--- title: This 12 Year Old Girl is Probably Smarter Than You description: The 12 year old earned a 162 on the super tough intelligence exam canonical: https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-05T17:49:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:09.980Z og:title: This 12 Year Old Girl Is Probably Smarter Than You og:description: The 12 year old earned the maximum score on Mensa's intelligence exam og:url: https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt543721df8d06be05/69886262ab6d7778d36a60a2/smart-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 527995783 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This 12 Year Old Girl Is Probably Smarter Than You twitter:description: The 12 year old earned the maximum score on Mensa's intelligence exam twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt543721df8d06be05/69886262ab6d7778d36a60a2/smart-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This 12 Year Old Girl Is Probably Smarter Than You ## Video: Do Brain Exercises Really Keep You Mentally Fit? [Watch (HLS stream): Do Brain Exercises Really Keep You Mentally Fit?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t67dFcgw.m3u8) (2:03)  _Published 2015-05-15. Do Brain Exercises Really Keep You Mentally Fit?_ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 5, 2015 5:49 PM UTC  girl doing math homework girl doing math homeworkGetty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Sep 5, 2015 5:49 PM UTC A 12-year-old British girl has joined the elite class of achievers who have earned the highest possible score on a Mensa IQ test. Lydia Sebastian, who has read all seven Harry Potter books three times, scored a 162 on the Cattell III B paper test administered by Mensa, the elite group of those with the highest IQs. According to the [_Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/02/girl-12-wins-maximum-mensa-iq-test-score), the girl pressed her parents all year to allow her to take the intelligence test, which she took during her school break. Sebastian completely downplayed the super tough exam–going so far as to call it “easy.” “At first, I was really nervous but once I started, it was much easier than I expected it to be and then I relaxed, she said. “I gave it my best shot really.” The youngest member of British Mensa is four years old, the paper reports. \[[_The Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/sep/02/girl-12-wins-maximum-mensa-iq-test-score)\] This 12 Year Old Girl is Probably Smarter Than You ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/"},"headline":"This 12 Year Old Girl Is Probably Smarter Than You","datePublished":"2015-09-05T17:49:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:48:09.980Z","description":"The 12 year old earned the maximum score on Mensa's intelligence exam","url":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","kids","IQ"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt543721df8d06be05/69886262ab6d7778d36a60a2/smart-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt543721df8d06be05/69886262ab6d7778d36a60a2/smart-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"527995783","caption":"527995783","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/","name":"This 12 Year Old Girl Is Probably Smarter Than You"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Do Brain Exercises Really Keep You Mentally Fit?","description":"Do Brain Exercises Really Keep You Mentally Fit?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/t67dFcgw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-15T21:17:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t67dFcgw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/","duration":"PT2M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4023833/12-year-old-iq-test-mensa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```