"Smart kid", bad grades (1 Viewer)

[Catberry]

I'm not sure if anyone else is in the same boat. Personally, I get "you are so smart" e.t.c all day but if you look at my grades, you would think the opposite. Not a single A on my report.
Yeah, it's because I don't work much. Whenever I do my work, I get bored of it in 5 minutes and find it hard to persist. I tell myself I'd devote an hour to a subject but I go do something else halfway. A lot if the time, I find questions repetitive and get the idea after one or two questions but it seems that it just doesn't compute in tests. I don't know where to get my motivation from since I don't really know where I'm headed in the future.


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[Absolutezero]

I'm not sure if anyone else is in the same boat. Personally, I get "you are so smart" e.t.c all day but if you look at my grades, you would think the opposite. Not a single A on my report.
Yeah, it's because I don't work much. Whenever I do my work, I get bored of it in 5 minutes and find it hard to persist. I tell myself I'd devote an hour to a subject but I go do something else halfway. A lot if the time, I find questions repetitive and get the idea after one or two questions but it seems that it just doesn't compute in tests. I don't know where to get my motivation from since I don't really know where I'm headed in the future.


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If you're not smart enough to be getting A's without trying, then you're not smart enough not to be trying.

 

[strawberrye]

1)Whenever I do my work, I get bored of it in 5 minutes and find it hard to persist.
To rectify this, perhaps consider whether the work you are doing will actually assist in either enhancing your understanding or your marks-establish goals for each study session, establish short and long term goals-you can use academic marks or ATAR, you don't necessary need a specific career goal to motivate you, maybe listen to some concentration music to prolong your concentration span-over a period of time, you can increase your concentration from 5, to 10, then gradually to an ideal 40-45 minute time span. To persist with something-you must attempt to find a passion or inspiration for the subjects you are doing-thinking about what you want to get out of this year is very important.

2)I tell myself I'd devote an hour to a subject but I go do something else halfway.-
it doesn't matter, because if one hour doesn't work, then do it in 30 minute span, when you get bored of a subject, study for another subject, alternating between different subjects is a way of maximising your study efficiency and minimising your boredom, make sure you are learning in a way that optimises your level of retention-i.e. if you are not a visual learner and don't remember by looking at a page for half an hour, then consider recording notes/essays on an audio recording device and remember things that way, or you might find someone to explain concepts to, or pretend to explain concepts to in front of a mirror

3)if the time, I find questions repetitive and get the idea after one or two questions but it seems that it just doesn't compute in tests.
-Try to ask your teacher for harder questions, try to find harder textbooks which has less repetitive, more complex questions that requires an integration of your knowledge. To understand how to do a question is not enough, the whole point of sometimes practising questions repeatedly is to make sure it becomes a reflex action-essentially it allows you to do these questions very fast and with very high accuracy in tests so that you can devote more time into questions that requires more lateral thinking-and hence gain more marks. Getting an idea is not exactly your goal, your goal should be to get each question 100% and know how to approach a never before seen, difficult question using fundamental principles that you learnt in your easier ones-try the questions under exam conditions-practice makes perfect

4)I don't know where to get my motivation from since I don't really know where I'm headed in the future.

Have a watch of the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pEBz6PzF50 -re-watch it if necessary to get short boosts of motivation
-a lot of people your age probably also don't know where they are headed in the future, but the concrete fact is, getting a higher ATAR will allow you to have more choices of going to as many university courses directly as possible, and this is super important when you don't know what you want to do-and you want to make sure that at the end of the year, when you must decide what you want to do, your ATAR can help you to get to that degree in less time. Try to find a source of motivation that comes from yourself, not built upon your friends/parents/peer expectation

-Just remember one more thing, in the long run in life, in the HSC year, to be smart is not enough-you must harness your talents and quick learning capacities to enable you to reach your maximum potential, seek to be a hard-working person, and smart is relative, whether one is smart or not depends on who you compare that person to, however, hard-working is less relative-just ask yourself this one last question-imagine you are at the end of your HSC year, do you want to say you have completed this year with the best of your effort and have no regrets or that you have completed this year with regret that you haven't tried your best. Perhaps try to compete with yourself-when you are able to excel/improve against your previous results-that is a smart as well as hard working person

I truly hope you will soon found that source of motivation and change your attitude around to 'I am going to work hard'-with a new goal in mind, anything is possible if you set your heart to it. Hope this helps and all my best wishes for you doing brilliantly in your HSC year-a year where you will have no regrets (It is never too late to change)

 

[rumbleroar]

I think it's more of laziness than whether or not you're "smart". I know it's happened to me before. My mum's been badgering me about being "smart" but being too lazy to do anything about it (so true). But you need to find it within yourself to bring yourself from that "rut", and perform to your fullest potential.

I think you need to find out where you want to go in the future, and even if you can't, just think of achieving the highest possible ATAR or whatever to have those opportunities available. I know that isn't as strong as a motivator than wanting to do something for a few years, but at least it's a start. It's also a lot of self discipline.

And if you find questions repetitive and it's not computing in test, you're doing the wrong ones or you're not doing enough. (maths I assume lol) If you /truly/ understand the questions and the ideas, you should be able to do them, but if it doesn't seem to click, you just need to do more.

Plus, grades don't necessarily determine your intellectual capabilities. It's merely an indicator of how "well" you satisfy the syllabus criteria.

 

[Crobat]

If you're not smart enough to be getting A's without trying, then you're not smart enough not to be trying.

The greatest, shortest and best one-liner advice ever told.

 

[DanS]

The greatest, shortest and best one-liner advice ever told.

I second that! Reps on me!

 

[Cleavage]

Unfortunately, the HSC is based on having good exam technique and excellent preparation, rather than natural ability to critically think

I think you can just buckle down and study hard, there isn't any other advice anybody can give you. It's up to you to work hard.

 

[Cleavage]

If you're not smart enough to be getting A's without trying, then you're not smart enough not to be trying.

wut

 

[enoilgam]

Intelligence is an extremely broad concept and there are a variety of different types of intelligence. I think school takes a certain type of intelligence and whilst some people might be intelligent, it might not be conducive to success in school.

Think of it like this, in order to play in the NRL, you need to be a good athlete. However, just because you are a good athlete that doesnt mean that you will make a good footy player.

 

[raggiedoll]

Intelligence is of no use if you don't apply it in a way that benefits you.

 

[GoldyOrNugget]

If you're not smart enough to be getting A's without trying, then you're not smart enough not to be trying.

So true. OP, I have met many many people in the same boat as you. You are all just above-average. You and those like you will graduate with above-average ATARs in the low-mid 90s and will get above-average marks in uni (credit average, or distinction average if you're at the high end of 'above-average') and will go on to get an above-average job, maybe as an engineer or web designer or something, and live a nice boring upper-middle-class life. If you are content with that, then you are on the right track.

You might be smart compared to the average person, but if that's your benchmark, then success means merely being above average.

> Perhaps try to compete with yourself-when you are able to excel/improve against your previous results-that is a smart as well as hard working person

Yep.

> A lot if the time, I find questions repetitive and get the idea after one or two questions but it seems that it just doesn't compute in tests.

Then you haven't gotten the idea. If you don't like repetition, find harder questions.

> I tell myself I'd devote an hour to a subject but I go do something else halfway.

Don't set your goals based on amount of study. Set your goal based on what you're actually trying to achieve. Why do you want to spend an hour studying a subject? Probably to get a better mark in the next test for that subject. So your goal should be "achieve a better mark". Work towards that.

I also know many people who I consider to be incredibly smart. They put in a *ton* of effort. Often they'll choose not to put effort into school work, but that's because they direct their attention towards other goals. But you don't necessarily need motivation based on what you want to do when you grow up. I have a friend in university who still has absolutely no idea what he wants to do with his life, and he had no external motivation to do well in school (his parents never bothered him about marks and he was practically guaranteed entrance into his uni course of choice), but he still found the internal motivation to get 99+. He's a smart kid. You're a "smart kid". See the difference?

> My mum's been badgering me about being "smart" but being too lazy to do anything about it (so true).

If you're smart but lazy, you may as well be stupid. Intelligence is not a trait that is useful on its own. Intelligence only means something when you apply it. You don't necessarily have to apply it in school work, but you have to apply it somewhere.

> Unfortunately, the HSC is based on having good exam technique and excellent preparation, rather than natural ability to critically think

A natural ability to critically think is sufficient but not necessary to do well in school. In other words, if you aren't doing well in school, you're probably not as naturally abled as you think. Start putting in effort to make up for it.

 

[d-alarmclock]

unfortnately?

Definitely unfortunately. When in life are you going to need excellent exam preparation? Life is about critical thinking.