For three students at Westlake Boys High School getting anything less than 90 percent in an exam is a very bad day.
Luckily they cannot remember that ever happening.
In fact, last year each of them achieved the highest marks in the world for some of their subjects - and now Cambridge University has snapped two of them up.
The mathematical probability of this trio being leaders of the future is three from three.
They have just graduated from Westlake Boys but returned for a special assembly to award two of them scholarships to the Cambridge University - worth $150,000.
Heath Vinicombe topped New Zealand in physics with 96 percent. He topped the world for economics with 97 percent.
Tom Elton was best in the world for geography on 95 percent, and Arkesh Patel beat the world in biology with 97 percent.
He was a little disappointed he got 99 percent for maths.
“I knew I'd made at least one mistake or something like that,” says Mr Patel.
“There's so many talented mathematicians out there across the world and so you know that someone's bound to get 100.”
“It’s pretty hard to get your head around really, to think you're the smartest person in the world for your age at that particular subject,” says Mr Elton.
“But obviously it's a great feeling.”
But it doesn't come easy and Mr Patel rejects the label ‘boy genius’.
“If I was some kind of boy genius I guess I could just sit around all day and not do anything and get these kind of marks,” he says.
“But that's definitely not the case.”
A scholarship to Cambridge University is an honour afforded to just a small group of students around the world, and this year is the first year that two students have been chosen from the same school.
School pride inspired an impromptu haka during the assembly.
“It’s a sign or respect that the boys have shown, and it’s easy to do that for sports and even music,” says WBHS Principal Craig Monaghan. “But to do it for academia is quite incredible.”
Mr Patel and Mr Elton will study engineering and economics, and promise to eventually return to New Zealand.
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