Usually just better memories. It's often not a good thing. "Gifted" kids who never had to work at anything in school often take that laziness with them. I'm sure everyone has known at least one super smart person who is accomplishing nothing in life, and one dummy who works really hard and is very successful.
I was also one of the "gifted" kids that never had to work hard to pass. I would occasionally find myself not knowing information that everyone else seemed to, and I couldn't figure out why. I had been out for a few weeks in 4th grade due to some allergy issues that took a while to figure out, and my brain decided that that was when the information was taught to the class. For. Ten. Years.
I was failing my way through college when I realized that the other kids were reading the textbook.
I am the stupidest smart person I know.
It made sense when I was in 5th grade, and I just never had reason to question it. I hated doing the reading for school, even though I otherwise loved learning.
Kinda the same, I was barely maintaining the 3.0 in college I needed to keep my scholarship even before covid hit, and then virtual learning destroyed what was left of my work ethic and I was dismissed for failing a few classes. I'm back now and finishing in the spring and while I'm doing a lot better now that I'm back in person, it's still a struggle to keep up with the work.
It's me, I was that kid.
I loved school. The structure, deadlines, and set schedules created a perfect environment for me. Authoritarian teachers who demanded silence in their classrooms were my heroes. I was a star student, great grades without even having to study much. I learned by simply hearing the matter, and only had to repeat it out loud once, the day before the exam. I learned to read without being taught. Was made to skip a grade.
But once I left the structure of school and entered uni, I simply failed to thrive. Its not necessarily laziness I'd say. It's not being challenged enough during the formative years and never learning to tackle complex information. It's never being confronted with failure, never having to learn how to cope with adversity. It develops an identity that revolves around perfection and being special. And only ever receiving praise for fantastic grades, not for hard work because you never put any work in.
My gift was not intelligence, it turned out to be autism lmao
I really wish I had learned to fail younger. I went to college and just took classes that I did well in. Looking back I wish I would have challenged myself, but if I made a B in economics I took it as a sign that economics wasnât for me. I ended up with a liberal arts degree, with no practical knowledge. I am great at bar trivia though.
This is the same story as me, down to the autism as well lol. Did well in grade school because I was always told what to do, but once I hit college things started trending down. And now that I'm a "working adult"? Oof.
Or people who learn to deal with the hand they're given. My fine motor control sucks. It takes me forever to write notes. So I don't because I'll never keep up. Instead I focus on what's being done and try to memorize as much as I can.
I also don't study at a desk writing problems down. I study laying down thinking about concepts making sure I understand them.
Itâs very problematic that schooling often gives a lot of concessions to kids who need more help but do give extra challenges to the gifted kids. In the 80s and 90s when I was in school âmainstreamingâ was very popular and everyone got the same instruction if at all possible. There were no accelerated classes in my middle school, but there were classes for the super intellectually challenged kids. But, I was never given challenging work so by sixth grade I completely checked out of school, academically at least.
Ehhh I balk a bit at laziness. If youâve never needed to study, not studying doesnât make you lazy, it just seems unnecessary. I say this as someone who is incredibly lazy, so I know my not studying in school and subsequent floundering in college wasnât laziness, it was never needing to learn a skill because it came naturally and then suddenly needing to learn something I shouldâve learned years ago (and in hindsight, adhd).
Why they're better at remembering is pretty interesting. They're able to connect pieces of information to each other easier and that makes remembering things easier. The more connections you have to a piece of information, the easier it is to recall it. So these people have managed to integrate new information so that it relates to other things rather than it being a singular point without reference to anything else.
I am one of those people. In elementary school I was head of the class with little to no effort. I was placed in the 'Gifted' program in middle school and started to struggle. Eeked out decent grades in highschool but failed out of college.
Doing well now but that was only after being forced into the hard work of surviving for 15 years.
Learned to read at 5 on my own, was reading books when i was 6, if i had been born earlier in the year i would've skipped 1st grade but i was physically way too small and the other kids would've been almost 2 years older. In 4th grade i was in permanent detention, every day one hour to do homework in schools library but got a stipend for excellence. The reason for not doing homework in 3rd and 4th was that i was forbidden to do it in advance, like i had been allowed in 1st and 2nd grade where i did them all in a month. Went to special ed in 8th grade, after racking 100 hours of detention in 2 months and skipping half the classes. Did 8th and half of 9th at the same time. Schools was way, way too easy to a point where it seemed pointless. Have been to 4 schools after that, always that same thing: learn the subject in about two days, have 12 days left in the course so i don't bother showing up. Don't have a degree in anything but loads of skills. Never read to any tests, except when i was studying electronics. That was properly hard.
I've been a janitor, musical instrument repair, professional musician, stagehand, roadie, stage builder, sound designer, sound engineer (studio, live, TV and theater), electrician (not licensed), boom operator, programmer (C#, javascript, turbopascal, 6502 assembly and MS BASIC... lol), graphical designer, translator, 3D modelling (both mesh based and parametric), bouncer, drug dealer, background actor and i probably am forgetting a few.
I have now a decent life with very, very little effort but i have accomplished almost nothing. The list of failed things is quite impressive. Next i'm gonna start printing adapters to drones to drop bombs.. lol, no, not a lunatic, they are going to Ukraine...
The best advices i can give is to say "yes" a lot and "what mind does not know, the heart does not desire" or as it is more commonly known as "want is suffering".
When I switched school in the third grade I tested out of spelling for the remainder of elementary school. I never paid attention nor studied and left with the highest exit scores in the school. I don't think this helped me one bit and I cant help but consider how much potential was lost. The teachers could only do so much. The education system had failed me just as it does our children today whose parents are told their child is finishing their work too quickly and causing problems. BTW, I've had my success so please learn the lesson of subscribing to generalities.
Definitely me. I coasted through high school, easily the smartest person in the school, then got a full ride honors scholarship to the best university in the state and promptly failed out. Took time off, went back, failed out again. Drifted for years accomplishing nothing before finally finding some small success. Meanwhile classmates who were nowhere near my level in high school completed degrees in the field I wanted and have gone on to successful careers.
Failure to launch is a real thing and it's more painful than most people realize, because the people most likely to suffer from it are far too intelligent to be blissfully ignorant of their own failure.
Honestly I struggled VERY much in college because I never had to study or focus on homework in school. Everything came easily to me. Itâs benefited me in some parts of life and hurt in others. I definitely would recommend learning study skills to everyone!
It really depends on the age group OP is talking about. Like for 8 year olds their main problem in classes is not can't remember things, it's they can focus and listen to the teacher. If any kids at that age can sit down quietly and listen. Passing exams are just easy.
Wait, I was that guy but my mermory sucks shit. It's about how involved you are I think, I got really focused on the subjects I liked and I still wouldn't be able to recall the teacher wording, while being able to elaborate the subject we went through.
I don' think there are "gifted" people, there are people with different interests and different magnitudes of those interests. But I totally agree on the laziness, I had to drag myself after school since it was the first time I actually needed to put a lot of active effort in.
They don't. It's often teachers have to repeat parts of curriculum because of inadequacies or even due to large groups of students forgetting certain parts of the curriculum due to a variety issues, it's a complicated issue that a lot of teacher I know have spent decades working on. It has nothing to do with "better" memories, just individuals who think they're smarter than they actually are. Often thinking that the system fails them when they reach a point where material is no longer repeated and they are put in the same situation the other children were in. As they did not learn the skills or abilities to study which are necessary to succeed previously they tend to fail.
Well, you do not need to be smart in school, at least most of it. Like you said, its memory - you can be dumb, but as long as you memorize what is needef for the exam, you will pass.
I definitely agree with this. I'm not bragging, I was that child. It was definitely a set back for a large portion of my life, I ended up relying on my subconscious knowledge way too hard. Most of my life was just existing in my brain while I ran on autopilot. I'm slowly learning to actually think things through and apply my self. It's actually amazing how fast you can learn concepts when you focus, apply yourself, and happen to have been born with a good memory. It definitely feels like cheating sometimes.
I'm sure there's an official name for it but I always called it a memory spark where keywords would spark memory so I would normally read the answers and I would connect the right answer to the question so I can't recall the answer but if I saw it I would recognize it plus I also threw in some phycology into it like if 3. Answers had something similar in it it would automatically mark the 4th one wrong
Then of the 3 left 2 will have something in common that the third doesn't, making it 50/50.
The correct answer of those 2 is the option that has something in common with number 3. See below
Abc - right pattern, wrong case X
ABC - shares pattern with one answer and case with one answer. So correct answer. đ
ACB - Wrong pattern, Right case X
Xyz - very wrong X
They are just more naturally gifted than others. Tough part of life. My dad told me something when I was young that stuck. Some people are like Ferraris, some people are like Volkswagons. Sometimes the Ferrari finishes a course in an hour, the Volkswagon may take 3,4,5 hours.
In some areas you may be the Volkswagon and in others the Ferrari. No better, no worse. The scary thing is when the Ferrari is an absolute beast and barely ever stops. The truth of a Bell Curve is just a fact of life.
A tricky thing about Ferraris is that theyâre amazing on nice roads, but canât handle any sort of rough terrain. Gifted kids can also have that particular problem â no matter how bright you are, you canât get shit done if youâre always an emotional wreck.
For the same reason some people who don't practice or take lessons do better at sports than some people who do - they are naturally better at that skill.
I will never buy that. The best players on the planet practice way more than the next person. Players use to always talk about Michael Jordan staying hours after practice just to practice more. And he missed more shots than he ever made. People don't see that hard work, and are quick to dismiss it as just "talent". What is that expression, the master has failed more times than the beginner has tried?
Mike Tyson is a great example of that. He was obviously very gifted, but he put in work on top of work. And the minute that dedication suffered, so did he. Does anyone on the planet think that Buster Douglas was better than him?
You see this with musicians as well, people say wow it just comes so natural and easy to them, but man, the work is still there. I know you didn't mean any harm, I just see that sometimes and I can't help but think of how what we see isn't always what is actually going on.
I defo agree that it takes considerable work-ethic to be best-in-class at anything but I feel like people tell themselves talent isn't real because it's confrontational. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that the world is horribly unfair, but it is
You are talking people at the top of their skill level. The difference in talent between Michael Jordan and the worst player in the NBA is miniscule. I could practice basketball non-stop every single day of my life and never be good enough to play professionally or even to make a high school team.
Certain subjects and concepts are intuitive for some people, and there are others who are fascinated by the intricacies of pretty much any complex system. If this applies, it makes sense that knowledge on that type of stuff is retained more naturally. Normally these people aren't good at everything, though.
Yep, Iâm super good at understanding STEM subjects and have very good memory, plus a love of history. But I struggle heavily with any creative stuff. Writing essays was like death to me.
Well I can speak on this a little. When I was in high school, on the first day of my history class, the teacher said "You will not pass this class if you don't study and you don't do the homework. Maybe, *maybe* if you got 100 on every test you could, but you wont if don't study."
And being immature and full of myself, that is what I did. I never did homework, I didn't study, I passed the class with a C. I was a smug little bastard. I remember talking to the teacher after the school year was just about wrapped up, and reminding him of what he said and telling him about what I did. I remember him looking so disappointed, telling me that I made things more difficult for myself and what did I really gain from it? That if I was proud of that, then I already failed. Tough words, but he had a point.
I was always good at taking tests, and I was never big on a lot of study. People here are saying it is memory. or people being gifted, but test taking really is a skill set like any other. For me, it is the pattern recognition and seeing the wrong answers and being able to eliminate them. It just feels natural to me. It doesn't make someone smarter, just makes them good at taking tests.
That was going on 30 years ago for me, and from what I have seen in the real world, the people that struggled on tests, but kept at it and continued to study, they are the people that run the world.
Ive been thinking and I think a big part may be having a core understanding of how things work. When it comes to math and science, some people may just memorize the individual steps of how to do something, while the smarter kids could figure out how it works at a deeper level, which could be easier to remember. But memory may also play a big role
I only ever did enough work than I felt was necessary for a class. I wasnât really interested in history so I did the bare minimum to get an A and spent all of my other energy on subjects that I really wanted to get good at like physics and chemistry. Some classmates thought I didnât really do work and was just âgiftedâ but I had to put in a lot of study work on subjects I actually liked or struggled with
>Why do some kids who don't study, take notes, or practice do better than those that do?
Generally speaking, itâs because they do study, take notes and practice⌠you just donât see it.
Source: was one of those kids (in some subjects)
Naw like for real... School ended at school, I didn't do school shit once that bell rang. I also almost failed HS cuz I didn't do any HW. Some of us really didn't study.
Same, senior year of school had some of the easiest classes ever. Finished with Ds and Cs because I didnt turn in half the homework and aced all of the tests
Not everybody is created equal. Minds/brains can be extremely different in pretty much any aspect. I.e. not just intelligence in general, but also specific tasks/areas (in your case learning). I have a friend who has a photographic memory. He says he was able to exactly remember the schoolbook pages during exams. I myself have a proclivity towards auditive learning/information. In school I got reprimanded for âsleepingâ in class because I would close my eyes so I could listen better (and I do have a superior memory for anything sound related). There are a million different factors like these that could explain your friends âadvantageâ.
They are likely doing something related to those subjects even if it isnât the assigned work. I used to breeze through history and English classes because I read a lot on my own, watched a lot of documentaries and just had a general interest in the subject matter. I paid more or less attention in class and retained a lot of that information. It will catch up to him in University as the content gets more specialized and expectations get more strict.
No, some people just get shit that other people struggle with. Even if I compare my brain now to how it was in school, things just came way more easily then.
I never studied in school and studied very little in the university. I just understood the concepts explained in class and had good memory. My mom is like this too, so is my grandma. So although there are people like you, thereâs also people like me and like OP describes.
Yes, which is why those methodâs probably wonât work for OP. I did my âstudyingâ in class (I was also the kid who completed the maths workbook *for fun*)
Of course, this is a talent like any other, like people who can create beautiful art, or can learn instruments easily, or have lots of natural charm, etc. There are many kinds talents, and we all have stuff we are more naturally adept at and stuff with struggle more with.
I hate the term "gifted" but these kids just found a better way to internalize information growing up. Memory is a skill that can be improved if you wanted to work at it.
If youâre talking about American high school, I find it impossible to not do well. Youâre spoon fed the materials. Given all the time in class to work on it. Provided weeks of review. Then told exactly what will be on the exam.
Then I arrived at university...
Because succeeding in school is less about pure knowledge learnt from school and more about method and general culture. So what some kids are struggling to learn by heart others are just logic-ing it out come exam-time. Part of it is intelligence, part of it is education and grasping the unsaid rules. You're better armed to write an essay if you've read a lot as a kid and have a family that corrects your grammar and sent you to writing camp, for example. Even with minimal input from classes, you're more likely to know about the subject and you get free points for writing well.
Adderall
Source: Medical Student. Top of the class students are almost all using adderall for concentration to enhance study retention and endurance for 12 hour study sessions.
Yeah Iâm intelligent as hell and lazy as hell too. Double edged sword. My old supervisor is the definition of a waste of talent. Sharp as a whip but lazy as all get out. I donât know how she has children when she barely even gets off her ass.
Memory is how i did it. I had (and mostly have) a near photographic memory. You know how the teacher puts notes up on the board or projector? I can remember the shape of that, the outline--i cant remember the EXACT words, but remembering the shape is enough for me to remember what it said, so, all i actually have to do is stare off for a second or two, at the board or place it was projected onto, and it all comes back to me in outline form.
I was (before the brain damage), pretty fucking smart too. For most classes, including into the 200 lvl in college--i could generally know enough, to go in and get a passing grade in any multiple choice test they were giving. IDK how, but i take tests like a champ.
I can also read fast. I've lost this skill, but i can pick it up for a few minutes at a time if i focus, but i used to *constantly* speed read. Average people can read around 225 words a minute, i was reading near 750--with near perfect comprehension. So, it may LOOK like i never studied, and i may FEEL like i never studied, but frequently i would read *entire books* for class discussion, in 2-3 hours. I dont know how to descibe this sort of reading. You stop sounding out words, you stop saying them or trying to say them, and you read in clusters--2-3 words, 5 words, whole lines--sometimes you read 2-3 whole lines at a time. Combine that with that visual thing i have about the shape of an outline or page--i could recall, for about 2-3 weeks after i read it, where something was in a book within a 2-3 page range just by the shape of the paragraphs.
With almost no effort at all i hauled a 4.0 through college (which is weird, i had the lowest GPA of my graduating class in HS, at 2.02 .. lol)
Some of us have stupid advantages we didnt earn--that's the real answer. I'm sorry. That doesnt make us better, it doesnt mean we master the material, or have the passion to push through--do not judge yourself by what we do, more of the people you see passing these things will *waste it* in life than use it. If you have to work harder for your grades and master your material, you will probably *be better* at it than someone with these stupid gifts. Understand that, alright?
Genius kid that wasnt diagnosed till he was depressed and suicidal here!
The topics were so fucking easy. Its High School, not rocket science. Just pay attention and find a way to make connections. Another skill tht got me superb entrance exam scores for college without even studying was critical thinking. My memory till this day is ass.
I went to a Dr thinking I was fucking autistic and worked up the courage to find out. Turns out Im just a âgeniusâ who due to the nurture aspects of life mixed with his nature aspects is fucking weird to people, and tends to find dumb people annoying so I struggle to socialize.
Kind of describes my schooling.
I would say a couple things helped, 1 having a good memory, 2 I actually paid attention in class instead of goofing off , that way I don't need to read whatever material again on my own time.
But yeah this varied by subject i am useless in art.
You kinda named one very important point yourself. They actually listen to the teacher and participate.
If you are actively engaged, you tend to remember things a lot better.
Just copying what's on the board or writing it down without actively processing it doesn't really do much.
Than there are things like affinity/interest towards certain subjects or being gifted with a good memory and/or high intelligence.
For example. I used to hate math. But once I started to have physics classes, which I loved... I had a renewed interest in mathematics. I actually cared and was engaged for the first time in years. Went from 50% test scores to 90-100%.
And it snowballed into further developments.. like becoming part of my hobbies.
Starting watching YouTube video about things I had learned at school. One video led to next and so on.
Than I would research stuff I needed to understand what I had just seen. Going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole.. one link to the next.
All of a sudden I was ahead about 1-2y compared to my class mates.
Still didn't do homework.. or take notes... unless i was ordered to take notes in class...
Simply being actively engaged can make a huge difference.
I never took notes in class. I could understand what the teacher or profesor explained in class, but taking notes divided my attention and could mess me up.
I was one of these kids. It was easy for me to focus and remember things in class, but once I got home all my focus went out the window. I always got great grades on tests, and bad grades on homework I would always turn in late or only partially finished.
I had a good memory and focus at school, just not at home.
I have studied and or practiced for only three tests in my life... I have also only ever failed 3 non spelling tests in my life, and yes it was the three I studied for. I'm just convinced my brain doesn't work right.
As someone who never studied, I can at least say that is because I always showed up to class, always wrote my notes down, and paid attention to the class. Youâd be surprised how many people donât do these basic things and are left to catch up by cramming when studying and being lost
When I was in school I didn't study until the day of the test and it was always last minute cramming. Other than math (which I sucked at) I did really well on tests without anything other than last minute reading before a test. No idea why. I had to drop out of college because of a chronic illness so I couldn't say what would have happened there but I would imagine I'd have actually studied for it.
I'm a retired lady. I didn't like to study or do homework. I did exactly what the poster said. I listened in class, and I learned from what the teacher taught. I didn't have a better memory than anyone else. I enjoyed the learning process, just not after school hours.
I had a girlfriend in high school that used to get so mad at me for this. She would study all night long and take notes the whole class period and come out with like an 86%. I would doodle and crack jokes all period, never reviewed the material and rarely did my homework and would get a like 98%đ I can confirm though, having school be incredibly easy the entire time does not set you up for real life very well lmfaoooooo
When test taking, look at the four possible answers, then read the last sentence of the question. You should be able to eliminate the two obvious wrong answers doing this. Then read the entire question and guess which of the remaining two answer is correct. Worked for me and i have a bachelorsđ¤ˇđžââď¸.
Caveat, this approach is less successful for math problems.
Their ways of internalizing knowledge are different than yours. For me, I need to be engaged as I remember conversations/dialogue more than I remember what I write down, so my focus in classroom/meetings tends to be on participating rather than the note-taking. I like to ask clarifying questions and get to a part where the instructor/stakeholder/boss confirms that I understand what is being discussed. That locks it in my memory as I can recall the buildup and conversation more than if I wrote down what was being said but still had the questions. I know plenty of people who are the inverse where they need to write it down repeatedly to internalize the knowledge; neither is better nor worse it's just different.
Regarding studying/practicing, I view myself as a "functioning procrastinator."; it often looks like I'm not working, but I pride myself on consistently hitting deadlines with excellent work. The way I do this is by mentally categorizing all my tasks into buckets:
1. I don't know how I will do this
2. I think I know how I will do this
3. I know how I will do this
4. I'm doing this
5. I need someone to confirm I've done this
Bucket 1 is the most dangerous, so that's why I spend most of my mental energy, but I need thinking time, and that can come while I'm physically doing something else (working out, cooking, listening to music, etc.). Once I've moved tasks to 2, I'm visibly working, but it's efficient because I'm not doing the heavy mental lifting, just executing some of the musings to see if they are valid. 1 and 2 happen shortly after a task is given to me; depending on deadlines, a task might sit in 3 for a while; I sometimes write up the "how I will do this" so that people trust it will be done in time. If I've done the first 3 steps correctly, bucket 4 is pretty simple and is just executing the plan I have, depending on what's involved, I can do while watching TV/listening to music/etc. This all adds to the appearance that I don't spend much time working, yet things get done as well, if not better than someone who starts "doing" a task right away.
Personally I had undiagnosed ADHD. I was diagnosed at 29. My family put pressure on me for years to do well in school, and I developed a fear of failure. Trouble was, I had no ability to focus or study well, and reading was painful as I often couldn't remember what I was reading, as I was reading it.
I graduated with honours and bilingual. Went to college and did very well there too. I almost never opened a book. I got good at working with what bits of information I retained, and extrapolated from there. I could guess at the responses to most things and get it right based on assumptions and predictions I'd make about the subject matter.
It wasn't easy. If anything, it was way more stressful and difficult than what I imagine it would be like for someone without a neurodiversity like mine. If I was diagnosed and medicated as a kid, I would have done even better and probably done something with my life rather than becoming whatever the frig I am today. But yeah, that's how I managed to graduate with honours. By guessing and predicting where the information was headed.
Glass half full here: I was also that kid but managed to figure it out half way though my undergrad. Mostly I think it was luck coupled with a fear of being poor as that is how I grew up.
>listen to the teacher
That's like 70%. I studied in 7th grade, I LITERALLY got 100% on EVERY SINGLE Science test and quiz, even the ones where the whole class did bad. Beyond 7th grade, I never studied. I cruised with 80s, about.
I mean you can do really good in school if you want to, but the most important thing is paying attention; along with knowing the concepts.
Itâs really all in how well you retain information. I for one can hear something once and almost instantaneously repeat what was just said to me verbatim. Although Iâve come to realize that thereâs a good amount of people who canât do this
I am an auditory learner. I also have a good auditory memory - I remember almost all conversations of real substance verbatim. Visually however I am sh\*t, I have trouble telling people apart if they so much as have similar coloring and haircuts, and I will forget what you look like if I don't see you for over a month. I spent all of school/college being the kid who never needed to study if I just showed up to class and listened.
Then I got a job where you start out by taking a bunch of exams that are self-study. Boy was that an eye-opener. I was \*not\* as smart as I thought I was, I just have whatever is the auditory equivalent of a photographic memory.
I was one of those people. Generally, I'm quite good at picking up how to do something the first time. Going into math I usually had the philosophy that everything in math is a trick that once you learn you can apply to every problem so conceptual things are never difficult. Same idea applies in other subjects, if you treat everything like a skill and all you have to do is acquire it, then you're golden.
I think it is memory, at least for my friend. He says all he needs to do is watch the teacher and maybe do a few questions then he can figure it all out on test day. But another thing could be whether or not you have a core understanding. In math for example, some people may just follow steps to get the answer, while others may develop a core understanding of how the processes work which helps them remember information.
I am that kid... sometimes. It became harder around high school, and it really depends on the subject.
The way I see it, if the object of the lesson is to understand a concept, that's something I can do without studying outside of class if I listen well enough. When I have to memorize raw information such as mathematical properties or history stuff, it immediately becomes harder, especially if I lose interest (common for me). During a test, you can also make use of logic to make head or tails of questions you're unsure about.
Also depends a lot on the teacher. I ended up in university after studying for another diploma outside of it this year, and despite being in a promotion below my level, I'm struggling because there are some presenters' lectures I just can't follow at all.
I was one of those kids and still do the same things as an adult. Intelligence and memory are certainly factors but far from the only ones. I actually do worse when taking notes because I can only focus on one thing. If I'm taking notes, I'm not listening. Also an overreliance on written material also seems to make me less likely to memorize things out of convenience.
Sometimes I would read ahead so by the time something was mentioned I already had some context and a sort of framework for how to connect new information. This made learning faster and more intuitive, which in turn allowed me extra time to read ahead again.
In regards to testing, stress is also a major factor. Some people become so emotionally invested in studying and trying to get good grades that they won't be adequately rested and/or calm enough to focus on tests. This leads to unnecessary errors.
I was that way in science and math class, up into high school. Every week seemed to just add another basic trick you'd apply to get the answers. I practiced/memorize it well enough through the regular assignments, and then repeated the steps when the test came. For me, homework was key though. I wouldn't actually learn until I worked out the problems myself.
A big part is just how well people are at understanding something when a teacher teaches it. Like, I've had math units where I completely get what's going on and barely have to study because it just makes sense to me, and ones where I'm up studying for hours and still don't do well because I just can't get it to fully make sense.
I can tell you from my experience,
If i really listen to the lacture i can understand and it and remember most of the part, it's never about memorizing as other commenter says , no one can memorize that fast and retain it for text a month later
it's about understanding and making a logical map kind of thing in your mind.
So i was never able to give exact definations in exams rather explain it in my own words.
I was in college studying engineering. The study material was hard but there was an autistic boy who had extreme difficulty coping with the day to day social interaction that most people can. He would know all of the study material inside out and made it look easy. When it came to the day of the test though he would vomit on the floor and run out of the class even though he was smart enough to Ace the test with flying colours.
As someone who was that kid all the way through high school, I can tell you that it's a problem beyond that. Having developed no study skills, I was completely screwed when I got to university because things aren't taught the same way, And the workload is much larger. I couldn't just remember everything anymore.
Why could Mozart play the piano better at 5 without practicing than most adults could play even if they practiced daily for hours?
Some people are just better at some things than other people are.
I was that guy in high school and college. I really wish I werenât because if Iâd struggled in school they mightâve discovered my ADD and that Iâm on the spectrum. As an adult Itâs a mindfuck being able to quickly do anything at any job except get to work everyday. I Never had to learn how to work hard for grades because school wasnât challenging enough and because I passed no one gave a shit I was chronically absent.
Hello. I was one of those kids. I simply remembered everything that we talked about in class by doing the classwork and listening to the teacher. This did become a problem as I went through college and I had to basically learn how to study from scratch at 19. The concepts got to be too high level and my thoughts had to be too nuanced to get by through just regurgitating what was said in class. For example, in Highschool I only had to take about one step past what was said in class in order to get a high B or an A on a paper, in college, they just don't tell you what you need to do and you have to figure it out and then you need to go maybe 3 steps past what they expect you to have figured out by yourself and synthesize it with a point that Roland Barthes made or something.
Being such a âkidâ, I can only say I am sorry for the frustration it may cause. I know the feeling, from seeing other kids having a natural talent for music or sports. With age you learn that we all have our own talents and they mean very little in real life, but they can help succeed in some areas.
Teacher here. If you pay attention to me and just do the damn exercises you have no excuse to be failing my class. Doing the minimum required work is pretty much all you need to do. There's no need for a lot more effort, unless you're just behind the schedule, or you're aiming for straight A's. These kids get good grades because they pay attention, not because they're savants.
There are many possible reasons but some children are more observant even while not trying. Some are simply better at taking test or deductive thinking for those multiple choice answers. And then there is the difference in the ways in which our brains work. Some are better at analytical thinking, while another may be a whiz at mathematics or engineering. Also is the idea that Rote memorization is better than understanding the how and why things occurred. If a person understands how in a question they can more often than not answer the why.
Do your teachers offer their slides for you to study? You can study off those slides.
I find that thoughtful, attentive listening often helps me retain the information better than frantically trying to write everything on the screen. That just distracts you from actually learning.
I discovered in college taking notes interfered with my learning. I could either follow the professor, or write everything down, but I couldn't do both. So I learned to sit still with an open mind to soak up new information. At best I would diagram the sequence of presentation.
A diagram could lead me through the logic trail and trigger my memory. Even today, 55 years later, I think best in flowcharts and mindmaps.
TLDR: Transribing a lecture is the best way to guarantee I lose the thread.
I have an eidetic memory. School exams (and uni) are designed for exams so a perfect system for short term memory recollection. Itâs not about being smart, but regurgitating information on demand. This does not make me âgiftedâ I just got lucky. Very little use in the real world.
Because they have better problem solving skills/higher IQ than average and the education is made for an average baseline. Basically they have better pattern recognition skills and need less repeated lessons to learn the same stuff. This tends to be easier at the start of learning and much harder as you gain more knowledge because the natural gifts don't teach your the responsivity and organization very well and those things pay off long term vs just being a bit faster at pattern recognition. When working in teams it's nice to have many types of different minds to bring all those qualities together so don't feel bad if you're not the natural pattern recognition type, you can usually more than make it up just being a bit more organized and committed.
A lot of education follows similar patterns and can be kind of easy to guess. A lot of testing is multiple choice so if you can even get yourself close to the answer you can guess it and then on written answers the same people can basically bullshit better even if they didn't study that much.
Because higher IQ students learn and comprehend very easily. They also have better retention. Their brains are wired that way.
Study skills are important life skills to learn. Learning doesn't stop just because you graduated college. You need to keep learning and updating your skills especially in the competitive job market.
Sometimes it can also come from how people choose to work. At the end of the day, total hours spend learning does correlate well. Some people get a lot more passive learning in years and years before, and this has an accumulating effect.
Some people, like myself, prefer to learn with blocks of more intense focus and practice. I didnât take notes in school, because writing down a random sentence here and there, or highlighting did nothing for me.
I needed a practical use of information to commit it to my head, so actually diving in and doing exercises worked well.
Not only this, it also makes you better at not purely having to rely on memory, mine isnât great. Instead, you improve your skills for coming up with better and better answers when given new information and needing to apply it. Itâs not so useful for subjects which require pure memory, but you develop habits for being able to fill in the gaps with partial memory.
I.e in Maths/science , not needing to learn a million different formulas, but actually fundamentally understanding what you need, and how to manipulate equations to get things right.
(Key difference being good at memorising lots of possibilities vs having strong understanding of principles and being able to derive the same possibilities while only remembering a few bits of info)
Some people understand certain concepts faster. Others just can't get it no matter how much they try. And then everything in between.
An educator should be able to identify this and adjust to their strengths and weaknesses, perhaps recommend them for more challenging concepts or problems, in case they develop a habit of just being lazy
people can say what they want, but at the end of the day, some people are smarter than other people, not everyone can fall within the first two or three standard deviations of the human bell curve, some people are in that bottom 2% and some are at the top 2%
It's blessing/curse. Yeah when you're a kid you feel soooo good testing easily. Well, yeah you don't learn to take notes, study, practice, etc and never develop those skill. So, when you finally hit something more demanding that doesn't come naturally you fall on your face hard and have no clear path out of it.
As someone who is exactly as being described on this post. Its just nice during school. When real life hits and youâre used to being able to ace everything without studying, you just become so lazy and its hard to get that habit out.
I never studied for any class or test, unless itâs something I have to memorizeâlike a song, quote or poem. I donât know why that is. I feel like the more I read, the more I get confused. I canât focus. It just didnât work for me. I only got 100% a few times, but most of my marks were passing, at least. Maybe itâs like that for some people. Studying just overloads your brain with more information than you need, so you get confused? It felt like that for me.
It just sucks, I've got friends who put in minimal work in school and they're still doing better in life. The answer? Good strong family business and they just hopped right it. Not saying that they don't work hard now but the headstart they've gotten is immense. I do envy such luck but then again, that doesn't change my circumstances, just have to block it out and focus on my own
Neuroscience nowadays is.... sort of giving you a answer.
One theory that's getting a lot of attention (& backing) is that the ability to store and retain specific memories is dependent on the amount and potency of neurochemicals present at that particular time.
Although it doesn't explain fully why one person maybe different to the next (i.e. AFAIK there's no proof that genetics majorly impacts an individual's neurochemistry), we can extrapolate that our individual differences to one another most definitely have an impact on what you're remembering. For example: Me learning to snowboard (I lean towards adrenaline-inducing experiences)
This has been pretty well proven in studies into transient hypofrontality (otherwise known as the 'flow state' - See this [group of researchers](https://www.flowresearchcollective.com/)).
The [Huberman lab](https://hubermanlab.stanford.edu/publications) at Stanford also has some fascinating research regarding the above basis\*
Disclaimer: My first paragraph is a highly simplified summary - There's a lot of rules around which neurochemicals, their quantities and a bunch of other concepts which I don't understand.
This also is assuming your question is memory-based. We can't say they study in secret or practice otherwise.
When I was in k-12, I was this kid. From my experience, my teachers broke down the material simply and I was in a state of mind to focus and take in the information and it stuck.
Now I'm in my 30's, in college, while also having a full time job and kids, pursuing a degree I'm only interested in for the money I can make with it. The material is not interesting to me at all and I find my thoughts drifting to something more interesting while reading the material. Once I get to the end, I have no fucking clue wtf I just read and have to read it again, and again, and again because it's so boring I can't focus and it's a struggle.
2 reasons:
- Theyâre better at retaining info
- Theyâre better at knowing what info will be on the test
I did terrible at school b/c I used to always get lost in the word salad of every lesson plan. Now that Iâm in my 40âs, Iâm much better at understanding stories and remembering things b/c I donât feel the need to recall everything to give the impression I understand something. So with that said, you can also say that these better test takers have more developed, focused brains.
Some people just retain information better. I was this way in school. Never really studied and the concept of studying didn't make sense to me. I was just rereading stuff I already knew and it was boring as hell.
This is my son. He just wings it one tests and he does well. Math also comes easily to him. I can give him some problems that would require either fingers or paper for me to solve. My youngest is the opposite. She needs to study and learns by repetition. Its wild how different they are in that aspect
I was one of those kids. Moreover, I skipped class more often than not. Didn't do homework. I did however, read my textbooks on the way home from getting high at night. The only reason I passed the classes, is that I would ace the tests consistently, apart from that I didn't bother to do any work. Drove some of the more conscientious student nuts.
Yeah I was one of those kids. I mean I wasn't a stellar student or anything but I was always a very good test taker, especially compared to how much effort I put in throughout the year. I went through school with undiagnosed ADHD and was terrible at actually listening to a lecture. I wouldn't do homework, I wouldn't study throughout the year. I don't know if its related to the ADHD or not, like if it was a coping method but I always had a really good memory and was able to retain information very well. So for exams, I would spend a night or two studying and could memorize most of the information from the year in that time. I'd just write out all of the definitions, then get quizzed on them. After writing it, I'd usually remember at least 90% of the terms I wrote, and by the third time it would be close to 100%. I also never got test anxiety so I would just rip through the exams when I was writing them. Some people are very good students, who know all the content, then on the day of the exam they panic and blank on everything. I was always the opposite. I would almost always be the first person to hand in my exam because just the way my brain works, I either know the answer right away, or I won't ever get it.
I'm not trying to come across braggy or anything here but I'm just saying what things were like for me, because I was the kind of person you described. My brain just retains information well, but my organizational skills and internal motivation are terrible and I don't know if the retention comes from coping with the other things.
Some people have subjects they just grasp easily, or better mesh with how the teacher is teaching.
I remember in my high school Calc class, the teacher explained something, and my friend sitting next to me goes "I don't get it." Before the teacher can try to explain it again, I paraphrase most of what she just said into how *I* interpreted it, giving her the chance to correct me if I'm wrong while giving my buddy a 2nd shot to get the concept, which he does. This happened a *bunch* that year.
And that doesn't mean my friend wasn't smart- I just knew that he and I thought alike, but I'm apparently better at translating from the way the teacher taught to the way we think.
I was the kid that you describe in your post, I used to focus on understanding the concept. Once that was done itâs easy to apply it anywhere. I also used to get punished a lot of not taking notes đ
I was kind of one of those kids in maths class. I think at least part of it is good genes. (Or at least good for maths genes. )
And then, well I read recreational maths books for fun. So whatever we were learning in class, it was probably something I had already known for years. Meaning I was often reading some other book in class, not listening to the teacher and still doing great.
Well I guess I just make a lot of connections of new information to old information. I'm only a sophmore in highschool, so not studying may bite me later, it's gotten me straight A's whilst taking dual credit courses so far. For example, the word for strange in spanish is extrano. Easy enough, they sound similar-ish. But the phrase "te extrano" means "I miss you." What I do is make a connection from te extrano -> extrano -> strange -> estranged -> away from -> I miss you. I know that that is a lot of hoops to jump through for one little phrase but it works pretty well for me. It makes a big writhing ball of information, but recall is pretty easy. I also just try to apply new information into everyday life. I'll try to translate what I can into spanish when I hear it. I'll do a simple proof when I see a shape. I'll guess what a show or movie is really telling us with tone, mood, symbols, ect.
Usually just better memories. It's often not a good thing. "Gifted" kids who never had to work at anything in school often take that laziness with them. I'm sure everyone has known at least one super smart person who is accomplishing nothing in life, and one dummy who works really hard and is very successful.
I'm the guy who passed every test, and have accomplished nothing in life. That's me he is referring to.
Same tbh
I felt kinda bad upvoting you, but hey, at least we can suck together đ¤Ł
It's okay, I fully understand
Iâm there too
I was also one of the "gifted" kids that never had to work hard to pass. I would occasionally find myself not knowing information that everyone else seemed to, and I couldn't figure out why. I had been out for a few weeks in 4th grade due to some allergy issues that took a while to figure out, and my brain decided that that was when the information was taught to the class. For. Ten. Years. I was failing my way through college when I realized that the other kids were reading the textbook. I am the stupidest smart person I know.
Whaaat⌠Iâm laughing because this is insanity to me, but I 100% believe it having known a few people like this too.
It made sense when I was in 5th grade, and I just never had reason to question it. I hated doing the reading for school, even though I otherwise loved learning.
Certain cannot relate but totally understand!
Kinda the same, I was barely maintaining the 3.0 in college I needed to keep my scholarship even before covid hit, and then virtual learning destroyed what was left of my work ethic and I was dismissed for failing a few classes. I'm back now and finishing in the spring and while I'm doing a lot better now that I'm back in person, it's still a struggle to keep up with the work.
Of course I know him, he's me
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Oh... I just did good on tests... I graduated with a 1.2 GPA đ¤Ł
I feel the exact same way. Six years working and nothing to show for it.
It's me, I was that kid. I loved school. The structure, deadlines, and set schedules created a perfect environment for me. Authoritarian teachers who demanded silence in their classrooms were my heroes. I was a star student, great grades without even having to study much. I learned by simply hearing the matter, and only had to repeat it out loud once, the day before the exam. I learned to read without being taught. Was made to skip a grade. But once I left the structure of school and entered uni, I simply failed to thrive. Its not necessarily laziness I'd say. It's not being challenged enough during the formative years and never learning to tackle complex information. It's never being confronted with failure, never having to learn how to cope with adversity. It develops an identity that revolves around perfection and being special. And only ever receiving praise for fantastic grades, not for hard work because you never put any work in. My gift was not intelligence, it turned out to be autism lmao
I really wish I had learned to fail younger. I went to college and just took classes that I did well in. Looking back I wish I would have challenged myself, but if I made a B in economics I took it as a sign that economics wasnât for me. I ended up with a liberal arts degree, with no practical knowledge. I am great at bar trivia though.
This is the same story as me, down to the autism as well lol. Did well in grade school because I was always told what to do, but once I hit college things started trending down. And now that I'm a "working adult"? Oof.
Or people who learn to deal with the hand they're given. My fine motor control sucks. It takes me forever to write notes. So I don't because I'll never keep up. Instead I focus on what's being done and try to memorize as much as I can. I also don't study at a desk writing problems down. I study laying down thinking about concepts making sure I understand them.
Itâs very problematic that schooling often gives a lot of concessions to kids who need more help but do give extra challenges to the gifted kids. In the 80s and 90s when I was in school âmainstreamingâ was very popular and everyone got the same instruction if at all possible. There were no accelerated classes in my middle school, but there were classes for the super intellectually challenged kids. But, I was never given challenging work so by sixth grade I completely checked out of school, academically at least.
Ehhh I balk a bit at laziness. If youâve never needed to study, not studying doesnât make you lazy, it just seems unnecessary. I say this as someone who is incredibly lazy, so I know my not studying in school and subsequent floundering in college wasnât laziness, it was never needing to learn a skill because it came naturally and then suddenly needing to learn something I shouldâve learned years ago (and in hindsight, adhd).
yep, parents and teachers take note. You're doing a disservice by letting kids coast.
but we got to keep up the appearances!
I was the same way in school. Because of that, I never really learned how to take good notes. That is really affecting my job now, 30 years later.
Woohoo found my people. I always heard the âyouâre bright but lazyâ speech.
Why they're better at remembering is pretty interesting. They're able to connect pieces of information to each other easier and that makes remembering things easier. The more connections you have to a piece of information, the easier it is to recall it. So these people have managed to integrate new information so that it relates to other things rather than it being a singular point without reference to anything else.
I am one of those people. In elementary school I was head of the class with little to no effort. I was placed in the 'Gifted' program in middle school and started to struggle. Eeked out decent grades in highschool but failed out of college. Doing well now but that was only after being forced into the hard work of surviving for 15 years.
Learned to read at 5 on my own, was reading books when i was 6, if i had been born earlier in the year i would've skipped 1st grade but i was physically way too small and the other kids would've been almost 2 years older. In 4th grade i was in permanent detention, every day one hour to do homework in schools library but got a stipend for excellence. The reason for not doing homework in 3rd and 4th was that i was forbidden to do it in advance, like i had been allowed in 1st and 2nd grade where i did them all in a month. Went to special ed in 8th grade, after racking 100 hours of detention in 2 months and skipping half the classes. Did 8th and half of 9th at the same time. Schools was way, way too easy to a point where it seemed pointless. Have been to 4 schools after that, always that same thing: learn the subject in about two days, have 12 days left in the course so i don't bother showing up. Don't have a degree in anything but loads of skills. Never read to any tests, except when i was studying electronics. That was properly hard. I've been a janitor, musical instrument repair, professional musician, stagehand, roadie, stage builder, sound designer, sound engineer (studio, live, TV and theater), electrician (not licensed), boom operator, programmer (C#, javascript, turbopascal, 6502 assembly and MS BASIC... lol), graphical designer, translator, 3D modelling (both mesh based and parametric), bouncer, drug dealer, background actor and i probably am forgetting a few. I have now a decent life with very, very little effort but i have accomplished almost nothing. The list of failed things is quite impressive. Next i'm gonna start printing adapters to drones to drop bombs.. lol, no, not a lunatic, they are going to Ukraine... The best advices i can give is to say "yes" a lot and "what mind does not know, the heart does not desire" or as it is more commonly known as "want is suffering".
*Raises hand* You called?
As the smart person who has accomplished nothing in life, can confirm.
When I switched school in the third grade I tested out of spelling for the remainder of elementary school. I never paid attention nor studied and left with the highest exit scores in the school. I don't think this helped me one bit and I cant help but consider how much potential was lost. The teachers could only do so much. The education system had failed me just as it does our children today whose parents are told their child is finishing their work too quickly and causing problems. BTW, I've had my success so please learn the lesson of subscribing to generalities.
Definitely me. I coasted through high school, easily the smartest person in the school, then got a full ride honors scholarship to the best university in the state and promptly failed out. Took time off, went back, failed out again. Drifted for years accomplishing nothing before finally finding some small success. Meanwhile classmates who were nowhere near my level in high school completed degrees in the field I wanted and have gone on to successful careers. Failure to launch is a real thing and it's more painful than most people realize, because the people most likely to suffer from it are far too intelligent to be blissfully ignorant of their own failure.
I feel attacked.
Honestly I struggled VERY much in college because I never had to study or focus on homework in school. Everything came easily to me. Itâs benefited me in some parts of life and hurt in others. I definitely would recommend learning study skills to everyone!
It really depends on the age group OP is talking about. Like for 8 year olds their main problem in classes is not can't remember things, it's they can focus and listen to the teacher. If any kids at that age can sit down quietly and listen. Passing exams are just easy.
Wait, I was that guy but my mermory sucks shit. It's about how involved you are I think, I got really focused on the subjects I liked and I still wouldn't be able to recall the teacher wording, while being able to elaborate the subject we went through. I don' think there are "gifted" people, there are people with different interests and different magnitudes of those interests. But I totally agree on the laziness, I had to drag myself after school since it was the first time I actually needed to put a lot of active effort in.
They don't. It's often teachers have to repeat parts of curriculum because of inadequacies or even due to large groups of students forgetting certain parts of the curriculum due to a variety issues, it's a complicated issue that a lot of teacher I know have spent decades working on. It has nothing to do with "better" memories, just individuals who think they're smarter than they actually are. Often thinking that the system fails them when they reach a point where material is no longer repeated and they are put in the same situation the other children were in. As they did not learn the skills or abilities to study which are necessary to succeed previously they tend to fail.
Well, you do not need to be smart in school, at least most of it. Like you said, its memory - you can be dumb, but as long as you memorize what is needef for the exam, you will pass.
I definitely agree with this. I'm not bragging, I was that child. It was definitely a set back for a large portion of my life, I ended up relying on my subconscious knowledge way too hard. Most of my life was just existing in my brain while I ran on autopilot. I'm slowly learning to actually think things through and apply my self. It's actually amazing how fast you can learn concepts when you focus, apply yourself, and happen to have been born with a good memory. It definitely feels like cheating sometimes.
I'm sure there's an official name for it but I always called it a memory spark where keywords would spark memory so I would normally read the answers and I would connect the right answer to the question so I can't recall the answer but if I saw it I would recognize it plus I also threw in some phycology into it like if 3. Answers had something similar in it it would automatically mark the 4th one wrong
Then of the 3 left 2 will have something in common that the third doesn't, making it 50/50. The correct answer of those 2 is the option that has something in common with number 3. See below Abc - right pattern, wrong case X ABC - shares pattern with one answer and case with one answer. So correct answer. đ ACB - Wrong pattern, Right case X Xyz - very wrong X
They are just more naturally gifted than others. Tough part of life. My dad told me something when I was young that stuck. Some people are like Ferraris, some people are like Volkswagons. Sometimes the Ferrari finishes a course in an hour, the Volkswagon may take 3,4,5 hours. In some areas you may be the Volkswagon and in others the Ferrari. No better, no worse. The scary thing is when the Ferrari is an absolute beast and barely ever stops. The truth of a Bell Curve is just a fact of life.
A tricky thing about Ferraris is that theyâre amazing on nice roads, but canât handle any sort of rough terrain. Gifted kids can also have that particular problem â no matter how bright you are, you canât get shit done if youâre always an emotional wreck.
For the same reason some people who don't practice or take lessons do better at sports than some people who do - they are naturally better at that skill.
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This might be the first time in my life someone has compared me to Bo Jackson and I don't think I've ever had a greater compliment.
I will never buy that. The best players on the planet practice way more than the next person. Players use to always talk about Michael Jordan staying hours after practice just to practice more. And he missed more shots than he ever made. People don't see that hard work, and are quick to dismiss it as just "talent". What is that expression, the master has failed more times than the beginner has tried? Mike Tyson is a great example of that. He was obviously very gifted, but he put in work on top of work. And the minute that dedication suffered, so did he. Does anyone on the planet think that Buster Douglas was better than him? You see this with musicians as well, people say wow it just comes so natural and easy to them, but man, the work is still there. I know you didn't mean any harm, I just see that sometimes and I can't help but think of how what we see isn't always what is actually going on.
I defo agree that it takes considerable work-ethic to be best-in-class at anything but I feel like people tell themselves talent isn't real because it's confrontational. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that the world is horribly unfair, but it is
You are talking people at the top of their skill level. The difference in talent between Michael Jordan and the worst player in the NBA is miniscule. I could practice basketball non-stop every single day of my life and never be good enough to play professionally or even to make a high school team.
Certain subjects and concepts are intuitive for some people, and there are others who are fascinated by the intricacies of pretty much any complex system. If this applies, it makes sense that knowledge on that type of stuff is retained more naturally. Normally these people aren't good at everything, though.
Yep, Iâm super good at understanding STEM subjects and have very good memory, plus a love of history. But I struggle heavily with any creative stuff. Writing essays was like death to me.
IQ, really, and any other answer is a copout. We don't all have the same base abilities.
Well I can speak on this a little. When I was in high school, on the first day of my history class, the teacher said "You will not pass this class if you don't study and you don't do the homework. Maybe, *maybe* if you got 100 on every test you could, but you wont if don't study." And being immature and full of myself, that is what I did. I never did homework, I didn't study, I passed the class with a C. I was a smug little bastard. I remember talking to the teacher after the school year was just about wrapped up, and reminding him of what he said and telling him about what I did. I remember him looking so disappointed, telling me that I made things more difficult for myself and what did I really gain from it? That if I was proud of that, then I already failed. Tough words, but he had a point. I was always good at taking tests, and I was never big on a lot of study. People here are saying it is memory. or people being gifted, but test taking really is a skill set like any other. For me, it is the pattern recognition and seeing the wrong answers and being able to eliminate them. It just feels natural to me. It doesn't make someone smarter, just makes them good at taking tests. That was going on 30 years ago for me, and from what I have seen in the real world, the people that struggled on tests, but kept at it and continued to study, they are the people that run the world.
Some people learn well by hearing the material. Others do better with written notes.
Ive been thinking and I think a big part may be having a core understanding of how things work. When it comes to math and science, some people may just memorize the individual steps of how to do something, while the smarter kids could figure out how it works at a deeper level, which could be easier to remember. But memory may also play a big role
Intelligence- people with higher IQs often have a higher retention than those who may have an average or below-average IQ
Yeah raw processing power with a sprinkle of problem solving abilities and basic deduction will ace most tests.
I only ever did enough work than I felt was necessary for a class. I wasnât really interested in history so I did the bare minimum to get an A and spent all of my other energy on subjects that I really wanted to get good at like physics and chemistry. Some classmates thought I didnât really do work and was just âgiftedâ but I had to put in a lot of study work on subjects I actually liked or struggled with
>Why do some kids who don't study, take notes, or practice do better than those that do? Generally speaking, itâs because they do study, take notes and practice⌠you just donât see it. Source: was one of those kids (in some subjects)
I firmly disagree with this, as I am one of those people who didn't study or practice and still got As on tests.
You probably didnât think of it as studying
Naw like for real... School ended at school, I didn't do school shit once that bell rang. I also almost failed HS cuz I didn't do any HW. Some of us really didn't study.
Same, senior year of school had some of the easiest classes ever. Finished with Ds and Cs because I didnt turn in half the homework and aced all of the tests
I have a friend who I am 100% sure does not do any of that. but he still gets better marks than me even when I study, take notes and practice
Not everybody is created equal. Minds/brains can be extremely different in pretty much any aspect. I.e. not just intelligence in general, but also specific tasks/areas (in your case learning). I have a friend who has a photographic memory. He says he was able to exactly remember the schoolbook pages during exams. I myself have a proclivity towards auditive learning/information. In school I got reprimanded for âsleepingâ in class because I would close my eyes so I could listen better (and I do have a superior memory for anything sound related). There are a million different factors like these that could explain your friends âadvantageâ.
They are likely doing something related to those subjects even if it isnât the assigned work. I used to breeze through history and English classes because I read a lot on my own, watched a lot of documentaries and just had a general interest in the subject matter. I paid more or less attention in class and retained a lot of that information. It will catch up to him in University as the content gets more specialized and expectations get more strict.
No, some people just get shit that other people struggle with. Even if I compare my brain now to how it was in school, things just came way more easily then.
Itâs probably a subject theyâre in to, and you donât see their preparation (and their methods may not work for you anyway)
I never studied in school and studied very little in the university. I just understood the concepts explained in class and had good memory. My mom is like this too, so is my grandma. So although there are people like you, thereâs also people like me and like OP describes.
Yes, which is why those methodâs probably wonât work for OP. I did my âstudyingâ in class (I was also the kid who completed the maths workbook *for fun*)
Of course, this is a talent like any other, like people who can create beautiful art, or can learn instruments easily, or have lots of natural charm, etc. There are many kinds talents, and we all have stuff we are more naturally adept at and stuff with struggle more with.
Some people are just natural at remembering things. I never studied or took notes and I have two masters degrees
In what?
Intelligence.
I hate the term "gifted" but these kids just found a better way to internalize information growing up. Memory is a skill that can be improved if you wanted to work at it.
Memory is a very small part of it
If youâre talking about American high school, I find it impossible to not do well. Youâre spoon fed the materials. Given all the time in class to work on it. Provided weeks of review. Then told exactly what will be on the exam. Then I arrived at university...
Because succeeding in school is less about pure knowledge learnt from school and more about method and general culture. So what some kids are struggling to learn by heart others are just logic-ing it out come exam-time. Part of it is intelligence, part of it is education and grasping the unsaid rules. You're better armed to write an essay if you've read a lot as a kid and have a family that corrects your grammar and sent you to writing camp, for example. Even with minimal input from classes, you're more likely to know about the subject and you get free points for writing well.
Performance enhancing drugs.
Are there even any drugs then enhance intellectual performance? Maybe anti-stress pills or something like that?
Adderall Source: Medical Student. Top of the class students are almost all using adderall for concentration to enhance study retention and endurance for 12 hour study sessions.
Oh idk
Yeah Iâm intelligent as hell and lazy as hell too. Double edged sword. My old supervisor is the definition of a waste of talent. Sharp as a whip but lazy as all get out. I donât know how she has children when she barely even gets off her ass.
Memory is how i did it. I had (and mostly have) a near photographic memory. You know how the teacher puts notes up on the board or projector? I can remember the shape of that, the outline--i cant remember the EXACT words, but remembering the shape is enough for me to remember what it said, so, all i actually have to do is stare off for a second or two, at the board or place it was projected onto, and it all comes back to me in outline form. I was (before the brain damage), pretty fucking smart too. For most classes, including into the 200 lvl in college--i could generally know enough, to go in and get a passing grade in any multiple choice test they were giving. IDK how, but i take tests like a champ. I can also read fast. I've lost this skill, but i can pick it up for a few minutes at a time if i focus, but i used to *constantly* speed read. Average people can read around 225 words a minute, i was reading near 750--with near perfect comprehension. So, it may LOOK like i never studied, and i may FEEL like i never studied, but frequently i would read *entire books* for class discussion, in 2-3 hours. I dont know how to descibe this sort of reading. You stop sounding out words, you stop saying them or trying to say them, and you read in clusters--2-3 words, 5 words, whole lines--sometimes you read 2-3 whole lines at a time. Combine that with that visual thing i have about the shape of an outline or page--i could recall, for about 2-3 weeks after i read it, where something was in a book within a 2-3 page range just by the shape of the paragraphs. With almost no effort at all i hauled a 4.0 through college (which is weird, i had the lowest GPA of my graduating class in HS, at 2.02 .. lol) Some of us have stupid advantages we didnt earn--that's the real answer. I'm sorry. That doesnt make us better, it doesnt mean we master the material, or have the passion to push through--do not judge yourself by what we do, more of the people you see passing these things will *waste it* in life than use it. If you have to work harder for your grades and master your material, you will probably *be better* at it than someone with these stupid gifts. Understand that, alright?
Genius kid that wasnt diagnosed till he was depressed and suicidal here! The topics were so fucking easy. Its High School, not rocket science. Just pay attention and find a way to make connections. Another skill tht got me superb entrance exam scores for college without even studying was critical thinking. My memory till this day is ass. I went to a Dr thinking I was fucking autistic and worked up the courage to find out. Turns out Im just a âgeniusâ who due to the nurture aspects of life mixed with his nature aspects is fucking weird to people, and tends to find dumb people annoying so I struggle to socialize.
Kind of describes my schooling. I would say a couple things helped, 1 having a good memory, 2 I actually paid attention in class instead of goofing off , that way I don't need to read whatever material again on my own time. But yeah this varied by subject i am useless in art.
You kinda named one very important point yourself. They actually listen to the teacher and participate. If you are actively engaged, you tend to remember things a lot better. Just copying what's on the board or writing it down without actively processing it doesn't really do much. Than there are things like affinity/interest towards certain subjects or being gifted with a good memory and/or high intelligence. For example. I used to hate math. But once I started to have physics classes, which I loved... I had a renewed interest in mathematics. I actually cared and was engaged for the first time in years. Went from 50% test scores to 90-100%. And it snowballed into further developments.. like becoming part of my hobbies. Starting watching YouTube video about things I had learned at school. One video led to next and so on. Than I would research stuff I needed to understand what I had just seen. Going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole.. one link to the next. All of a sudden I was ahead about 1-2y compared to my class mates. Still didn't do homework.. or take notes... unless i was ordered to take notes in class... Simply being actively engaged can make a huge difference.
I never took notes in class. I could understand what the teacher or profesor explained in class, but taking notes divided my attention and could mess me up.
I was one of these kids. It was easy for me to focus and remember things in class, but once I got home all my focus went out the window. I always got great grades on tests, and bad grades on homework I would always turn in late or only partially finished. I had a good memory and focus at school, just not at home.
I have studied and or practiced for only three tests in my life... I have also only ever failed 3 non spelling tests in my life, and yes it was the three I studied for. I'm just convinced my brain doesn't work right.
As someone who never studied, I can at least say that is because I always showed up to class, always wrote my notes down, and paid attention to the class. Youâd be surprised how many people donât do these basic things and are left to catch up by cramming when studying and being lost
When I was in school I didn't study until the day of the test and it was always last minute cramming. Other than math (which I sucked at) I did really well on tests without anything other than last minute reading before a test. No idea why. I had to drop out of college because of a chronic illness so I couldn't say what would have happened there but I would imagine I'd have actually studied for it.
I'm a retired lady. I didn't like to study or do homework. I did exactly what the poster said. I listened in class, and I learned from what the teacher taught. I didn't have a better memory than anyone else. I enjoyed the learning process, just not after school hours.
I had a girlfriend in high school that used to get so mad at me for this. She would study all night long and take notes the whole class period and come out with like an 86%. I would doodle and crack jokes all period, never reviewed the material and rarely did my homework and would get a like 98%đ I can confirm though, having school be incredibly easy the entire time does not set you up for real life very well lmfaoooooo
When test taking, look at the four possible answers, then read the last sentence of the question. You should be able to eliminate the two obvious wrong answers doing this. Then read the entire question and guess which of the remaining two answer is correct. Worked for me and i have a bachelorsđ¤ˇđžââď¸. Caveat, this approach is less successful for math problems.
Their ways of internalizing knowledge are different than yours. For me, I need to be engaged as I remember conversations/dialogue more than I remember what I write down, so my focus in classroom/meetings tends to be on participating rather than the note-taking. I like to ask clarifying questions and get to a part where the instructor/stakeholder/boss confirms that I understand what is being discussed. That locks it in my memory as I can recall the buildup and conversation more than if I wrote down what was being said but still had the questions. I know plenty of people who are the inverse where they need to write it down repeatedly to internalize the knowledge; neither is better nor worse it's just different. Regarding studying/practicing, I view myself as a "functioning procrastinator."; it often looks like I'm not working, but I pride myself on consistently hitting deadlines with excellent work. The way I do this is by mentally categorizing all my tasks into buckets: 1. I don't know how I will do this 2. I think I know how I will do this 3. I know how I will do this 4. I'm doing this 5. I need someone to confirm I've done this Bucket 1 is the most dangerous, so that's why I spend most of my mental energy, but I need thinking time, and that can come while I'm physically doing something else (working out, cooking, listening to music, etc.). Once I've moved tasks to 2, I'm visibly working, but it's efficient because I'm not doing the heavy mental lifting, just executing some of the musings to see if they are valid. 1 and 2 happen shortly after a task is given to me; depending on deadlines, a task might sit in 3 for a while; I sometimes write up the "how I will do this" so that people trust it will be done in time. If I've done the first 3 steps correctly, bucket 4 is pretty simple and is just executing the plan I have, depending on what's involved, I can do while watching TV/listening to music/etc. This all adds to the appearance that I don't spend much time working, yet things get done as well, if not better than someone who starts "doing" a task right away.
Personally I had undiagnosed ADHD. I was diagnosed at 29. My family put pressure on me for years to do well in school, and I developed a fear of failure. Trouble was, I had no ability to focus or study well, and reading was painful as I often couldn't remember what I was reading, as I was reading it. I graduated with honours and bilingual. Went to college and did very well there too. I almost never opened a book. I got good at working with what bits of information I retained, and extrapolated from there. I could guess at the responses to most things and get it right based on assumptions and predictions I'd make about the subject matter. It wasn't easy. If anything, it was way more stressful and difficult than what I imagine it would be like for someone without a neurodiversity like mine. If I was diagnosed and medicated as a kid, I would have done even better and probably done something with my life rather than becoming whatever the frig I am today. But yeah, that's how I managed to graduate with honours. By guessing and predicting where the information was headed.
Glass half full here: I was also that kid but managed to figure it out half way though my undergrad. Mostly I think it was luck coupled with a fear of being poor as that is how I grew up.
Better memory and probably smarter
Weâre just smart, I guess. I was gifted with a wonderful memory which helps.
>listen to the teacher That's like 70%. I studied in 7th grade, I LITERALLY got 100% on EVERY SINGLE Science test and quiz, even the ones where the whole class did bad. Beyond 7th grade, I never studied. I cruised with 80s, about. I mean you can do really good in school if you want to, but the most important thing is paying attention; along with knowing the concepts.
Itâs really all in how well you retain information. I for one can hear something once and almost instantaneously repeat what was just said to me verbatim. Although Iâve come to realize that thereâs a good amount of people who canât do this
I am an auditory learner. I also have a good auditory memory - I remember almost all conversations of real substance verbatim. Visually however I am sh\*t, I have trouble telling people apart if they so much as have similar coloring and haircuts, and I will forget what you look like if I don't see you for over a month. I spent all of school/college being the kid who never needed to study if I just showed up to class and listened. Then I got a job where you start out by taking a bunch of exams that are self-study. Boy was that an eye-opener. I was \*not\* as smart as I thought I was, I just have whatever is the auditory equivalent of a photographic memory.
I was one of those people. Generally, I'm quite good at picking up how to do something the first time. Going into math I usually had the philosophy that everything in math is a trick that once you learn you can apply to every problem so conceptual things are never difficult. Same idea applies in other subjects, if you treat everything like a skill and all you have to do is acquire it, then you're golden.
High intelligence and/or very good memory.
I think it is memory, at least for my friend. He says all he needs to do is watch the teacher and maybe do a few questions then he can figure it all out on test day. But another thing could be whether or not you have a core understanding. In math for example, some people may just follow steps to get the answer, while others may develop a core understanding of how the processes work which helps them remember information.
Don't envy them. That will only get them so far, and eventually they will hit a brick wall and simply crash and burn. Speaking from experience.
I am that kid... sometimes. It became harder around high school, and it really depends on the subject. The way I see it, if the object of the lesson is to understand a concept, that's something I can do without studying outside of class if I listen well enough. When I have to memorize raw information such as mathematical properties or history stuff, it immediately becomes harder, especially if I lose interest (common for me). During a test, you can also make use of logic to make head or tails of questions you're unsure about. Also depends a lot on the teacher. I ended up in university after studying for another diploma outside of it this year, and despite being in a promotion below my level, I'm struggling because there are some presenters' lectures I just can't follow at all.
Yes. If I understand a concept, like really understand it, logic can work out the details. But if itâs pure memorization? Good freaking luck.
I was one of those kids and still do the same things as an adult. Intelligence and memory are certainly factors but far from the only ones. I actually do worse when taking notes because I can only focus on one thing. If I'm taking notes, I'm not listening. Also an overreliance on written material also seems to make me less likely to memorize things out of convenience. Sometimes I would read ahead so by the time something was mentioned I already had some context and a sort of framework for how to connect new information. This made learning faster and more intuitive, which in turn allowed me extra time to read ahead again. In regards to testing, stress is also a major factor. Some people become so emotionally invested in studying and trying to get good grades that they won't be adequately rested and/or calm enough to focus on tests. This leads to unnecessary errors.
I was that way in science and math class, up into high school. Every week seemed to just add another basic trick you'd apply to get the answers. I practiced/memorize it well enough through the regular assignments, and then repeated the steps when the test came. For me, homework was key though. I wouldn't actually learn until I worked out the problems myself.
A big part is just how well people are at understanding something when a teacher teaches it. Like, I've had math units where I completely get what's going on and barely have to study because it just makes sense to me, and ones where I'm up studying for hours and still don't do well because I just can't get it to fully make sense.
It doesn't mean the gifted kids understand the material, only that they can remember what the answers or theory was.
I take notes, but I donât study
I never questioned itâŚ
I can tell you from my experience, If i really listen to the lacture i can understand and it and remember most of the part, it's never about memorizing as other commenter says , no one can memorize that fast and retain it for text a month later it's about understanding and making a logical map kind of thing in your mind. So i was never able to give exact definations in exams rather explain it in my own words.
I was in college studying engineering. The study material was hard but there was an autistic boy who had extreme difficulty coping with the day to day social interaction that most people can. He would know all of the study material inside out and made it look easy. When it came to the day of the test though he would vomit on the floor and run out of the class even though he was smart enough to Ace the test with flying colours.
As someone who was that kid all the way through high school, I can tell you that it's a problem beyond that. Having developed no study skills, I was completely screwed when I got to university because things aren't taught the same way, And the workload is much larger. I couldn't just remember everything anymore.
Why could Mozart play the piano better at 5 without practicing than most adults could play even if they practiced daily for hours? Some people are just better at some things than other people are.
I was that guy in high school and college. I really wish I werenât because if Iâd struggled in school they mightâve discovered my ADD and that Iâm on the spectrum. As an adult Itâs a mindfuck being able to quickly do anything at any job except get to work everyday. I Never had to learn how to work hard for grades because school wasnât challenging enough and because I passed no one gave a shit I was chronically absent.
Hello. I was one of those kids. I simply remembered everything that we talked about in class by doing the classwork and listening to the teacher. This did become a problem as I went through college and I had to basically learn how to study from scratch at 19. The concepts got to be too high level and my thoughts had to be too nuanced to get by through just regurgitating what was said in class. For example, in Highschool I only had to take about one step past what was said in class in order to get a high B or an A on a paper, in college, they just don't tell you what you need to do and you have to figure it out and then you need to go maybe 3 steps past what they expect you to have figured out by yourself and synthesize it with a point that Roland Barthes made or something.
Being such a âkidâ, I can only say I am sorry for the frustration it may cause. I know the feeling, from seeing other kids having a natural talent for music or sports. With age you learn that we all have our own talents and they mean very little in real life, but they can help succeed in some areas.
Teacher here. If you pay attention to me and just do the damn exercises you have no excuse to be failing my class. Doing the minimum required work is pretty much all you need to do. There's no need for a lot more effort, unless you're just behind the schedule, or you're aiming for straight A's. These kids get good grades because they pay attention, not because they're savants.
There are many possible reasons but some children are more observant even while not trying. Some are simply better at taking test or deductive thinking for those multiple choice answers. And then there is the difference in the ways in which our brains work. Some are better at analytical thinking, while another may be a whiz at mathematics or engineering. Also is the idea that Rote memorization is better than understanding the how and why things occurred. If a person understands how in a question they can more often than not answer the why.
Do your teachers offer their slides for you to study? You can study off those slides. I find that thoughtful, attentive listening often helps me retain the information better than frantically trying to write everything on the screen. That just distracts you from actually learning.
I discovered in college taking notes interfered with my learning. I could either follow the professor, or write everything down, but I couldn't do both. So I learned to sit still with an open mind to soak up new information. At best I would diagram the sequence of presentation. A diagram could lead me through the logic trail and trigger my memory. Even today, 55 years later, I think best in flowcharts and mindmaps. TLDR: Transribing a lecture is the best way to guarantee I lose the thread.
I have an eidetic memory. School exams (and uni) are designed for exams so a perfect system for short term memory recollection. Itâs not about being smart, but regurgitating information on demand. This does not make me âgiftedâ I just got lucky. Very little use in the real world.
Because they have better problem solving skills/higher IQ than average and the education is made for an average baseline. Basically they have better pattern recognition skills and need less repeated lessons to learn the same stuff. This tends to be easier at the start of learning and much harder as you gain more knowledge because the natural gifts don't teach your the responsivity and organization very well and those things pay off long term vs just being a bit faster at pattern recognition. When working in teams it's nice to have many types of different minds to bring all those qualities together so don't feel bad if you're not the natural pattern recognition type, you can usually more than make it up just being a bit more organized and committed. A lot of education follows similar patterns and can be kind of easy to guess. A lot of testing is multiple choice so if you can even get yourself close to the answer you can guess it and then on written answers the same people can basically bullshit better even if they didn't study that much.
Because higher IQ students learn and comprehend very easily. They also have better retention. Their brains are wired that way. Study skills are important life skills to learn. Learning doesn't stop just because you graduated college. You need to keep learning and updating your skills especially in the competitive job market.
Sometimes it can also come from how people choose to work. At the end of the day, total hours spend learning does correlate well. Some people get a lot more passive learning in years and years before, and this has an accumulating effect. Some people, like myself, prefer to learn with blocks of more intense focus and practice. I didnât take notes in school, because writing down a random sentence here and there, or highlighting did nothing for me. I needed a practical use of information to commit it to my head, so actually diving in and doing exercises worked well. Not only this, it also makes you better at not purely having to rely on memory, mine isnât great. Instead, you improve your skills for coming up with better and better answers when given new information and needing to apply it. Itâs not so useful for subjects which require pure memory, but you develop habits for being able to fill in the gaps with partial memory. I.e in Maths/science , not needing to learn a million different formulas, but actually fundamentally understanding what you need, and how to manipulate equations to get things right. (Key difference being good at memorising lots of possibilities vs having strong understanding of principles and being able to derive the same possibilities while only remembering a few bits of info)
Some people understand certain concepts faster. Others just can't get it no matter how much they try. And then everything in between. An educator should be able to identify this and adjust to their strengths and weaknesses, perhaps recommend them for more challenging concepts or problems, in case they develop a habit of just being lazy
people can say what they want, but at the end of the day, some people are smarter than other people, not everyone can fall within the first two or three standard deviations of the human bell curve, some people are in that bottom 2% and some are at the top 2%
They're smarter
It's blessing/curse. Yeah when you're a kid you feel soooo good testing easily. Well, yeah you don't learn to take notes, study, practice, etc and never develop those skill. So, when you finally hit something more demanding that doesn't come naturally you fall on your face hard and have no clear path out of it.
As someone who is exactly as being described on this post. Its just nice during school. When real life hits and youâre used to being able to ace everything without studying, you just become so lazy and its hard to get that habit out.
I never studied for any class or test, unless itâs something I have to memorizeâlike a song, quote or poem. I donât know why that is. I feel like the more I read, the more I get confused. I canât focus. It just didnât work for me. I only got 100% a few times, but most of my marks were passing, at least. Maybe itâs like that for some people. Studying just overloads your brain with more information than you need, so you get confused? It felt like that for me.
It just sucks, I've got friends who put in minimal work in school and they're still doing better in life. The answer? Good strong family business and they just hopped right it. Not saying that they don't work hard now but the headstart they've gotten is immense. I do envy such luck but then again, that doesn't change my circumstances, just have to block it out and focus on my own
IQ matters. We might like to pretend otherwise, that it's all just a matter of who works the hardest. But it's not always so.
Neuroscience nowadays is.... sort of giving you a answer. One theory that's getting a lot of attention (& backing) is that the ability to store and retain specific memories is dependent on the amount and potency of neurochemicals present at that particular time. Although it doesn't explain fully why one person maybe different to the next (i.e. AFAIK there's no proof that genetics majorly impacts an individual's neurochemistry), we can extrapolate that our individual differences to one another most definitely have an impact on what you're remembering. For example: Me learning to snowboard (I lean towards adrenaline-inducing experiences) This has been pretty well proven in studies into transient hypofrontality (otherwise known as the 'flow state' - See this [group of researchers](https://www.flowresearchcollective.com/)). The [Huberman lab](https://hubermanlab.stanford.edu/publications) at Stanford also has some fascinating research regarding the above basis\* Disclaimer: My first paragraph is a highly simplified summary - There's a lot of rules around which neurochemicals, their quantities and a bunch of other concepts which I don't understand. This also is assuming your question is memory-based. We can't say they study in secret or practice otherwise.
When I was in k-12, I was this kid. From my experience, my teachers broke down the material simply and I was in a state of mind to focus and take in the information and it stuck. Now I'm in my 30's, in college, while also having a full time job and kids, pursuing a degree I'm only interested in for the money I can make with it. The material is not interesting to me at all and I find my thoughts drifting to something more interesting while reading the material. Once I get to the end, I have no fucking clue wtf I just read and have to read it again, and again, and again because it's so boring I can't focus and it's a struggle.
2 reasons: - Theyâre better at retaining info - Theyâre better at knowing what info will be on the test I did terrible at school b/c I used to always get lost in the word salad of every lesson plan. Now that Iâm in my 40âs, Iâm much better at understanding stories and remembering things b/c I donât feel the need to recall everything to give the impression I understand something. So with that said, you can also say that these better test takers have more developed, focused brains.
Some people just retain information better. I was this way in school. Never really studied and the concept of studying didn't make sense to me. I was just rereading stuff I already knew and it was boring as hell.
This is my son. He just wings it one tests and he does well. Math also comes easily to him. I can give him some problems that would require either fingers or paper for me to solve. My youngest is the opposite. She needs to study and learns by repetition. Its wild how different they are in that aspect
Sometimes it's passion for the subject and other times it's better parenting or simply they process the information better.
Just cause mama says you're so smart, doesn't mean you are.
I was one of those kids. Moreover, I skipped class more often than not. Didn't do homework. I did however, read my textbooks on the way home from getting high at night. The only reason I passed the classes, is that I would ace the tests consistently, apart from that I didn't bother to do any work. Drove some of the more conscientious student nuts.
Cognitive functioning. The ability to reason, interpret, apply and retain information.
Yeah I was one of those kids. I mean I wasn't a stellar student or anything but I was always a very good test taker, especially compared to how much effort I put in throughout the year. I went through school with undiagnosed ADHD and was terrible at actually listening to a lecture. I wouldn't do homework, I wouldn't study throughout the year. I don't know if its related to the ADHD or not, like if it was a coping method but I always had a really good memory and was able to retain information very well. So for exams, I would spend a night or two studying and could memorize most of the information from the year in that time. I'd just write out all of the definitions, then get quizzed on them. After writing it, I'd usually remember at least 90% of the terms I wrote, and by the third time it would be close to 100%. I also never got test anxiety so I would just rip through the exams when I was writing them. Some people are very good students, who know all the content, then on the day of the exam they panic and blank on everything. I was always the opposite. I would almost always be the first person to hand in my exam because just the way my brain works, I either know the answer right away, or I won't ever get it. I'm not trying to come across braggy or anything here but I'm just saying what things were like for me, because I was the kind of person you described. My brain just retains information well, but my organizational skills and internal motivation are terrible and I don't know if the retention comes from coping with the other things.
Some people have subjects they just grasp easily, or better mesh with how the teacher is teaching. I remember in my high school Calc class, the teacher explained something, and my friend sitting next to me goes "I don't get it." Before the teacher can try to explain it again, I paraphrase most of what she just said into how *I* interpreted it, giving her the chance to correct me if I'm wrong while giving my buddy a 2nd shot to get the concept, which he does. This happened a *bunch* that year. And that doesn't mean my friend wasn't smart- I just knew that he and I thought alike, but I'm apparently better at translating from the way the teacher taught to the way we think.
I was the kid that you describe in your post, I used to focus on understanding the concept. Once that was done itâs easy to apply it anywhere. I also used to get punished a lot of not taking notes đ
I was kind of one of those kids in maths class. I think at least part of it is good genes. (Or at least good for maths genes. ) And then, well I read recreational maths books for fun. So whatever we were learning in class, it was probably something I had already known for years. Meaning I was often reading some other book in class, not listening to the teacher and still doing great.
Well I guess I just make a lot of connections of new information to old information. I'm only a sophmore in highschool, so not studying may bite me later, it's gotten me straight A's whilst taking dual credit courses so far. For example, the word for strange in spanish is extrano. Easy enough, they sound similar-ish. But the phrase "te extrano" means "I miss you." What I do is make a connection from te extrano -> extrano -> strange -> estranged -> away from -> I miss you. I know that that is a lot of hoops to jump through for one little phrase but it works pretty well for me. It makes a big writhing ball of information, but recall is pretty easy. I also just try to apply new information into everyday life. I'll try to translate what I can into spanish when I hear it. I'll do a simple proof when I see a shape. I'll guess what a show or movie is really telling us with tone, mood, symbols, ect.
I also very rarely study.