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    Randwulff's Avatar
    Randwulff Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Dec 12, 2008, 12:42 PM
    Looking for answers
    First I have to admit, I'm getting a bit obsessed with these things, it's hard not to in a technological/scientific society if you ask me.

    I'm a High School Junior, 16 years old, male.

    Anyway, my school is too politically-correct to give us straight IQ tests, and too small to have an accelerated class (150 students). So I'm seeking answers in respects to my intelligence. Here's a brief testing history:

    Elementary school.
    Gates tests: 99 percentile across the board.
    CAT test: 99 across the board in reading, between 94 and 99 in math.

    I may just be making excuses for myself here, I honestly don't know really. But I feel that since my school lacked an accelerated class and since I somehow wasn't offered the chance to move forward in regards to grade level (I had straight A+'s without effort in elementary), I became bored and slacked off a bit between grades seven and ten. I stayed on honor roll, was in honors classes, but didn't really try very hard. Near the end of my Sophomore year I began to apply myself a bit and got onto high honors and have remained on since. I now consistently receive the best scores in my AP classes.

    So I took the PSATs this year. I got a 65/68/63, correlating to the 95th percentile. In case anyone reading this question doesn't know that much about the PSATs, not every takes them. So that 95 percentile is out of the perhaps forty percent of students who take the test.

    I also took the same test during my Sophomore year (the last year) and got a 64/48/65 (I wasn't able to finish all of the questions in the math section). But this still managed to get me into the 98th.

    Because of my nonchalant trip through much of High School, I think perhaps the other students could be pulling ahead a bit because of the sheer amount of effort they put into their school work. Again, I feel that the lack of an accelerated class at my school harmed me in this sense.

    So there's my story, what did you glean from it? Please say anything and everything you have in mind, whether you think I'm a genius or a freak or whatever. My personal evaluation of myself is that I'm genius or near-genius but its hard for me to stay objective with such a thing. Thanks a lot for your time.
    Fr_Chuck's Avatar
    Fr_Chuck Posts: 81,301, Reputation: 7692
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    #2

    Dec 12, 2008, 01:06 PM

    Yes, stop slacking and start doing your best, you are wanting to blame someone else for your own boredom and lack of doing the very best you can. So you do all of your school work early , then start private study on other subjects if you want,

    What type of social life, are you in any of the arts, do you do sports,

    If you wish to blame someone else for your lack of desire to be the best, then you will always find someone else to blame the rest of your life if you do not get or do what you think you should.
    DoulaLC's Avatar
    DoulaLC Posts: 10,488, Reputation: 1952
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    #3

    Dec 12, 2008, 02:24 PM

    Don't worry about what anyone else is doing... do what you feel you need to in order to achieve the goals you set for yourself. What opportunities might you have for taking college level courses as well? Does your school offer duel enrollment?

    Even at college level, you will find that not every class will be much of a challenge to you or piqué your interest as much as you might like it to, but don't allow those things to cause you to not apply yourself.

    Years from now, it won't be the other students that you think about, it will be how you could have done better if you had put forth the effort and didn't skate through just because it was easy.
    ultimate_user_name's Avatar
    ultimate_user_name Posts: 103, Reputation: 6
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    #4

    Jan 25, 2009, 09:50 PM

    Your story is almost identical to mine.

    I made straight A's all the way up to 8th grade. There was always the promise of high school, and AP classes, and "accelerated" classes. But when I got there, I was still bored.
    I was breezing through Algebra two, sleeping through Biology, and listening to my iPod in most of my other classes.
    I started hanging out with the "Wrong crowd" and my Algebra grade dropped to a high B when I started skipping some classes. I never did homework, If I couldn't finish it in class when the teacher handed it out, I finished it the next day right before I handed it in.

    I could go on, but you get the point. It was easy, and I was starting to seek other forms of entertainment. Then I got a letter from a local early-admissions program. Just about all states have them(I'm in the U.S). You have to be smart, and you have to make some damn good SAT scores. But not a whole lot of people know about these places, so they're not as competitive as you would think.

    Basically, some colleges set up programs that let students go to college early. You live on-campus, and go to college classes with college students. And you live with other high school students that are more "on your level". Look into it, and good luck!
    languadoc's Avatar
    languadoc Posts: 9, Reputation: 1
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    #5

    Jan 27, 2009, 04:05 AM
    Develop your own learning programs in a specialist field. Don't worry too much about the subject, although it should be something of depth that holds your interest and enthusiasm.

    Avoid being dismissive or disdainful of bell curve education. You should recognize that it serves an important positive purpose.
    Ber Rabbit's Avatar
    Ber Rabbit Posts: 134, Reputation: 23
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    #6

    Jan 27, 2009, 05:46 AM

    It's not the schools duty to challenge you when you are gifted. You are perfectly capable of going to a library and finding things that DO challenge you. When I was a senior in high school I went to the state science fair. One of the students there was from a small school that wasn't even big enough to send students to district science fair so there really was no way for them to go to state. This kid (a sophomore or junior) managed to convince the state science fair to let him compete.

    He had BUILT his own x-ray machine, built it and had it tested and certified by the state (it's radioactive after all) either his freshman or sophomore year of high school. The year I met him he was competing using his research results from tests he conducted using his x-ray machine.

    He challenged himself and found a way to reward himself when there was no way for his small school to challenge OR reward him.

    You can sit around complaining about not being GIVEN opportunities or you can go out there and EARN them on your own. I can guarantee you will find earning them SO much more satisfying.
    Ber
    linnealand's Avatar
    linnealand Posts: 1,088, Reputation: 216
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    #7

    Mar 5, 2009, 06:57 PM
    I know where you're coming from, Rand. For most of my young life, getting perfect grades was just too easy. In elementary school, I was given a personal learning corner in our classroom that I was encouraged to use whenever the class lessons were based on things I already knew. I was enrolled in gifted programs and highly accelerated classes up to three grades ahead of my own. I scored in the 99th percentile of almost every standardized test I had ever taken, and on one of those tests, while in 4th grade, I scored off the charts out of a high school level. However, at some point during junior high school or high school, some of my grades started slipping. Because I had never really had to work hard to succeed, I simply hadn't developed or refined the study habits that, all of a sudden (it seemed), had become so important. Add on the difficulties many young teens face as they change, develop, experience new social dynamics, grow, and discover themselves, and it's easy to fall a little off track with your grades. It's a common problem, but it shouldn't be left to continue.

    However, thanks to my SAT scores, I was accepted into a small and truly wonderful early admissions honors program at a college not far from where I lived. It was a perfect fit for me. I was able to spend what otherwise would have been my last year of high school as a full time college student, while applying my course credits to the completion of my high school diploma. I started to soar again. I was happy, and I certainly wasn't bored anymore. I loved my classes, my friends, my professors, the freedom, the responsibility, and the unique structure of college life. I also became very involved in an enormous amount of interesting and constructive extra-curricular activities. Generally, I just worked my tail off. I graduated from that honor's program with a near perfect grade point average, a fantastic resume, awards, and money in my pocket. Those few stumbles in high school were no longer the focus because I had really proven myself capable of serious work since that time. In fact, I was even accepted into the Ivy League. To top it all off, by the time I graduated with my Bachelor's, I was just 20 years old. Actually, many of the students in that program fit your description pretty well, and the majority did very well for themselves in their new environment.

    If you have an early admissions program in your area, I think it might be an ideal fit for you (especially if it has a great honor's program -- there is a difference). In the meantime, don't slack off, and don't make excuses. Learn the study skills you will need throughout the rest of your education. I wish you lots of luck! Let us know how things go!

    EDIT: One more thing. Most people are privately tested for their IQ. I know that Mensa offers legitimate IQ testing, as do some psychologists.


    *I realize this thread is a couple of months old, but based on the nature of the question, I'm assuming this post still applies.
    Randwulff's Avatar
    Randwulff Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    Jul 4, 2009, 08:35 PM

    Hey, I'm back and I want to thank everyone for taking the time to answer my post.

    In regards to accusations that I'm lazy, I need to disagree. I am however very shy and I suppose you could say 'cowardly' with respect to putting myself out there. This is something that I have been working very hard recently to change, not least because of my desire to take advantage of some of the opportunities you all have suggested. This summer I have taken on various projects involving Computer Science, and I'm enjoying them immensely. I'm working with 'adults' and it's a thrilling experience to be able to keep up with them.

    ultimate_user_name and linnealand, I hope you're both still around and you see this; I have a question. Only one school in my state seems to have a well known early admissions program similar to those that you both suggested, and when I called to ask about it they pretty much refused to tell me what kind of SAT scores I needed to get in. "Oh it changes every year, no we have no estimates". So what kind of scores did you need to get into your respective programs? (It's OK if you don't want to tell me your actual scores, just a range would be good enough.)

    I feel like I may have missed the jump on this one. Until I read a lot of the stuff that I have recently I was under the impression that the SATs weren't something you could study for. So I went in in January and grabbed a 2130. Don't get me wrong, that's a very pleasing score and I am happy with it, but I feel like it's not good enough to let me skip twelfth grade and enter college.
    theduke2's Avatar
    theduke2 Posts: 5, Reputation: 1
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    #9

    Oct 8, 2009, 08:19 PM

    I am a lot like you I get bored in class a lot and then I just don't do my homework I'm exerlated math and if there was an exerlated reading I would be in that. I'm in middle school. I've been reading way above my level since third grade. In fourth grade reading middle school level books. In fifth grade reading 7-8 grade books. Now in sixth grade I'm reading high school level books and I read many adult level books. I have been very intrested in Quantom Fisics since fifth grade. Do you Know anyway I could study that? They don't normally offer that to sixth graders, and I can't find much information online. Im also really good at Arichutecture and building. I'm a criticle thinker and I like to figure things out before I show what I have done to others. I like to find out how things work. When I was 1 I fuiged out how to on the TV iwas not tall enough to reach the on button, and when I was three I found out how to open a car window with my foot. When I was 5 I was doing 300 piece puzzles (with my parents.) What is very hard is I am short and not very good at sports so people try to beat me up a lot or just terrioze me. I need to know how everything works. Please do you have any advice?

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