The 16-year-old King's High School geographer has been selected for the New Zealand team to compete in the International Geography Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey.
"I've got heaps of study to do for it.
"I'll be going into a big tournament with people from all over the world who are up to 19 years of age.
"They'll know a bit more than me, so I've got a bit of catching up to do if I seriously want to take them on - heck, yeah."
Jacob was selected after entering a national geography essay competition in July.
From the initial field of more than 50 entries, he attended a team selection day in Wellington with eight of the strongest geographers in the country.
Jacob was chosen in the team alongside Samuel Landers (Hawera High School), Sophie Ogden (Wentworth College) and E Wen Wong (Burnside High School).
The Olympiad involves teams of four from more than 50 countries competing in a written response test, a multi-media test and substantial field work requiring observation, detailed mapping, statistical analysis and decision making.
He said the competition from other countries was so strong, New Zealand had previously just made it into the top 10, but he hoped the 2020 team could go even further up the world rankings.
Jacob said he loved geography because it helped explain why the world looks the way it does.
"I get it. It's so relevant to the world we live in today.
"We're in a world now that's changing. Some of those changes are natural and some are created by humans - like population growth and climate change and things like that."
Ultimately, he plans to study geography at university, but he said it was still too early to say what career he was aiming for.
"The world is my oyster."
