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Sittingbourne pupil breaks Guinness World Record for answering hundreds of maths questions in one minute

An eight-year old girl from Sittingbourne has broken a Guinness World Record with her incredible maths skills.

Brooke Cressey, a Year 4 pupil at Bobbing Village School, set herself the challenge of solving as many multiplication and division questions as possible in one minute.

She had to beat 208 to make it into the record books, and last Friday managed to achieve that by correctly answering 210 in 60 seconds.

Her dad, Mr Mark Cressey, said his daughter avoids blinking not to waste time during the challenge.

Brooke has been honing her skills since her school introduced Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRockstars) a couple of years ago.

The online quiz is used to help youngsters learn their multiplications in a fun contest.

But last month Brooke’s interest in the competition turned serious, when she was entered into TTRockstars England Rocks 2021, pitting herself against more than 400,000 other children from across the country.

Bobbing School pupil Brooke Cressey pictured with her TTRockstars T-shirt and trophies Picture: Mark Cressey
Bobbing School pupil Brooke Cressey pictured with her TTRockstars T-shirt and trophies Picture: Mark Cressey

She went on to win by completing 173 questions every minute for four hours, adding up to an astonishing 41,627 correct answers. She finished with 2,880 more points than the second placed player.

But Brooke’s path to the world record was not a smooth one. She had to spend time in self-isolation after her mother and older sister tested positive for Covid.

However, Brooke’s father was confident that she was going to achieve her goal.

He said: “She was feeling a bit nervous in the morning, but she started getting a little bit confident once she started reaching 205 and 207 questions.

“She was ecstatic when she won!”

Brooke celebrated her victory with her mum, dad and sister Picture: Mark Cressey
Brooke celebrated her victory with her mum, dad and sister Picture: Mark Cressey

Brooke has not had much time yet to celebrate her victory with her friends as she was only able to leave her self-isolation on Saturday night.

After having a training day on Monday, Brooke is more than ready to go back to school and cannot wait to receive her Guinness World Record certificate.

Mr Cressey said Brooke is not planning on any other challenges at the moment, but he is sure that his daughter has a bright future ahead of her.

He said: “She’s only eight, so she will be taking some time off, but she might be winning TTRockstars again next year or the year after.”

Mr Cressey said he was over the moon with Brooke’s achievement, adding: “This entire experience was unreal! We’re just enjoying it. This is really bringing us all together.

The eight-year old solved more than 200 maths questions in one minute Picture: Mark Cressey
The eight-year old solved more than 200 maths questions in one minute Picture: Mark Cressey

“We have always been close, but this experience has brought us even closer together.”

The 44-year-old also said that he could not be more proud of his daughter and added: “Brooke was able to prove that maths is not boring. And if she is able to do it, anyone can.”

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