Twins at Benenden School get identical GCSE results
13:49, 25 August 2022
updated: 14:10, 25 August 2022
A pair of twins have received identical GCSE results in exactly the same subjects.
Benenden School pupils Nicola and Victoria Tsang matched up exactly with nine Level 9 grades and two Level 8s.
The fraternal twins, 15, live in Hong Kong but have boarded at Benenden since they were 11.
Despite not being identical, they received matching numbers and levels of grades. Remarkably, both Level 8s were in the same subjects - Spanish and Further Maths.
Their level 9 grades – the highest available – came in Biology, Chemistry, Chinese, English, English Literature, Maths, Music, Physics and Religious Studies.
Nicola, the younger sister by one minute, said: “It’s great how we both got good results – and the exact same results as well. We can’t believe it, it’s crazy!
"I was so shocked, I thought they’d uploaded the wrong results! It’s quite difficult to get the exact same grades.”
Victoria said she had a nervous wait after her sister received her grades because she was locked out of the results system for a few minutes – and then they realised the good news.
"It was such a surprise, in our mocks we got different grades," she explained.
"But we looked at the raw marks and they were different so we knew there hadn’t been a mistake: we’d been given our grades and they were actually the same.
“We get to celebrate together too; I was quite worried about, for example, Nicola doing really well and if I didn’t do quite as well she’d be celebrating and me not so much.”
The happy news has coincided with their father’s birthday so a family celebration was well and truly in order.
"We always think the same way..."
The twins are now preparing to start their A-levels at the school in September – and perhaps unsurprisingly, they have chosen the same subjects: Physics, Maths, Music and Economics.
Although the sisters are not identical, academic similarities between twins are not uncommon. A Benenden spokesperson revealed that earlier in their careers at the school, the girls got the same Maths test score, down to 0.5 of a mark.
Before that, in a former school they both made precisely the same error in a maths test by mistakenly copying down the wrong number – despite being in different classrooms.
Victoria said: “We don’t have twin telepathy – but we do try to trick people that we do! I can’t receive messages from her brain or anything but we always think the same way.
"To me, Nicola is quite predictable, I always know what she’s thinking.”
Nicola said: “I usually know what she’s thinking as well – when she’s lying, I know it.”
“That’s so creepy!” Victoria joked.