The Student Room Group

Are people born with a natural ability to do certain things really well? e.g maths

Scroll to see replies

Original post by theBranicAc
This goes to say, just because you work hard, doesn't mean you will do well or be successful. Thinks links back to my post(the 29th one in the thread)


yup this is the reason why i think talent always wins, let's exclude the notion of how hard you work and let's assume they work equally as hard because the people who say talent can be beaten via hard work i think are just trying to hide the fact that they'll always lose if the talented work just as hard as they do.
Original post by dskinner
yup this is the reason why i think talent always wins, let's exclude the notion of how hard you work and let's assume they work equally as hard because the people who say talent can be beaten via hard work i think are just trying to hide the fact that they'll always lose if the talented work just as hard as they do.


Yeah thats true, but people only say 'hard work can beat talent, when talent fails'. This saying is ********, the only way you can do better than someone naturally smarter than you is if they don't try at all, and you work out your arse everyday, just to do slightly better than them. And most likely if you know your naturally good at something your not going to stop working, because you want to become better at it, therefore it is unlikely someone who is not as good as them will ever reach their level.
Original post by dskinner
Of course work hard and just do more and more questions and eventually you'll get better, it's maths so all you need is practise :smile:


That's funny because i worked hard, and other people in my class were talented and they worked hard too but i worked twice as hard as they did in physics and i still came out worse than they did, U grade worse when they got A*s best wates of my whole year studying it would do again 10/5785934798


see thats what Im scared of I don't wanna work hard then still get a **** great. I would become so depressed.
I feel in a way, that having a natural ability in maths will obvious help you succeed but that's not to say that if you aren't blessed with this natural ability that you cant succeed at maths. For instance, my boyfriend wasn't blessed with maths skill, throughout his whole GCSE year he was in bottom set barely scraping a D. Six months before exams he decided that this wasn't good enough for him so he studied x amount of hours per day and did every past paper under the sun. Eventually this lucked out for him and he went from a D to an A in just a few months. I, on the other hand, have always felt 'good' at maths and never really struggled but people like this always become complacent and thus having a natural talent is enough on its own to do good.
Original post by dskinner
yup this is the reason why i think talent always wins, let's exclude the notion of how hard you work and let's assume they work equally as hard because the people who say talent can be beaten via hard work i think are just trying to hide the fact that they'll always lose if the talented work just as hard as they do.


This was the main reason I quit playing football, because I was wasting my time spending hours everyday, thinking that I can make it professional, when I'm not even better than people who don't practice as much as me.

Thats why I focused my time, on something I'm pretty good at
Original post by theBranicAc
Yeah thats true, but people only say 'hard work can beat talent, when talent fails'. This saying is ********, the only way you can do better than someone naturally smarter than you is if they don't try at all, and you work out your arse everyday, just to do slightly better than them. And most likely if you know your naturally good at something your not going to stop working, because you want to become better at it, therefore it is unlikely someone who is not as good as them will ever reach their level.


That's so depressing:frown: what if your not good at anything? Does that mean I am gonna end poor and unemployed?
Original post by sweetiemelx
see thats what Im scared of I don't wanna work hard then still get a **** great. I would become so depressed.


You should't have a mindset like that. You should be thinking postively that if I DO work hard then I WILL get Good grades.
to be honest, i know you've had many answers and this is probably no different, but as long as you get a B GCSE maths, and you're willing to spend a lot of time into it and not give up then you'll easily get a good grade at A level. i do warn you though, if you find anything difficult (before and during a level) you NEED to get it sorted as soon as possible. all my life in primary/secondary school i avoided long division as i thought it wasnt needed and usually other methods did it for me. BOOM second half of the first year began with long algebraic division and that whole topic suddenly became incredibly difficult.(until i sorted it out)
also i dont really believe in natural talent in maths, i think it's really how everyone's taught in primary school. after all you cant understand the complex stuff if you werent taught the simple stuff well, and different primary's will go over different amount of details and if in primary school you mucked about a bit it would cause problems later on though. BUT this is only what i think as i'm comparing myself, a student who was quiet up until late secondary school and ALWAYS worked very hard and has "natural talent" (to a point) to others in my class. not an ideal comparison i know, pls dont hate on me XD

ah yes, i hasten to add, if you dont have this "natural talent" it doesnt spell the end, it just means you have to work hard. tbh even the natural talent ones work hard. also if you enjoy maths, then working hard is kinda a good thing! i usually find easier topics in maths more boring than the harder ones.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by theBranicAc
Yeah thats true, but people only say 'hard work can beat talent, when talent fails'. This saying is ********, the only way you can do better than someone naturally smarter than you is if they don't try at all, and you work out your arse everyday, just to do slightly better than them. And most likely if you know your naturally good at something your not going to stop working, because you want to become better at it, therefore it is unlikely someone who is not as good as them will ever reach their level.

My point exactly.
They've never experienced working hard and failing to get anywhere so that's all they say.
Original post by sweetiemelx
see thats what Im scared of I don't wanna work hard then still get a **** great. I would become so depressed.

Haha what grade do you get in GCSE maths?
Did you get that grade because you worked hard or it was just luck?
Original post by theBranicAc
This was the main reason I quit playing football, because I was wasting my time spending hours everyday, thinking that I can make it professional, when I'm not even better than people who don't practice as much as me.

Thats why I focused my time, on something I'm pretty good at

Exactly better spend time on something you like and want to do /good at
Original post by sweetiemelx
That's so depressing:frown: what if your not good at anything? Does that mean I am gonna end poor and unemployed?


Obviously not, everyone is good at something. You don't have to be the best at everything, if you happy getting average grades(eg C grade) then so be it, but you if you work smart and take your oppotunites you won't end up broke.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by xylas
Absolutely not. You can progress as far as you like if you put in the work. No-one is born already good at maths, you have to want it. Natural ability doesn't exist.


So you think someone like Terence Tao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao) just works harder than everyone else?

"natural ability", i.e some kind of predisposition to be better than average at certain things (either genetic, or coming from your very early life environment), definitely exists to a certain extent.
Original post by xylas
You prefer art because you find it easy, that doesn't mean you have an 'innate skill'. But I agree with you that practise is what is important.


I would argue that i do have an inate skill for it though, i can see 3D things and picture them in my head and translate them to paper, but anyway i suspect only other artists understand that so i will leave that there.
Anyways gcse grades aren't a good indicator of how how hard you worked or how smart you are. Its best to focus on what you enjoy and your good at, so that you can improve it and have a future in that interest, instead of worrying about how good your grades are at gcse level
Reply 53
Avatar for xylas
xylas
21
Original post by sweetiemelx
see thats what Im scared of I don't wanna work hard then still get a **** great. I would become so depressed.


It's much better to work hard and get a bad grade than not work hard and get a bad grade. You are much more likely to become depressed by not working hard and paying the consequences of it than by working hard but not reaching the level.

Anyone who doubts this does not understand depression which I guess is a good thing.
Original post by StrangeBanana
So you think someone like Terence Tao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao) just works harder than everyone else?

"natural ability", i.e some kind of predisposition to be better than average at certain things (either genetic, or coming from your very early life environment), definitely exists to a certain extent.


His parent put number theory and combinatorics books into the womb bro


Posted from TSR Mobile
Natural Ability in the sense of a genetic tendency, I don't think exists except for exceptionally rare cases - I'd argue it's more down to exposure of such skills in early childhood. In the majority of the cases I would say it's simply just down to people having practiced for a lot longer than others.

Though people go way too far with the 'natural ability' and use it as an excuse as to why they can't do something. The amount of times people tell me they can't learn languages because they don't have a ''natural ability'' is just :no:

Sorry as I'm about to post a load of images which'll prob make my post huge.




(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by drandy76
His parent put number theory and combinatorics books into the womb bro


gotta get dat post-natal Fields Medal
Original post by xylas
It's much better to work hard and get a bad grade than not work hard and get a bad grade. You are much more likely to become depressed by not working hard and paying the consequences of it than by working hard but not reaching the level.

Anyone who doubts this does not understand depression which I guess is a good thing.


wtf? I'm not sure about you but I'd prefer to not work hard and get a bad grade, than working hard to get a bad grade, because then I could just say that I didn't try so I would't care. Whereas if I put my blood and sweat into something, and still got a **** grade, I would be pretty pissed off and sad a little bit, but then I would keep on working hard so that i can improve
Original post by StrangeBanana
gotta get dat post-natal Fields Medal


So salty right now, age 9 and he was already doing uni maths


Posted from TSR Mobile
Reply 59
Avatar for xylas
xylas
21
Original post by StrangeBanana
So you think someone like Terence Tao (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao) just works harder than everyone else?

"natural ability", i.e some kind of predisposition to be better than average at certain things (either genetic, or coming from your very early life environment), definitely exists to a certain extent.


Never heard of him before, reading his wiki he seemed to be able to do uni maths at an early age but what is your point exactly? It seems like he really likes maths and spends all his time doing it so yes I would say he works harder than nearly everyone else at maths.

Original post by Salamandastron
I would argue that i do have an inate skill for it though, i can see 3D things and picture them in my head and translate them to paper, but anyway i suspect only other artists understand that so i will leave that there.


I can do that too, but I still prefer maths over art. I would tell myself I have an innate skill in it if it made me feel better :smile:

Original post by theBranicAc
wtf? I'm not sure about you but I'd prefer to not work hard and get a bad grade, than working hard to get a bad grade, because then I could just say that I didn't try so I would't care. Whereas if I put my blood and sweat into something, and still got a **** grade, I would be pretty pissed off and sad a little bit, but then I would keep on working hard so that i can improve


You can always say you didn't try lol. You're the only person I know who would prefer to be that guy who says he didn't try. I would rather be living on the street than be that guy.

Your point which I've underlined is exactly what I was saying that you are less likely to get depressed if you work hard.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you