S'porean whiz kid shines on UK quiz show, University Challenge with 'doctoral exam' level questions

Singapore — A young Singaporean studying in London has been putting on a dazzling performance in the UK quiz show, University Challenge, which one Redditor described as “the one show that can really make a smart person feel stupid.”

Twenty-two-year-old Maximilian Zeng, a Biochemistry student at Imperial College, was featured in a Feb 13 CNA article, which spoke of “his lifelong ‘fixation’ with maps.”

But better yet, watch his truly masterful command of geography in action here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZK8LSumWKM

And here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlwTcO2TFvU

And here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CctMfjF9U5s

The former Hwa Chong Institution student told CNA, “I stare at maps for about four hours a day. Not in one stretch, but I just stare at maps when doing other things. I’ll just tab into Maps and tab out of it. I use OpenStreetMap; I hate Google Maps. I have OpenStreetMap open constantly; I’ll just tab in, tab out.

It’s kind of a... fixation. I have very little of a social life. So I have a very restricted set of interests. I just think of maps all day,” he replied gingerly.

I had a globe next to my bedside at like three years old, and I just memorised everything on it. And then I got my Geographica which was a (roughly) 600-page, A4-size for-scale world atlas when I was six years old. Again, I just spent all day looking at it.”

The young Singaporean has not failed to impress, given the level of difficulty in the show.

“UC is more of doctoral exam on everything,” wrote another Redditor. Another imagined what Zeng would be like in NS. Netizens on CNA’s Facebook page expressed how proud they are of young Mr Zeng. /TISG