13 year old's exam success

A teenage computer enthusiast is one of the youngest candidates to pass an A-level this year.

Adam Buckland, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, was 13 when he took his A-level in computing this summer after just a year's part-time study.

The results out on Thursday showed Adam gained a C grade.

He said: "Since I was four, when we got our first computer, I used to like using it."

Games enthusiast

The course was "tough", but Adam - who was 14 last month - said he enjoyed it. "It's not so much a chore, you could call it a hobby."

Asked what he wanted to do now he had the A-level, he replied: "Probably my dream job would be to work for a computer games manufacturer."

He said he preferred racing games to "shoot 'em ups" because "they require a lot of skill".

His mother Jenny, a personal assistant, said she was "very proud of him" and added: "It was quite tough at the time but he enjoyed it."

The record for the youngest person to pass an A-level is believed to be held by Ganesh Sittampalam, who got an A in maths in 1988 when he was nine years and four months old.