'Taking 23 A-Levels was not stressful at all'

A teenager who passed 23 A-Levels has said she did not find it stressful "at all".

Mahnoor Cheema, from Slough, Berkshire, said she had done less studying than the average student and was just "very lucky" and able to "read and pick up things quite easily".

The 18-year-old has a place at the University of Oxford to study medicine and has dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon.

She said it was "bittersweet" because her exams had been "a constant presence" in her life, but she was looking forward to the next step.

"I don't think it's going to be possible to do something like 24 degrees," she said.

"So I'm just looking forward to focussing on medicine in the near future."

Mahnoor, who has 34 GCSEs, decided early on that she wanted to sit a lot of A-Levels.

"In year eight I brought a list of close to 50 subjects and they said 'schools let you do 10'," she said.

"I was really disappointed, so I was like, let's do some more.

"And that became more... so we ended up here."

She said she would not have done the subjects if she had not enjoyed them.

Mahnoor said her parents had been very supportive and that the stereotype of parents of their heritage being pushy was "false".

She said: "In fact, I would argue there's pushiness in the opposite direction. They're like 'please, you don't need to do so many'.

"But I'm very lucky. They've always been very supportive, and whenever I've asked them to do something, to book an exam, to take me somewhere, they're always up and ready to give their time up for me."

And she said, despite her academic achievements, she was "well-rounded".

"People will think 'she's at the books, day and night' but it's nothing like that," she said.

"I have a really really well-balanced life. I'm very happy. I've got extra-curriculars, I've got fun time, just like any other average teenager."

Her books have been put away for the summer, but Mahnoor is now looking forward to going to university.

"Oxford has been a lifelong dream. As far as I can remember I couldn't picture anything else," she said.

Mahnoor said she had always been interested in how brains work, including her own and that it was such a joy and a relief that her childhood dream had come true.

"Obviously there's six years of university to come. I'm sure I'm going to fall in love with a lot of different branches," she said.

"But for now, neurosurgery is where my interest lies."