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An incredible schoolgirl has outwitted geniuses Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking to gain a perfect score in a Mensa IQ test.

Bright spark Lydia Sebastian nagged her parents for an entire year before they relented and let her take the famous test paper during her school holidays.

Her determination to take the test proved to be spot-on after the 12-year-old achieved the maximum possible score of 162 on the Cattrall III B paper.

Incredibly the youngster’s result beat both world famous physicists Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking who both achieved 160 when they attempted it.

Lydia, of Langham, Essex said: “At first, I was really nervous but once I started, it was much easier than I expected it to be and then I relaxed.

“I gave it my best shot really.”

(Image: Getty)

Lydia, who is about to go into her second year at Colchester County High School for Girls, said the paper challenged her language skills, including analogies, definitions and her sense of logic.

But she finished it with minutes to spare at London’s Birkbeck College.

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The childhood genius was mainly surrounded by grown-ups hoping to qualify for Mensa membership.

Bookworm Lydia has even read all seven of the Harry Potter book series three times.

Proud dad Arun, a radiologist at Colchester General Hospital, said his wife encouraged Lydia to do the tests after she’d spent a year talking about them.

(Image: Channel 4)

“When I heard she had the maximum possible mark, I was overwhelmed and so was my wife.

“Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking got an IQ of 160. To be honest, I didn’t really believe it.”

Lydia, an only child, has been playing the violin since four and starting talking at the age of just six months.

Mr Sebastian added: “She started talking when she was really young, when she was six months old.

“At the time I was a trainee doctor and my wife was studying chemistry and I was away at the weekends. She used to say a few words to me on the phone.”