Sunway International Schools student Marc Chew achieves 13 A* in Cambridge IGCSE exams at just 12, advancing to A-Level studies.

PETALING JAYA: Sunway International Schools (SIS) has celebrated the remarkable achievement of student Marc Chew, who completed his Cambridge IGCSE examinations with an outstanding 13 A* at just 12 years old.

The achievement places Marc well ahead of his peers, with the young student already progressing to college-level studies.

Marc had previously made history as one of the youngest known candidates to sit for the November Cambridge IGCSE examinations after completing Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science at the age of eight, scoring A* in all three subjects.

SIS principal Richard Cherry described Marc’s accomplishment as a reflection of both academic excellence and personal discipline.

“Marc’s success, especially at such a young age, reflects not only academic excellence, but also commendable discipline, perseverance and a genuine 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.

Now pursuing the Cambridge GCE Advanced-Level (A-Level) programme at Sunway College, Marc is also actively involved in debating and coding competitions.

Among his achievements are finishing runner-up in The Debate World Competition 2024 and emerging as Grand Champion of Global Future Hack 7, where he developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered learning programme called QwikLearn.

Marc said he believes strongly in balancing academic effort with personal interests.

“I am a firm believer in ‘study hard, compete or work hard, play hard’. While I spend a lot of my free time coding, I also use online study planners to manage my time, ensuring I stick to my personal timetable and dedicate two to three hours to revision after school,” he said.

The young prodigy also shared that he skipped Years Four and Five at the ages of seven and eight, respectively.

Reflecting on his latest examination results, Marc said he was pleased with the outcome after months of hard work.

“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 SIS for the full academic scholarship and appreciative of my teachers who served as wonderful mentors, always ready to guide and share advice,” he added.

Marc also credited his teachers, classmates and family members for motivating him to continue striving for excellence.

According to SIS, Marc’s accomplishment reflects the school’s commitment to creating a supportive and holistic learning environment that encourages students to pursue academic excellence while developing confidence, character and lifelong learning skills.

 The Sun Malaysia