The King’s High School student said he was getting bored during mathematics classes in year 9 and year 10.
But because of his age, there was not much opportunity for him to race ahead to the level he wanted to learn at.
So he decided to make his life simpler and started studying year 13 calculus under his own steam.
"I was getting really bored in class.
"What I did is, I learned all the year 13 stuff in my own time over the summer holidays, between year 9 and year 10.’’
And last year, he was so advanced in mathematics that his teacher introduced him to some more challenging work, which involved studying for a 2025 New Zealand Qualifications Authority Scholarship exam in calculus.
Scholarship calculus is usually done by year 13 students, but Conor managed to pass the exam last year at just 14.
While he was delighted with the achievement, his appetite for more mathematical challenges is voracious and this year he has started studying 100-level calculus papers at the University of Canterbury when he should be studying for NCEA level 1.
Asked what was left for him to do at school, he said he would continue studying other subjects at NCEA level 1, as well as more university-level papers.
He is also tossing up the idea of graduating early, at the end of year 12 next year and going to university a year early.
"I want to go to Sydney in the future, to study engineering — specifically aerospace engineering.
"I’ve always been into problem solving and building stuff with my hands.
"When I was little, I liked playing with Lego and making stuff in my parents’ garage.
"I’ve also always liked logic as well when I was a kid.
"So for me, calculus is very similar to that.’’
The total meant King’s High School again topped the tables in the qualification, winning more than twice as many as the next nearest school in Otago and Southland.
King’s students won 42 scholarships, 4 outstanding scholarships, and 22 of the students won one or more scholarships.
Rector Nick McIvor said he was "delighted, but also, not surprised’’ at the results.
"King’s has been topping Otago’s NZQA scholarship table for almost 10 years now and, in many of those years, also leading for the entire South Island.
"King’s has spent a lot of time and resources on developing pathways that stretch our strong academic and gifted students.
"Testament to this is Conor Kerr, who achieved top results for a 2025 calculus scholarship above other year 11, year 12 and year 13 scholarship recipients at King’s.’’
Top Subject Scholarship Awards also went to Columba College student Emily Roy, who gained the top mark in the classical studies scholarship exam, and Trinity Catholic College student Megumi Toh, who gained the top mark in the Japanese scholarship exam.
Top Subject Scholar Award winners receive $2000 a year for three years, as long as they maintain at least a B-grade average in their tertiary studies.
In Southland, the top NZQA scholarship school was Central Southland College, with 13 scholarships and one outstanding scholarship winner. It was closely followed by James Hargest College with 11 scholarship winners.
The winners were among 1124 Otago and Southland students to sit the exams in 2025 and among 169 to receive a scholarship.
Nationwide, 24,120 sat the exams and 4432 received scholarships.
