13-year-old maths whizz earns A* in GCSE (From Your Local Guardian)

13-year-old Wallington Grammar pupil from Croydon earns A* in GCSE maths

1:30pm Wednesday 29th August 2012 in News By Sophia Sleigh, Reporter

A 13-year-old school boy got an A* in GCSE mathematics three school years early.

Despite a national drop in A*- C grades, Adam Butt, a Wallington County Grammar School pupil, bucked the national trend to get top marks.

Adam, who lives in East Croydon with his parents and three sisters, took the exam early with minimal tuition and a week's revision.

His mum, Faiza Butt, 38, said: "He had tuition - a few lessons outside of school - but not much really."

"We are very proud. He’s very bright but very shy - he’s very gifted.

"When he was really young when he was in year four - he was in the highest group in year 6.

"He used to finish his work first and the teachers used to call him a maths genius.

"I helped him when he was young. I do push him but he’s very gifted."

The teenager, who is about to start year nine, said: "I revised for one week and did the test.

"I spent half term holiday doing work mostly.

"It was in the middle of the academic year so I couldn’t really revise that much.

"When I finished I thought it might have been an A* as I thought I had done OK."

Adam - a keen swimmer- is now looking forward to going in to year nine. He has no other plans to do GCSEs early, but is considering entering A-Level maths early.