What's it like to be naturally clever?

[peopleaskweirdstuff]

I know this is daft but I often wonder what it must be like to be really intelligent, you know like just very knowledgeable and very capable of just doing well in exams without really needing to put the effort in.

I'm trying to resit my exams that I should have passed when I was much younger and I'm
Finding it really hard yet some people hardly need to study and just 'get it' must be amazing to just no you are clever

Well I don’t think I am ‘very clever’, but I am academic.
Doing academic stuff like exams just doesn't feel challenging. In an exam I would know what is expected of me and I would understand how to answer in a way that would get me the points. Because my brain works in that way.

However. Ask me to put up a shelf, and I wouldn’t really know where to begin. Should I draw a straight line on the wall? Should I start by drilling the holes? Do first? Horrendously impractical person. And the same if you dropped me in a town I didn't know. I’d be lost for hours.

Because my brain isn’t so good at the practical stuff. Or social stuff, really.

You are most likely very clever in ways I am not, OP.

The ability to do well in exams is a skill in itself; to be able to do justice, or even more than justice, to your underlying knowledge. I am brilliant at exams but it's never translated into much success outside the examination hall. As long as you have the minimum qualifications needed to do your job, employers don't care (unless perhaps you have only just left education). It's experience and your skills in navigating the real world that count.

As for what it feels like to be good at exams - completing an exam paper is like other satisfying tasks if you're good at it. It's like completing a crossword or a jigsaw or a cross-stitch - you enjoy the challenge of it, 'taming' it and getting it to do what you want.

Best of luck, OP.

I am able to remember lots of information for a short amount of time, so I am good at exams. I also can do problem solving. But I'm rubbish at languages and my brain goes completely blank when it comes to small talk and new people. To be honest I'd rather be more socially intelligent as I think it would mean more friends.
There are many types of intelligence and nobody has them all. Myself, I think socially and emotionally intelligent people are the luckiest, and most likely to have a fulfilled and happy life.

My OH is insanely clever. I don't know how he did at school but I feel from what he says that he wasn't challenged enough. He just knows a lot about a lot! Ask him a question about geography, history, sport etc and he'd probably have a good stab at the answer. He's also got a great sense of direction whereas I frequently lose the car in the car park 😅. And he has common sense in every area (apart from working the washing machine, vaccuum cleaner etc!). He still has a great love of learning. He did very well in exams as he always just did his best.

Jammy bugger 🤣

It's brilliant. I do so well on House of Games, Eggheads etc

Pinksorrel that makes me feel a bit better as even though I'm not technically very clever I feel I am emotionally intelligent and feel pretty confident in talking to new people (unless they stray into subjects I know nothing about but then I am a good listener!)

I'm just like @moveoverye - very academic, didn't have to work had s at uni, masters felt ridiculously easy (got a merit doing it a few hours a week around a full time job).

But totally impractical. Can't do the most basic DIY. I try because I want to be more self sufficient but it always ends up costing me more money hiring tradespeople to fix my bodge up. Struggle with ordinary things like financial admin etc.

We are all wired differently

I'm clever but I'd always have preferred to be pretty, if I'm honest. I felt that the really pretty girls sailed through life and had it easy. Intelligence wasn't valued much when I was at school.

I have a good memory, read very quickly and found exams easy. I did well - but could have done better if I'd applied myself at all. Because it was easy to get good grades without really doing any work I don't think it necessarily benefited me.

Hmm it’s not really anything you can describe, you kind of take it for granted like you do any other inmate features. I do appreciate I’m really lucky though.

@Funkyslippers that stuff matters just as much! My DH is very clever but is also not good in social situations and it has held him back all the way through life

I do well in exams but I’ve always just been quite good at writing and I have a really good memory. I think it’s my memory that made me do well in exams rather than me being any more intelligent than people who don’t do quite so well.

I’m with Pinksorrel in not being very good in social situations and I would much rather be able to have that than the ability to do well in exams!

I breezed through school and found it all very easy, found exams easy. I don’t know that I’m really clever as such, just didn’t find academic stuff difficult.

It hasn’t translated to success in the real world at all. I have a modest income (very low by MN standards) live in a terraced house on a 60s housing estate, drive an old banger. Am constantly worried about how to afford everything. House is in disrepair as I can’t afford the stuff we need to do on it. I’ve found the “real world” much more difficult than school and people who found school much harder than me are now way more successful than me.

I actually think finding school and uni so easy was a huge hindrance. I was definitely fed this myth by school that getting stellar exam results equates to rich, happy and successful. I went through so much resentment in my 30s and 40s because I could suddenly see people were getting better houses, better cars, better stuff than me and I thought it was hugely unfair because I’d always been the best at school. This is a ridiculous attitude, of course. I never dreamt school wouldn’t equate to real life, but now I know of course it doesn’t! I never had to work at anything so I left school and uni not knowing how - and real life was a shock. I’ve probably underachieved ever since.

So I don’t think it’s that amazing at all. I think if you have to work at it you can translate that to so much else in your life.

I really hope your exams go well for you, and more importantly, you achieve what you dream of.

I completley agree with this.

I'm a really quick learner, I pick things up with ease and generally seem to do better than a lot of my counterparts without much effort. I can multitask without thinking about it, so I get loads done in a work environment. I hear colleagues complaining about workload and stress and the volume of tasks, for example, and don't understand where they're coming from. I've never struggled academically or professionally. Frankly, I find it a bit embarrassing - I was bullied horrendously in school for being a geek/swot/teachers pet and I've carried that into my adult life - so I deliberately slow down and "dumb down"

I'd much rather be socially engaging, and have a lovely group of friends, and a full social calendar. It's a life skill I just don't have!

I am clever (and dumb in lots of ways too, like everyone is!).

pros:
-exams never stressful really - actually quite fun
-lots of stuff at work is quicker - reading, summarising, making decisions
-can solve problems and understand stuff in lots of parts of life: whether it’s how to organise a party wall agreement with a neighbour or how to work out what pension choices to make

cons:
-was bullied at school because of being an outsider (it was all very obvious that I kept “coming top” in stuff and people teased me)
-quite often a bit bored when people are trying to solve a problem and the answer is blindingly obvious (I do a lot of polite listening)
-marriage pool probably reduced. Only very clever men ever liked me. Luckily I found a clever bloke and we appreciate each other :-)

all in all I agree that pretty might be better! (I am definitely not pretty).

I can basically do well at anything I try my hand at - meaning I'm a jack of all trades, master of none, because I don't particularly care that much. No emotional connection to things because I didn't have to work hard at it. It's probably a bad attitude overall, but I try to hide it so I'm not seen as a cocky fucker. I do have enough humility to recognise it's not the same for other people.

I don't think most really clever people think of themselves that way because they're so crap at many aspects of life and clever in just one way. They know what it's like to be hopeless at stuff. Or if they're a good all rounder they move in circles where there are better people at different things so they think they're quite normal.

I do really well at one thing and would be seen as gifted at related things but I'm so markedly rubbish at everything else that I don't feel qualified to answer the question at all. Yes by normal standards I'm clever but everyone knows I'm...challenged at Life Generally.

People describe me as clever and I guess it's because I love maths, read lots and have a ridiculous and random mind full of general knowledge ... but I also choke on air, trip over my own feet and completely forget what I'm doing or saying while I'm doing or saying it!

I work with people who are generally expected by people to be extremely intelligent because of the qualifications they have to hold to do their job. But a lot of them know everything about their professional subject, but not much at all about anything else and, thankfully have secretaries who proofread and edit their letters before they go out to clients.

I can remember a girl at school who had a photographic memory. She just read up on subjects the night before and got really high marks. She ended up with 9 GCSE's but then left to become a hairdresser.
I suppose she wasn't really clever, just good at remembering facts.

I am really, really good at exams (or I was 30+ years ago when I last sat some!) I get a buzz from the challenge of it and my memory is really good. When I take part in quizzes I find I know the answers to questions I didn't know I knew so I guess I must absorb information and my brain is efficient at retrieving it at the right time.

But I don't think I am particularly clever. I think you can be super intelligent and bomb in exams.

Not clever but could absorb information easily and recall it. I was in set 1 for everything and absorbed the lesson without paying too much attention, messing about with mates. The teacher was often put out that I could always answer their questions when they wanted to prove I wasn't listening. I got a B in an exam that I fell asleep in. I always managed to fluke exams but coursework was my enemy, too much effort.

My old brain is struggling with learning these days though.

I am naturally clever academic person. Good memory and good analytic skills and good at writing.

But it is a fantasy that anyone can just do really well without making an effort.

I did my degree at Cambridge, the people that got firsts were really bright but they also put in the work to prep for their exams.

How could it be otherwise?

I think everyone pushes themselves to the point where they find it hard. I mean even the very clever people will be studying harder subjects/level so it will seem hard to them.
I did a mathematical masters degree, but don’t think I can manage a PhD, for example.

I won't lie, It's pretty good.

Of course fate gives with one hand and takes with the other, in my case that means also being a sociopath. I wouldn't trade to be the other way round though. I'm sure you have other gifts to make up for any lack of analytical intelligence.

I'm not sure intelligence brings happiness either, anecdotally the thickest people often seem to be the happiest in life. Maybe that's because life can be rather depressing if you think too deeply about it, perhaps it's better being able to just live in the moment.

I have had the same experiences as @Lindtnotlint in many respects. Finding a partner who was my intellectual equal was a challenge. The very bright guys at school were a bit too nerdy for me.

Also I think I'm capable of doing more than I actually do - I have to be interested in something to give it proper attention though. I've also come to the realisation that sometimes other things are more important to me than a big job and big salary.

I honestly can't remember all that well. My memory is shot and brainpower gone. But I was clever once. And it was just like having this clarity. Like just looking at information, and it making pure sense, and therefore being able to interpret it. But I was the mathematical kind of clever - I've never been that great with general knowledge and so on (although I was particularly good at the film questions in pub quizzes in my late 20's!). I found joy in equations.
I think I lost it in a sea of beer and indifference during my early twenties and it never really came back. I just don't have the clarity of thought any more.

I'd liken my brain now (even though its older and hopefully wiser in life stuff) - to when I was a pre-teen and I couldn't always grasp the concept of things - it didn't fit together so easily, and I have to concentrate so hard for things to make sense, which I didn't have to do 25 years ago.