The two matric candidates from Brescia House School share a love for music, but when it comes to school, they are very different. Beth is interested in “complicated maths and physics” while Kate is more into social sciences and languages.
The two also share a love for Olympiads. Beth received a platinum award for being in the top 1% of the 946 learners who wrote the Geography Olympiad - being placed seventh overall. Kate was awarded a bronze certificate for her entry in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, the world’s oldest international schools writing competition.
Both sisters also achieved gold in the De Beers English Olympiad.
Though the two have always excelled academically, they admit the first term of their matric year was a bit tough. Beth said the year was “quite eventful”.
“The first term was tough because we had to juggle a lot of work. We were part of a big school production and also had to do our school work.”
She said both are “ambitious and not competitive”.
The two said they had similar study routines, which included studying together for the subjects both of them take.
“It was tough but we have a really good study method, and also, our mom is a teacher. We worked well together for the subjects we did together, which helped us keep focused,” Kate said.
“We’ve been working hard since we started high school. We realised we had a lot to do and we had to be consistent.”
Beth joked she had to get used to studying with Kate practising music in the background.
“I got used to studying with music because Kate plays the flute and piano all the time. I would just be, like ‘me and my AP maths will do some bonding now’ and she would start playing her music,” she laughed.
Their hard work and dedication has paid off with the twins achieving seven distinctions each.
Beth is in the 1% of best- performing learners in English, geography and maths, while Kate is also in the top 1% of IEB candidates in English and music.
Kate plays the piano and flute and will study them both as part of a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Pretoria. She also hopes to add English as an extra subject. “I’ve played the flute and piano since I was little and I enjoy playing them. It requires hard work but it also relaxes me. Over the years, I have realised this is what I want to do,” she said.
Beth is going to join her sister at Tuks but she will study mechanical engineering.
“I love maths and science. I didn’t want to do a BSc because it’s not very useful. I love making things and solving problems, and engineering is that. That and my love for complicated maths and physics. I also like being challenged,” Beth said.
She decided on the University of Pretoria despite being invited to breakfast with Professor Adam Habib as part of Wits’ top 100 candidates for 2018.
Kate considered Stellenbosch but they both opted for UP because it’s closer to home.
Being twins comes with its own issues of being compared to each other, but the sisters, who are very close, said that because they are interested in different subjects, comparisons have been minimal.
“In Grade 9 when we had to do the same subjects, I compared our marks.
“I am not a very mathematical person.
“I am more into languages and history, and she’s very mathematical, so it’s not fair to compare,” Kate said.
Beth noted: “Our parents have emphasised that we are two different people and have different abilities, and it’s not fair to compare.”
The two are going to stay at the same residence at UP. An excited Kate said: “It turns out that at UP, music and engineering are very very close to each other. We are going to see each other a lot.”