Identical twins were awarded near identical grades in their GCSEs – bagging their school s top marks. Hadjer and Sarah Berrah, who attend Copland School, in Cecil Avenue, Wembley, took the same subjects and both won seven A*s and two As each. And while t

Identical twins were awarded near identical grades in their GCSEs - bagging their school's top marks.

Hadjer and Sarah Berrah, who attend Copland School, in Cecil Avenue, Wembley, took the same subjects and both won seven A*s and two As each.

And while the 16-year-old twins said it was their sheer hard work rather than their innate 'twin sense' that won them such great results, they said their sibling rivalry helped spur them on at school.

Hadjer Berrah said: "I am ecstatic. I didn't expect such good grades.

"I was trembling as I stood in the queue to pick up my marks. My teachers were trying to get me to wait, but I couldn't contain myself. I had to push to the front to pick them up.

"My parents have been on tenterhooks all summer so they will be really pleased to hear we did so well.

"It is a great relief to know that my GCSEs are so good, but now it is on to A levels. I know they will be much tougher."

Hadjer and Sarah scored A*s in chemistry, biology, physics, English language, media studies, and French and an A in English literature.

Hadjer got a further A in citizenship and an A* in humanities, while Sarah got an A in humanities and an A* in citizenship.

Both hope to go to the prestigious Henrietta Barnet School to study A levels.

Sarah said: "I am overjoyed with my results. It is such a relief we both did so well - now neither of us has to worry about upsetting the other one with their grades."

Mrs Kath Alexander, head of Year 11 at Copland, praised the twins for their hard work.

She said: "They have always done really well and been very hard working and focused.

"Their is some friendly rivalry between them that probably helped. They are two bright girls who have set themselves very high standards."

there success will be celebrated at Copland, which had a difficult year and a half after it made headlines in 2009 when it was revealed that �1.6 million bonuses were paid to several senior members of staff.

Deputy head teacher Dr Evans was sacked and head teacher Sir Alan quit as a result of the scandal.

Copland School had not finished analysing its results by the time the Times went to press, but early figures indicate their GCSE results were poorer than expected and below the national average of 69.1 per cent of pupils awarded grades A* to C.

Sudershan Bhandari, assistant head at Copland said: "Early figures show that around 38 per cent of our students achieved five A* to C grades, including maths and English.

"These results are lower than we expected. We are going to send some papers back to the examiners to be remarked because we have been disappointed and surprised with the grades. We have not yet finalised which papers will be sent back.