When it comes to solving maths problems Sophie Ip is surely Croydon's answer to Carol Vorderman.

Earlier this year the 16-year-old proved herself to be in the top 25 per cent of the most talented mathematicians in the country.

Now it has been revealed the pupil at Old Palace of John Whitgift School, in Old Palace Road, Croydon, didn't drop a single mark in her GCSE maths exam.

The teen gained an A* grade and scored top marks in both papers that she sat.

Sophie, who lives in Rayleigh Rise, South Croydon, said: "It was by accident I found out how well I had done.

"I didn't realise the school were given the actual marks so when I saw my maths teacher in the classroom that was when I was told.

"There were a few questions where I felt I could have proofed my answers better than I had.

"But maths was a GCSE subject I was really comfortable with – it was not as hard as some of the other ones."

Surprisingly, when she was younger, maths was not a subject Sophie was overly keen about.

She said: "I started off not liking maths because you do a lot of boring stuff at primary school.

"I found things like arithmetic – adding and subtracting – not very exciting.

"It was probably in year five when we started doing more advanced things outside the curriculum, like algebra, that I started to get interested."

And Sophie has her own theory why so many people hate maths. She explained: "Unlike other subjects, with maths you need to learn the really dull stuff to get to the really exciting ideas."

In February, Sophie excelled in a national maths challenge taken by over 200,000 students.

She was chosen as one of 5,500 students to take an advance paper and her mark was in the top 25 per cent.

Sophie said: "The questions were what most people would regard as puzzles.

"There was a very strange question about how long a ladybird would take to get round a sphere with three rings if it went on a set route."

The youngster is continuing her studies at Old Palace School and is taking A-levels at maths, physics, history and German and a philosophy course.

And looking to the future she admits to being unsure about what she wants to do for a career – but knows exactly what area it must focus on.

Sophie said: "I think it's going to be in maths! It's difficult to say exactly what because maths is such a hazy area. But if you type 'maths (jobs)' onto a website it will come up with lots of things."