KATHERINE Harris was hoping to get at least a couple of A grades, but she didn’t get a single one.

Instead, the 16-year-old opened her envelope at Larkmead School in Abingdon yesterday morning to find she had got nine A* grades and three 9s – the highest possible GCSE results, making her one of the brightest teenagers in the country.

Katherine said: “I definitely wasn’t expecting the 9 in maths because the exams were so hard – they brought in a lot of A-Level-style questions this year.”

Speaking about the new-style, exam-focused GCSEs which her year sat in English and maths, she said: “I think some people are naturally more accustomed to exams and some people are more suited to coursework.

“I’m happy because I am more suited to exams but for some people it has been a lot harder this year and that’s not fair.

“I think most people in our year do appreciate being graded on coursework.”

Rather than rest on her laurels, she is now planning to take on not three but four A-Levels at Larkmead, in maths, biology, English literature and history.

At the moment, she said, Katherine is thinking about applying to Oxford or Cambridge with a view to going into law at some point.

However, she added: “I’m keeping my options open.”