I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Reuben Foulds this week, as we discussed his remarkable 2025 Scholarship success, including gaining the top Physics Scholarship mark in the country, giving him the national title of ‘Top Scholar in Physics’.
The story begins when, late in 2024, Reuben started researching Scholarship exams. At first, the papers looked intimidating. He admits he initially thought they might be beyond him. But after taking a closer look, he realised they were achievable with commitment and practice. From that moment, he set himself a clear goal: to give Scholarships his best shot.
That decision led to an outstanding result — three Scholarships in total — Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics, placing him in the top three percent of scholarship students nationwide. Even more impressively, Reuben achieved an Outstanding Scholarship in Physics (the top 0.3%) and, if that wasn’t impressive enough, was named Top Scholar in Physics, after earning the highest mark in the country.
Reuben found out about his results the same way many students do — by checking online results on the morning of their release. Even seeing his name listed as Top Scholar didn’t quite feel real until he read the public NZQA website post later that day.
Consistency over cramming
Reuben is quick to point out that his success did not come from being hunched over piles of textbooks studying twelve hours a day. Instead, he focused on consistent effort.
His main strategy for achieving such strong results may seem unorthodox — he devoted himself to unpacking and understanding past exam papers, around twelve per subject. When he couldn’t solve a question, he studied the possible solutions and returned to tackle it again later. Over time, he began to recognise patterns across papers and identify topics that appeared repeatedly. This “reverse engineering” approach helped him understand what examiners were looking for and how to approach unfamiliar problems.
He also learned to break very complex questions into smaller, manageable steps — a skill that became increasingly important as Scholarship questions often present familiar content in new and challenging contexts.
While all three scholarship examinations stretched him, Physics was where Reuben felt most confident — and most engaged.
“I really enjoyed the Physics one… I was excited reading the questions in the exam… I saw them, and I immediately saw the answer. I remember one — it was an electricity one about an AC circuit. And I remember looking at it for about a minute, and then I figured out how to solve it. And I was like, ‘wow — that was such a cool question’ in the middle of the exam.”
Chemistry proved more demanding, with time pressure becoming a real challenge, and Calculus pushed him the hardest, with some questions initially leaving him unsure where to start. Again, in Reuben’s words, “[with one question] I just had no idea where to start… and I was like, I can’t wait to get home and watch a video of someone solving that.” And that same night, he did. These moments, he says, were part of the learning — reminding him that persistence matters just as much as ability.
Reuben estimates he successfully answered around 60% of the questions in the Chemistry and Calculus papers — a powerful reminder that Scholarship success doesn’t require perfection, just strong foundations and resilience under pressure.
Support, balance, and motivation
Alongside his independent study, Reuben attended weekly Physics and Chemistry tutorials with Mr Fairbrother and Mr James during school study periods and took an additional mathematics course at the University of Canterbury (UC) one evening each week. He credits his parents for their encouragement and his friends for general support, noting that while he was largely self-motivated, having people around him who believed in him made all the difference.
Importantly, Reuben maintained balance. He plays centre midfield for his football club, swims regularly (for fun), and enjoys reading — using sport and downtime not as an escape from learning, but as a way to stay balanced, grounded and refreshed.
Rather than feeling overwhelmed by Scholarship, Reuben approached it as a challenge he wanted to take on. Chemistry and Calculus, his favourite subjects, motivated him to push further and deepen his understanding.
He also achieved an exceptional UC mathematics result of 99%, well above the 90% threshold for the highest recognition of A+, further reflecting his strong academic achievements.
Looking ahead
Reuben is now studying Chemical Engineering at UC, a pathway largely inspired by his love of Chemistry. Last year, while at Kaiapoi High, Reuben completed first-year university mathematics and jumped straight into taking second-year maths, alongside first-year chemistry and computer science. Coding — particularly in Python — has become a key part of his studies, highlighting how modern engineering blends scientific thinking with digital skills.
While he has clear interests, Reuben is keeping his options for future study open, enjoying the collaborative problem-solving nature of engineering and remaining curious about where his learning might take him.
Advice for others
Reuben’s message to younger students is refreshingly simple:
- Set a clear goal.
- Start early.
- Be consistent.
- Use past papers.
- Ask for support.
- And don’t be afraid of tackling the hard questions.
He also emphasises that Scholarship builds directly on NCEA learning — strong fundamentals matter. After sitting Scholarship exams, he found NCEA assessments felt far more manageable, reinforcing the value of stretching yourself.
Perhaps his biggest takeaway is this: goals that feel impossible at first often become achievable once you commit to working through them, one step at a time.
Reuben’s journey is a powerful example of what steady effort, curiosity, balance, and self-belief can achieve. We congratulate him warmly on his extraordinary accomplishments and thank him for being such an inspiring role model for our students.
Jason Reid
Principal
