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Original poster

Were you incredibly bright at school?

172 replies

Pruni · 15/11/2005 10:00

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Enid · 15/11/2005 10:02

Yes was superbrain

got 2:1 in the end

loved uni

hated A levels

suzywong · 15/11/2005 10:02

same here

bright but throughly unapplied, w as left to ruise through it all with no guidance. Did get a 2:1 but had no idea what to do with it.

am making up for it by applying myself to post grad study next year thouigh.

Funny isn't it?

zippitippitoes · 15/11/2005 10:04

yes i was so clever that I kept getting put into the next class until when i was eight i was in the class with 11 and 12 year olds..

now where am i

novadandypowder · 15/11/2005 10:05

ditto - brightest in year, only one to pass a maths extension paper, straight A's.

Went to college, and it all fell apart, didn't get the grades to go to uni so went and got a job in a shoe shop! Realised after a few years I had to do something so went to uni as a mature stduent (A level grades don't matter then), and got a 2:1. Then started career in TV.

Now i've given it all up to be a SAHM, although i'm going to retrain in animal care when dd is old enough (and a potential 2nd baby has arrived)

Lonelymum · 15/11/2005 10:06

Me.

I was top of the class throughout primary and lower seconadary school and then lost the plot when it came to O and A levels. I had to really struggle to pull myself together for my degree and got a 2:1 but I know I could have got a first if I hadn't taken two years to get myself together (out of a 4 year course). I wish I had worked hard consistently and fulfilled my promise of earlier years. I am very afraid to say I am extremely hard on my children in my determination that they will not fall by the wayside like I did. I think i could do with therapy for it actually. Anyone else like that with their children?

Original poster

Pruni · 15/11/2005 10:06

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suzywong · 15/11/2005 10:11

no i'mnot very high powered by nature either, in fact Ilove being SAHM, its the autonomy I think. I was self employe for years.

Actuallyu I am the happieiest I've been for years, I've just today put my PG study back 6 months so I can get in to the habit of study and reading and thinking and making a link with the outside world.
I wsorry for crap typing but I can't open my lap top more than 20 degrees before the screen goes black so i can't see what i[m typing.

In am not Cod.

mugface · 15/11/2005 10:13

and i wonder, did you all have 100% attendance and no days off for birthdays

handlemecarefully · 15/11/2005 10:13

Oh yes, can't you tell ?

Lonelymum · 15/11/2005 10:14

I had every single birthday off! Can't undersatnd going to school on one's birthday. But then I was born on New Year's Eve!

Angeliz · 15/11/2005 10:14

I was top in top set for all lessons and then my parents emigrated when i was 13 and my education ended there!
However, through some luck and lots of hard work, i ended up in my 20's working with children which is what i've always wanted to do.
Also, i have got every job i've ever went for ,(not boasting, there's a moral here!), so i do beleive that a positive attitude counts for alot.

handlemecarefully · 15/11/2005 10:15

Actually my teachers described me as 'bright' - but I was never prize winningly clever or remarkable...

but academically I did rather well at Uni and beyond (got a Masters)

handlemecarefully · 15/11/2005 10:16

Depends on the school you were in though eh? Clever was the norm at mine....

Original poster

Pruni · 15/11/2005 10:16

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oliveoil · 15/11/2005 10:16

I was very bright at school, right until it actually mattered and I did exams when I discovered being surly and rude was more important. I actually helped the other pupils in my class at secondary school as I had already done the work .

Didn't go to uni but don't feel uneducated as a result.

Lonelymum · 15/11/2005 10:20

Definitely makes me think about private education Pruni! I went to the local comp where any achievement was OK and no-one ever pushed me to do anything else - even when I was doing literally nothing. I know I should have done somewthing for myself, but teenagers aren't the most sensible human beings are they? Dh went to a private school and is contemptuous of state education (not that he knows anything about it as he was educated in Oz, but I suppose he looks at my record and sees only that). However, neither dh nor I managed to land ourselves high paid jobs, so I don't know how we would afford educaing one child privately, let alone all 4!

littlerach · 15/11/2005 10:21

Yes, at primary school I was usuallt top for reading, spelling etc (though you wouldn't think it now!).
then went to a grammar school so was usually aroung the top hakf of class.
then discovered a social ;life, and whilst I still did well, I was less interested in school as a place to learn. This filtered into university too, as i did enough to get my degree, but no more.

expatinscotland · 15/11/2005 10:24

I was in 'gifted & talented' from the get go.

I graduated 'magna cum laude' from uni.

My father's side of the family is full of enthusiastic 'achievers' - engineers, doctors, scientists, teachers, etc.

Then there's me .

I escaped most of the wringing of hands, however, by expatriating.

Original poster

Pruni · 15/11/2005 10:25

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Carlk · 15/11/2005 10:25

Yup, all my school reports started "Carl is an exceptionally bright boy but...."
I was bored bored bored, bored, bored at school. totally sick of education by the time I left.
retook some exams later but was even more bored doing it for the second time, passed exams I had previously not shown up for ( they were in the morinig FFS!) without doing the classes then rubbed it in to teacher.
Thoroughly unpleasant little gobsh!te really.
got a first at the university of hard nocks then finally found out the reason for it all 19 months ago.

Lonelymum · 15/11/2005 10:26

God expat, what does magna cum laude mean? I know as a self confessed brainbox I should know, but remember I only went to a comp - no grammar schools for me - and it is a long time since I went to Mass.

puddle · 15/11/2005 10:28

I was bright at school but never learned the skill of pushing myself because it all came to me too easily. I never really had to try - found exams very easy because I have a photographic memory and could visualise pages of facts. Did just enough work to get a good degree and have frankly coasted ever since.

Original poster

Pruni · 15/11/2005 10:29

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expatinscotland · 15/11/2005 10:30

I was privately educated at a girls academy until 'high school'. At 14, when my leftist tendencies struggled valiantly against a deeply ingrained bourgeois heritage, I tested into a top public high school for 'gifted and talented' pupils.

Fat lot of difference either one made to my future material success in life.

expatinscotland · 15/11/2005 10:31

A magna cum laude graduate from a US university has achieved a 3.7 grade point average out of 4.0.

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