Naturally smart, or study freak?

[cosine]

So a good friend of mine keeps telling me how someone in their class is naturally smart, and that he/she does not study at all but yet manages to ace physics. It got me wondering.... Can someone actually be 'naturally' smart at certain subject? By naturally I mean, by putting minimal effort and magically still be able to understand the content to a high degree.

Can this phenomenon be true, or are people just afraid of telling others that they study endlessly to get good at a subject. Opinions are welcomed

[KYtho]

No. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. They're probably making up excuses.

Unless its a LOTE and they happen to be quite fluent it at it because of their background, I guess   

[Shenz0r]

Generally it's people with that attitude that end up doing poorly, not just in educatuon, but like, life.

There are some that are naturally smart and will just understand something quicker than others. They might have an interest in the subject or have just used good resources. From experience, some of these people may secretly be studying hard but don't want to admit it. But for the vast majority of people have to put in the hours to get brilliant scores, no matter how smart you are.

[Cosec]

No. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. They're probably making up excuses.

Unless its a LOTE and they happen to be quite fluent it at it because of their background, I guess   

You sir, are a bloody legend. That quote! My fav. Give this man a cookie!

[odeaa]

There is one exchange student (from china, came here in year at our school who didnt drop a mark in methods and only like 3 in spesh, while he was so behind on the work that teachers had to ring his family. He literally just read the chapter before each test, and then rocked up and aced it. Same for physics and chem, although the worded type questions messed him up so he wasnt smashing hundies on everything. At the end of year awards night, he had so many awards that he couldn't carry them all after he duxed every subject by a mile (including eal and unit 2 religion lol)

I know it sounds like bs but this kid is a boss-he just has an incredible memory and has such an analytical brain.

That being said, otherwise I think if you are reasonably smart, and doing a subject like chem or physics, you can kinda breeze through class and the chapters and get like 80-90 max, but there is no way you can get the top marks without a decent amount of quality study

[Eiffel]

So a good friend of mine keeps telling me how someone in their class is naturally smart, and that he/she does not study at all but yet manages to ace physics. It got me wondering.... Can someone actually be 'naturally' smart at certain subject? By naturally I mean, by putting minimal effort and magically still be able to understand the content to a high degree.

Can this phenomenon be true, or are people just afraid of telling others that they study endlessly to get good at a subject. Opinions are welcomed

im not sure if you are looking at excuses not to try hard or maybe you are actually wanting a discussion. Either way, it might be something that exists but you know, those that get 99.95 are defiantly not the ones who are only talented, they put a shitload (still remember quality > quantity) of hours into work every night and understand that vce is a marathon and not a race (so cliche, but so true)

[InNeedForHelp]

im not sure if you are looking at excuses not to try hard or maybe you are actually wanting a discussion. Either way, it might be something that exists but you know, those that get 99.95 are defiantly not the ones who are only talented, they put a shitload (still remember quality > quantity) of hours into work every night and understand that vce is a marathon and not a race (so cliche, but so true)

I think you meant "VCE is a marathon not a sprint", reason being is that a marathon is a race 

Anyway, I wouldn't understand why someone would be so secretive about 'intensely' studying.

[grannysmith]

Anyway, I wouldn't understand why someone would be so secretive about 'intensely' studying.

This. I struggle to understand as well. Humblebrags, bragging rights or perhaps a security net - who cares.

There are people out there who don't nearly require the same amount of effort and still manage to pull great scores. I don't think anyone could dispute this and I'm sure we personally know or have come across such people.
Whether this is because of fantastic study skills or just raw talent, it doesn't really matter. There are always going to be people better than ourselves. If we accept this as truth, then all we have to do is do the best we can as individuals. Do this and you're a winner.

[heids]

There are people out there who don't nearly require the same amount of effort and still manage to pull great scores. I don't think anyone could dispute this and I'm sure we personally know or have come across such people.
Whether this is because of fantastic study skills or just raw talent, it doesn't really matter. There are always going to be people better than ourselves. If we accept this as truth, then all we have to do is do the best we can as individuals. Do this and you're a winner.

+1 +1 +1 don't know why I bother answering when you've already expressed it beautifully

It's ridiculous to claim that 'everyone can get 99/50' and 'it all depends on how much you study' because it's simply not true.  We were born different and someone with the brains but not working can get a score far far higher than someone without the brains who works hard. (At the same time, this can go the other way round too).

I had a brother who got exactly the same ATAR as me - but I worked, he didn't (like, two hours homework a week).  I then had another brother who also did approximately none; his score... well, not quite the same.  There was simply difference in raw talent between the three of us.

But in the end, it's not the score that matters.  I have far higher respect for the one who gets a 68 with heaps of work than the one with a 98 with no work.  And they have a far higher respect for themselves, too.  One has achieved their best; the other has achieved sub-standard-ness.

[MDMA]

I think naturally smart people who rely on their intelligence throughout VCE could score around a 90 ATAR. I'm a pretty similar case where I neglected study all year and just relied on intelligence to get what I needed as opposed to shooting for the stars which was unneeded for my course. I received a 90 ATAR doing very minimal work throughout the year with some very poor SAC scores as a result but I definitely lifted for exams. With that being said, I think if you want to score incredibly high such as a 99+ ATAR then I believe you just need the hardest work ethic and some natural intelligence wouldn't hurt your case.

[bae]

Generally it's people with that attitude that end up doing poorly, not just in educatuon, but like, life.

There are some that are naturally smart and will just understand something quicker than others. They might have an interest in the subject or have just used good resources. From experience, some of these people may secretly be studying hard but don't want to admit it. But for the vast majority of people have to put in the hours to get brilliant scores, no matter how smart you are.

I completely agree! This is the same with me and a few others I know. Although I can easily grasp a concept, be it mathematical or something else, it is only through hard work that you can attain the scores. The saying 'hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard' is so spot on in this case, as from my observations those who work hard and are dedicated to their studies almost certainly will achieve the higher scores. When people are told they are talented, then they figure that there's no point in studying and end up doing considerably worse, as subjects like chem require repetition, and that can only be done through constant study.

So a good friend of mine keeps telling me how someone in their class is naturally smart, and that he/she does not study at all but yet manages to ace physics. It got me wondering.... Can someone actually be 'naturally' smart at certain subject? By naturally I mean, by putting minimal effort and magically still be able to understand the content to a high degree.

Can this phenomenon be true, or are people just afraid of telling others that they study endlessly to get good at a subject. Opinions are welcomed

I know someone like that too, they manage to ace their subjects (physics, chemistry etc.) but they put minimal effort in class and are usually behind (told off by teachers), but these cases are rare and no one should be eluded that things like that will work for them.

[Special At Specialist]

I'm going to go against the general grain here and say that it's about half and half.

Suppose your academic score was out of 20. Then 10 marks would be based on your natural talent and 10 marks would be based on your work ethic.

If student A is "naturally smart but rarely studies", he might score a 9/10 in talent but 2/10 in work ethic, giving him 11/20.
If student B is "average intelligence, but works incredibly hard", he might score a 5/10 on talent but a 10/10 in work ethic, giving him a 15/20 (higher than student A).
If student C has a learning disability, his maximum potential is going to be naturally lower than another student's maximum potential and it's going to require more effort from him to reach the same scores as someone who's naturally smart.

Although from an economics perspective, you should consider whatever marks you lost in natural talent as a "sunk cost" and not focus on it too much. Your aim is to maximise your marginal benefit - that is, make the best of the situation you're in. You may not be as naturally smart as someone else, but you can still beat them if you put in more effort. Similarly, you may be naturally smarter than someone else, but score lower because they worked hard and you didn't.

tl;dr - Don't worry about being "naturally smart". It's out of your control. Focus on the things that are in your control and you will find it much easier to succeed academically and in life.

[cosine]

I'm going to go against the general grain here and say that it's about half and half.

Suppose your academic score was out of 20. Then 10 marks would be based on your natural talent and 10 marks would be based on your work ethic.

If student A is "naturally smart but rarely studies", he might score a 9/10 in talent but 2/10 in work ethic, giving him 11/20.
If student B is "average intelligence, but works incredibly hard", he might score a 5/10 on talent but a 10/10 in work ethic, giving him a 15/20 (higher than student A).
If student C has a learning disability, his maximum potential is going to be naturally lower than another student's maximum potential and it's going to require more effort from him to reach the same scores as someone who's naturally smart.

Although from an economics perspective, you should consider whatever marks you lost in natural talent as a "sunk cost" and not focus on it too much. Your aim is to maximise your marginal benefit - that is, make the best of the situation you're in. You may not be as naturally smart as someone else, but you can still beat them if you put in more effort. Similarly, you may be naturally smarter than someone else, but score lower because they worked hard and you didn't.

tl;dr - Don't worry about being "naturally smart". It's out of your control. Focus on the things that are in your control and you will find it much easier to succeed academically and in life.

Beautifully said, man!
Thanks for the words of encouragement, appreciate it. That being said, is anything really in our control? I mean anything can go wrong, any time, right? Haha, just something I have always wondered, essentially that nothing is really in our control?

[Special At Specialist]

Beautifully said, man!
Thanks for the words of encouragement, appreciate it. That being said, is anything really in our control? I mean anything can go wrong, any time, right? Haha, just something I have always wondered, essentially that nothing is really in our control?

Nothing is certain, but some things are more likely than others. A person who studies hard is more likely to get into university, but they might wake up one day with terminal cancer and die before they graduate. A gambling addict who spends his life savings on lottery tickets will most likely end up poor, but he could get lucky, win the jackpot and become richer than all of his hard-working friends. A poker player who goes all in every hand will probably get eliminated very quickly, but it's possible he could win the World Series of Poker just by sheer chance.

Anything could happen, but we have to make decisions based upon what is more likely to happen. Life is a game of risk versus reward.

[bakacchis]

I have far higher respect for the one who gets a 68 with heaps of work than the one with a 98 with no work.  And they have a far higher respect for themselves, too.  One has achieved their best; the other has achieved sub-standard-ness.

This is so well said, oh my god.

Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, yup.