by LAUREN CODLING
A LONDON schoolgirl who became one of the youngest people ever to pass Mensa’s IQ test
with a perfect score has revealed that she was “dumbstruck” by the result.
Bianca Mudumbi, 11, was told she passed the prestigious IQ test last month.
The Pinner-based student, who is currently in year 6 at Haberdashers Aske’s Girls School,
said she thought her father was playing a trick on her when he revealed her high score.
“At first I thought my dad was pulling a prank on me,” she told Eastern Eye on Monday (25). “I was dumbstruck – I hadn’t really thought about the result.”
Bianca took the two-hour, two-part exam, which she described as “being about verbal and
non-verbal reasoning”, at Birbeck, University of London.
“I found the verbal reasoning ok, but some of it was confusing,” she revealed.
However, a few weeks later, she received a letter to confirm she had achieved 162 – a perfect score. It surpassed those of renowned scientists Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein.
It was her father, Anil Mudumbi, who initially entered her for the exam. The 42-year-old said he noticed his daughter was exceptional at solving puzzles. She had always shown an interest in topics concerning science and maths – the pair regularly watched astronomy and physics videos on YouTube together.
“She has always enjoyed puzzles and things like that,” Mudumbi told Eastern Eye. “But I didn’t want to put any pressure on her [with the test.] I booked it but didn’t tell her what
it was about.”
Instead, he told Bianca that it was a test designed to “make her understand herself better”.
When they got the scores back from Mensa, Mudumbi admitted he didn’t quite appreciate how high Bianca’s final scores were.
“It was 162 but I assumed it was out of 200 or something,” he said. “It was only when I told my brother and he did some research and found 162 was a really good score – we discovered it was a ‘perfect score’ in Mensa terms for kids.”
After passing the test, Bianca is now eligible to apply for a membership to join the High IQ Society.
She attended her first ‘Mensa meeting’ last week at a venue in central London.
Members were able to interact with one another and play board games. Bianca said she enjoyed the experience and is keen to attend more Mensa events.
“They were quite a few young people there,” she recalled. “But I was definitely the youngest.”
Young people in Mensa are encouraged to join the Junior & Teen Special Interest Group,
which has its own newsletter, with stories, pictures and reviews by the youngest members.
Bianca, who revealed that she loves to read fantasy fiction and is an aspiring author, expressed excitement at the idea of writing for the newsletter.
“Mensa has some extra curriculum things you can do, such as clubs. I was thinking about joining one, or maybe running one when I’m older,” she added.
Mudumbi hopes the Mensa experience will help his daughter to “understand herself” and boost her confidence.
“She has concerns about global warming and she has spoken about wanting to do something to help the environment,” he said. “Bianca has a lot to offer as she grows older.”
Kulsuma Aktergetty images