Slashdot Mirror
8-Year-Old Boy Sets A-Level Maths Record
krou writes "The BBC is reporting that an 8-year-old boy, Zohaib Ahmed, from Hampshire, UK, has set a new record for the youngest person to ever sit and pass A-level maths with an A level grade. He scored 90% for the exam, and claimed his success was down to his parents. "My parents helped me out a lot. My dad taught me some maths and my mum sorted everything out. I couldn't have done it without them." More importantly for the /. community, the mother firmly believed in good planning, and gave them plenty of leisure time — to play computer games (and watch television)."
A Levels are a form of qualification that are typically earned after two years of study from age 16 to 18 (although they can be taken in later life, as necessary). Coupled with GCSEs (qualifications you receive when you finish high school at 16) they're the qualifications you use to apply to university.
The key point is that (until some recent law changes) high school (or secondary school, as we tend to call it) finishes at age 16 in the UK. I left school at 16 and went straight out to work, for example. It gets a bit confusing though because I have no A Levels (having left school at 16) but I could probably get on to an undergraduate course as a "mature student" due to the experience I have in my fields.