<p>Ok so there are some people at my school (and I suspect many people on here) who are just born into a good life. Now the advantages they have vary. Many are born naturally smart. They learn material easily, finish the homework in class while the teacher is talking, and then go home. They never study for tests, but constantly get straight As. Not all of them are nerds. Some of them are so smart they just don't attend school because they can read the textbook and immediately understand the material. And then there's people who just try so hard and can only manage a B-. I know this one girl. She's constantly trying to learn the information in class and tries really hard but just doesn't understand. I'm good at math, but not at other subjects. I try my best but I just don't understand things immediately like all these other people. How are people like me suppose to compete with these A+-spewing machines? </p>
<p>Even those naturally smart kids are gonna hit a brick wall at some point and then fall off the very high cliff and land on the ocean rocks below, their bodies tattered and broken into a billion pieces. Most of them do not have the power of reincarnation, and therefore will not be able to get back to Life. Those of us who have worked hard our whole life know exactly how to avoid those huge brick walls that are everywhere for some reason and will end up winning, or staying alive, in the end. And then people like your friend, after avoiding the brick wall, will be able to go to college and have a career in something other than math which she isn’t good at. You see? We really have the advantage. Just watch out for those huge brick walls and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>And stop thinking the grass is always greener on the other side. You are violating one of the laws of eternal happiness according to this article:
hthttp://<a href=“12 Toxic Thoughts You Need To Drop For A Better Life - LifeHack”>www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/12-toxic-thoughts-you-need-drop-for-better-life.html</a></p>
<p>I feel what you’re saying in that we know how to work hard and deal with failure. But it just seems like these people have to merely follow the path already set in front of them to be exceptional, while I have to rise up. It just doesn’t seem fair that I work 5x as hard but still get lower scores.</p>
<p>I suppose it isn’t fair but there’s nothing you can do about it, right? So, stop thinking about those people. It’ll just make you unhappy. Just try as hard as you can and don’t think about things you can’t change. I always think about how other people have better lives than me too but I have to catch myself when I do that because what’s the point? I can’t do anything about it.</p>
<p>I think a lot of the effortlessly intelligent people you see and are surrounded by may put a bit more effort than you actually think. There’s a guy at my school who gave off the vibe of not actually putting in effort and reaping high grades across the board - I only found out later that he actually studied for hours for everything from history tests to the SAT to AP exams; everything. </p>
<p>Regardless - Don’t let anyone make you feel inferior. Someone isn’t better than you just because they can finish homework faster. Keep your head up. You’re hard working - that’s a virtue becoming rarer and rarer these days. </p>
<p>I think most smart kids will always be smart and they’ll figure out how to study when they finally get to a class that requires it, but being able to work hard is an extremely useful skill and it’s sort of difficult to start studying when you’ve never had to do it before. I never studied much in the beginning of high school because I went to a low-achieving school and mostly took regular classes, and now I’m taking university classes and a lot of the time I procrastinate and don’t know what to do with myself. </p>
<p>Oh I’m not saying they don’t study hard. I’m sure they do. But their grades improve with the amount of studying that they do. Sometimes I do poorly even if I studied. I need the teacher there to learn the harder material. </p>
<p>For some people, they just aren’t academically inclined. No one is good at everything, no matter how true it seems. Everyone is decent at something.</p>
<p>They also don’t study as much</p>
<p>There are different types of intelligence. Some people are able to absorb much more in a very formal academic setting. But that isn’t to say that people who don’t catch on as quickly are unable to learn the same material - they just need to learn it in a different way or in a different setting. </p>
<p>Very few actually don’t study and succeed. I have to study for hours to maintain straight A’s.</p>
<p>In some ways, I guess I’m one of those people. I “get” things faster than most and I have to put in less effort for a good grade. Yeah, it comes in handy when I’m short on time. But I’m actually jealous of you hard workers. I have horrible study habits, I procrastinate, I goof around way more than I should. People like you are more consistent and dependable, and hard work can usually beat talent! You will find your own niche, no worries :)</p>
<p>As one of the people who barely studies and gets great grades… that’s about all I can do. Art? Pfft, my own parents have told me I suck. Athletics? No. Like, just no. Eloquence when speaking with my peers? Also a no. For some of us, we need to have the ease of getting good grades because we can’t do anything other than that. Everyone has to be good at something, and this is just what I’m good at.</p>
<p>I have a friend that’s like you, studies at most of our classes for hours, and may improve a little, but just struggles. She always says she despises me because our classes come so easily to me, but I think she’s the lucky one: you’ve never seen more beautiful art than what she makes. She doodles and creates these amazing drawings that I couldn’t create if I spent hours working and practicing. And she doesn’t try to do well in Art, she just… does. She honestly told me that she doesn’t understand people who can’t make the art she can. I’m the same way with grades: I can’t understand why people have to study, but I can see that some can.</p>
<p>I’m not better than them, I’m just different.</p>
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<p>You must go to an unusually difficult school…in high school I had multiple-choice tests, use-your-book-and-copy-it-verbatim tests, take-it-home-and-Google-the-answers tests, tests with a partner, tests where the teacher wrote the answers on the board, tests with extra credit to hell and back, etc., etc. I could do those tests without studying for the same reason I can breathe without studying, but my college classes have been somewhat harder and I’ve been trying to figure out how to study.</p>
<p>I know several people in my year who put 0% effort and get 100% results.</p>
<p>The thing about so called “geniuses” is that they all lose by adulthood. Genius? Went to a top university? Doesn’t matter when you’re an adult and working. Graduated at age 14? Doesn’t matter, you’re the youngest among your colleagues with the least amount of experience.</p>
<p>Genius at age 15, and just a normal person at age 20. And just the simple fact that by not forming any study habits, college will hit them hard. You can’t slack off in college, for the most part – sure there might be some courses where your grade is 100% the final, but not all of them.</p>
<p>@halcyonheather - I don’t, my teachers make their own tests within their department, as teachers should. MC tests can be hard.</p>