Sunway International School (SIS) celebrates the exceptional achievement of Marc Chew, who completed his Cambridge IGCSE examinations with an outstanding result of 13 A* — all by the age of 12. Such a remarkable accomplishment places him well ahead of his peers, with Marc already progressing to college-level studies.
Having made history as one of the youngest known candidates in the November Cambridge IGCSE examination, Marc had earlier completed Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science at just eight years old, attaining A* in all three subjects.
Principal of SIS, Mr Richard Cherry, said, “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.”
Now advancing to the Cambridge GCE Advanced-Level (A-Level) programme at Sunway College, the young prodigy 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 (AI)-powered learning programme called QwikLearn.
Taking pride in his invention, Marc credits part of his academic success to the personalised software, which includes tools to manage and generate notes, assignments, and timetables that help students study smarter and more effectively, ultimately improving academic performance.
“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 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,” shared Marc, who skipped Years 4 and 5 at the ages of seven and eight respectively.
He added, “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.”
Acknowledging that Chemistry was one of the more challenging subjects for him, Marc encourages studying with peers and recommends being proactive – not only by offering help, but also by being open to receiving help from others.
He attributes much of his success to the people around him, namely his teachers and classmates who constantly pushed him to achieve greater and inspired him to consistently put in the effort, even in simple things like completing assignments on time. He also added on that his parents and siblings were thrilled by his achievement and could not be prouder of his efforts thus far.
This milestone underscores SIS’s commitment to fostering 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.
