Were you incredibly bright at school?

[Pruni]

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Dissertations in arts subjects tend to be optional these days, especially for people doing Joint Hons.

I had the highest IQ of the school before going to uni, looked like a nerd but didn't had the grades to officially qualify as one, but considering I went through most of university courses reading only the first and last paragraph of each chapter, I'm very proud of my borderline with honours (but not honours) result

Now, as a mature post graduate student I looked like a lost case: pregnant, tired, distracted, later with PND, not willing to participate in class and with a level of English which made some people wonder how was I accepted in the course, and... I got distinction (though I'm still thanking every power in the universe for such incredible surprise!)

I was decidedly mediocre... Not quite top set, but next one down. Did fairly badly in 'A' levels - have a poor memory, but then found my subject at uni, loved it, got a 2:1 and became a teacher... which makes me smile as my teachers always told me at my mediocre comp that I'd never get my GCSEs to be a teacher, so I should give up the dream and do a BTEC in admin and work for the local bank!

Hubby on the other hand, was v bright... assessed for gifted and talented etc etc (way back in 70s before it became popular). However, he was a lazy little git and bummed out of his A levels twice. Finally, now in his thirties he is getting his degree.

Intelligence is only part of the story I think, hard work, memory, learning styles, subjects and teachers all play their part too!

tamum, the biochemistry degree in Oxford has a disertation based on original research that takes a term to do. Chemistry has a year long disertation.

When I was at uni we had to do a dissertation to get the hons bit of our degree - we were expected to complete it over the 3 years of our degree but lots of (less motivated) people did it over 2 years and some only started it in year 3

I was horribly bright in primary school - had a reading age of 11 by the time I started - used to take the other children to read! All went downhill when I got to secondary school and ended up dropping out of music college before I got my degree..!

Bit scary that ds2 is showing lots of signs of being bright at a young age - like me - so will probably go off the rails at about 19...!!

My sis just finished an Eng Lang degrre at Edinburgh and she had to do a dissertation...It must have changed again!

I reckon you're right, ks. I would actually find it hard to interview postgrads who hadn't done one on any kind of level playing field, as it's pretty standard now to ask them to start the interview with a talk on their project/dissertation. That's where most of the judgement of suitability comes from.

Agree, that's the bit that proves that you really can do research and present your findings in a coherent form.

I just can't get my head around the fact that we had to read millions of books (no internet) and, at best, use an electronic typewriter (just became available in time for me!)to type out our dissertation. Otherwise students contracted out the job!

..of typing, not their dissertation, although there's a thought.......

I got a first for my dissertation

Used to be super-bright, peaked too soon and am now a bit dim. Interesting thread.

Hello Lonelymum, I'm another New Year's Eve baby.

No definately no. I have always had problems with reading and writing. Brilliant at grasping concepts but articulating them so somebody else can understand no. Good at problem solving but I think school is not a place to develop those kinds of skills. By 11 I had remedial lessons because my reading and writing and basic mathematics were dreadful. They taught me to hide by problems and coping mechanism for it. I am still no better and these things but am very good at hiding them. I did an IQ test with the result of 135 so I know I'm not thick just not good academically. I have however got a post graduate degree in accounting and finance and qualification in childcare but just a few basic problems with mostly transferring spoken language into written language.

I was a slow starter I think! Got all Bs and Cs in GCSE's and then got AAB in A Levels and 2:1 at uni. Bizarrely in secondary school I was in the top set for English and bottom for Maths!! So no one could ever decide if I was bright or stupid!!

I was considered vague and dreamy (and not that bright) when I was in primary school. They called me 'a late developer'. I failed the 11+ in common with all my classmates, except one. I became extremely shy as a teenager and a bit of a swot. Some teachers at my seconday modern school took pity on me and entered me into the 13+. I passed, went to grammar school and suddenly found I was considered to be slightly more clever (though still alarmingly vague).

By the time I reached the third year of my degree I had come out of my shell and was working less hard. I got a 2:1. Like Enid, I got a first for my dissertation - the highest first in the college that year. Apparently it was a model dissertation and was available in the library for students to look at.

I am neither a high flyer nor frustrated with my career progress - I enjoy my job. I think it's terribly easy to label people, especially children, as very bright or very not bright. Having been labelled as both at various times, I know I am neither.

Yes, I was incredibly academically able at school - pushed through classes at primary school, ignored as being able to look ater myslef at secondary, so constantly got the "prufrock could do even better if she applied herself" reports (how you could do better than straight A's I don't know). After a traumatic experience after the first year of A level's which meant I missed a few weeks I suddenly found I was no longer coasting, and couldn't cope. It went unnoticed by teachers (even though I started not actually turning up for lessons) and a predicted 4 A's turned into ABCD and me not going to Uni. If I couldn't be the best at it, I wasn't interested any more.

I think it's that attitude that caused my mediocre (by my standards) progress in my working life.

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Spooky if it was Tell me when and where and I'll tell you if it could have been...

i was top of the class for most things then my fav teacher died (he was only 30) of a heart attack and i really slipped hated maths (his subject) english was just as bad although still shone in science he and ois got kicked out the house at 15 so had to leave school and move to my grans where they didnt do the highers i was doing. all in all school wasnt the best time for me

yes me too
very bad for me because I sailed through primary school and didn't have to work too hard, so I always did the bare minimum
lazy lazy cow really and when I did have to apply myself for my finals it was a bit of a shock tot he system
never really had the application for Stuff That's Hard (languages esp)