Sum feat! Top maths degree at 13
MOST 13-year-old boys will spend every spare moment playing computer games or hanging out with their friends.
But one precocious teenager has spent his free time studying to become one of Britain’s youngest graduates after earning a first-class honours degree in mathematics.
Wang Pok Lo is already studying for his Master’s degree after completing an Open University course.
The child prodigy was doing sums at two years old and passed his Advanced Higher maths exams when he was only 11. Known as Pok to friends at Queensferry High School, in South Queensferry near Edinburgh, he is going to finish his schooling but is also set to enrol at Sheffield University to study part-time for an MSc in statistics with medical applications.
He will also study a Master’s module in maths from the Open University.
The S4 pupil, who moved to Scotland with his family from Hong Kong in 2006, said he was delighted with his degree but added: ‘I do enjoy doing maths but it is getting very challenging.’
Cara Prot, curriculum leader for maths at Queensferry High, said of her star pupil: ‘His natural flair for maths is inspiring.’
Pok’s father, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘From his past achievements, my wife and I expected that he would get first-class honours in maths. However, my wife was so excited that she began to cry.
‘My family is very proud of him. Before we moved to Edinburgh, we had not expected that he was so clever.’