27 January, 2021

Ambitious TGS student flies high at IB

A top Takapuna Grammar School (TGS) scholar, Aislin Wells, is hoping to atttend her university of choice after gaining an International Baccalaureate (IB) grade that places her among the best 5 per cent of the diploma candidates worldwide.

The 17-year-old gained the highest score for IB at TGS last year, achieving 42 points out of a possible 45.

Aislin, who lives in Devonport, was surprised she did so well, but says a lot of hard work went into the result. “Last year was very uncertain; we weren’t sure our exams were going to go ahead. There were definitely some curveballs and lots of chocolate was involved.”

She has been accepted into the University of Auckland to study a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in physics and computer science. But she has also applied for scholarships and programmes at the prestigious universities of Harvard, Princeton and Duke in the United States.

TGS International Baccalaureate Faculty teacher Maria Blanco said: “It is extremely difficult to gain over 40 in the IB, and so any grade in this range is an incredible accomplishment.”

According to IB Schools Australasia, New Zealand had 13 schools offering the internationally recognised secondary education programme last year, with 360 diploma candidates. Their average points result was 33, with a pass rate of 91 per cent. Only 56 students in New Zealand, achieved scores above 40, putting Aislin in the top bracket nationally, in which four students achieved a perfect result of 45.

Aislin, a former Belmont Intermediate School student, spent three years at Carmel College before she decided to move to TGS for its IB programme, during which she became increasingly interested in physics.

“My personal hero is Marie Curie. I would love to be a physicist or professor in the future,” Aislin told the Flagstaff.

One of her favourite parts of study last year was writing a 4000-word essay about Religion and the French Revolution. For mathematics, she calculated the probability of people getting answers right on multiple-choice tests.

“It was hard work but I studied because I really wanted to achieve this,” she said.

Aislin enjoyed being part of the school’s journalism club. She was also a member of the peer support team, focused on student mental-health awareness.

Her interests include a love of reading and she is a regular at the Devonport library, but knows life isn’t all about academia. She has a part-time job at the North Shore Cricket Club and exercises regularly to keep a balanced lifestyle, while she waits to find her best university match.