)
However, she teased that he was the last to finish each section as the competitive pair sat apart in the Milton Keynes test room.
While the Year 6 school pupil was pleased with her score, she was more pleased to have beaten her dad.
‘When I was applying to Mensa he said “oh I’m already in Mensa, Cerys”, he was like showing off a bit, so it’s good that I got my own back on him,’ she said.
While she said she might aim for a career as prime minister or a job in banking, she brushed off any comparisons to Einstein or Stephen Hawking.
‘You can’t really compare me to Einstein because he’s already achieved so much, you can’t really judge someone on their potential.’
Having discovered her gift, her parents are now considering whether to let her continue living a normal life or ‘push her intellectually’.
‘I was expecting her IQ to be upwards of 145, there’s no doubt about that, but to actually hit the maximum it was a surprise. We’re all really excited and proud of her,’ Mr Cooksammy-Parnell added.
Mostly because of the people I know who belong to Mensa. Some of them are complete idiots.
Also, Christopher Hitchens destroyed them in an essay many years ago. It was hilarious.
So true. Intelligence isn't wisdom. High IQ allows many people to do really dumb things very cleverly.
They need to start a think tanks with a bunch of these “super genuiuses” and task them with the problem of making a Faster Than Light drive and anti-gravity drive for spaceships.
We need this technology, forst and foremost to escape the politcal persecution that being a common sense conservative will soon be brought down upon us by the totalitarian control state.
If I want to flee the unified communist big brother earth government, I would like to do it in style at speeds faster than light....
I once scored 154 on an IQ test. I know I ain’t that smart. My wife things I have early onset Alzheimers. I think its from too many concussions in football.
IQ means little... mine has been measured at 158. Wait... did I just dis myself? I must be a dummy to do something like that! ;-)
Hawking isn’t nearly as smart as most people think he is, including himself. Einstein on the other hand was the real deal, but considerably smarter in visualizing geometry than anything else.
Non Sequitur
Too bad she’s not a boy who could throw a football better than Aaron Rodgers. She’d make gazillions and her dad could really be proud of her then.
VERY true. There aren't a lot of CEOs with Genius IQs. I have found that the "smartest" people often work in very specific roles. And they work for other people.
Mensa is a fraud?
Hmmm ...
Fraud:
1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.
3. any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
4. a person who makes deceitful pretenses; sham; poseur.
It would seem that the essence of fraud is, with intent to deceive, to present known falsehood as truth for some sort of personal or collective gain.
In what way does Mensa defraud? In what way does it deceive, trick, or make false pretenses?
I’m not a member, and hold a low opinion of it and similar organizations, but I don’t see how it is fraudulent.
The highest IQ ever to be scored in the advanced IQ test was by Abdesselam Jelloul. Who scored an adult IQ of 198 in a 2012 test which included 13 dimensions of intelligence (analytical, spatial, logical, memory, musical, linguistic, philosophical, moral, spiritual, interpersonal, intra-personal, bodily and naturalist). Unlike other tests, the advanced IQ test includes more measures that other tests cannot assess.
Guinness retired the category of "Highest IQ" in 1990, after concluding that IQ tests are not reliable enough to designate a single world record holder. So do not expect to find any reliable information about the highest IQ.
Previously, the highest IQ ever recorded was by Marilyn vos Savant with 228; however that is a mental status ratio IQ (used for children). Adult IQs are measured by standard deviations, in which her adult IQ would compute to about 185, which is lower than famous chess master Bobby Fischer (187). Kim Ung-Yong is a Korean former child prodigy. Kim was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records under "Highest IQ"; the book estimated the boy's score at about 210. Albert Einstein was considered to "only" have an IQ of about 160.
Other contenders would be Leonardo da Vinci, estimated at ~190. Another would be William James Sidis, estimated also at a similar level. Theoretically speaking, 200 is the maximum IQ possible. All the preposterous stories about people with IQs of well over 200 are impossible. In fact, no one has probably ever reached an adult IQ of 200.
Here is a list of individuals with the highest IQ as well as other popular prodigies:
| Name | Score | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Abdesselam Jelloul | 198 | Scored in a 2012 test including 13 dimensions of intelligence. |
| William J. Sidis | 197 | Child prodigy with exceptional mathematical & linguistic abilities. |
| Christopher Langan | 195 | Called "the smartest man in America". |
| Garry Kasparov | 190 | Chess grandmaster, writer and political activist. |
| Leonardo da Vinci | ~190 | A genius polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, scientist... |
| Ludwig Wittgenstein | 190 | Philosopher primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics... |
| Sir Isaac Newton | ~190 | Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist... |
| Bobby Fischer | 187 | A chess Grandmaster and a child prodigy. |
| Marilyn vos Savant | 185 | Magazine columnist, author, lecturer, and playwright. |
| Kim Ung-Yong | 170 | Korean civil engineer and former child prodigy. |
| Albert Einstein | 160 | Theoretical physicist (the general theory of relativity). |
| Akrit Jaswal | 146 | Child prodigy who performed his first surgery at the age of 7. |
| Grigori Y. Perelman | ? | Solved the Poincaré conjecture. |
Einstein said imagination is more important than intelligence.
That statement right there shows a LOT of real intelligence!
It certainly shows considerable insight for an 11 year old.
In short, what you’re saying is IQ tests don’t necessarily test all types in intelligence. I agree. However, I’ll bet if you tested the IQs of say the people/scientists who created the Manhattan project, you won’t find any IQs under 120. While IQ tests aren’t the be-all and end-all of intelligence testing, nevertheless, it does measure a kind of intelligence. But people should still work hard with whatever mental ability they have. He or she who works hardest usually achieves more.
I had a professor like that at Ohio U. He was an idiot. His thesis was that if you got a 100 it meant you were as smart as him, and nobody was as smart as he was, so, no 100’s. It should mean you mastered that material, but egos get in the way.
My phrase for them is "brilliant idiots."
Actually, she really is quite intelligent.
Agreed. You can build a car that goes 0-60 in 2 seconds and tops out at 200+...
But if you never drive it over 55MPH, what good does it do you?
I’ve been tested. I’m above average and that is all we’ll say about that.
Mensa is a joke.
You beat me to it, but I heartily agree that her recognition of achievement over potential is a wonderful expression of her intelligence!
RE: Actually, she really is quite intelligent.
I’d say she has wisdom,
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