PETALING JAYA: A 12-year-old student, Marc Chew, has made history by scoring 13 A*s grades in his Cambridge IGCSE examinations, placing him well ahead of his peers and advancing to college-level studies.
“I am a firm believer in ‘study hard, compete or work hard, play hard’. I also spend a lot of my free time coding.
“I also leverage on online study planners to manage my time, ensuring I stick to my personal timetable and dedicate two to three hours to revision after school,” said Marc, who skipped Years 4 and 5 at the ages of seven and eight, respectively.
He said, “Though I was slightly surprised by my results, I was mostly happy because I knew how hard I had worked for this, and the sense of fulfilment made it all worthwhile.
“I’m truly grateful to Sunway International Schools (SIS) for the full academic scholarship and appreciative of my teachers who served as wonderful mentors, always ready to guide and share advice,” he said.
Now advancing to the Cambridge GCE Advanced-Level (A-Level) programme at Sunway College, the student is also active in debate and coding, with several notable achievements under his belt.
These include placing second in The Debate World Competition 2024 and taking home the title of Grand Champion of Global Future Hack 7, where he created an artificial intelligence-powered learning programme called QwikLearn.
SIS executive director and pre-university studies director Prof Cheng Mien Wee said Marc is an exceptional student and recipient of Sunway International School’s full academic scholarship.
“His teachers describe him as not only gifted in mathematics and the sciences, but also as someone who participates actively in class discussions and debates, and who has received several awards in global coding hackathons.
“He is truly an inspiration to work with.”
This milestone underscores SIS’ commitment to foster a supportive and holistic learning environment allowing students to pursue academic excellence while building character, confidence, and the mindset needed to develop into lifelong learners prepared for the future, SIS said in a statement.
SIS principal Richard Cherry described Marc’s success as a reflection not only of academic excellence, but also discipline, perseverance and a passion for learning.
“At SIS, we are committed to nurturing students to reach their fullest potential and we extend our heartiest congratulations to Marc on this milestone, achieved through the right support, mindset and determination,” he said.
