Can you go from being a dumb kid to being a full mark kid?

I think that common sense is partly innate but has a lot to do with experience as well. In a way the notion/definition of common sense seems a little flawed to me as the name kind of implies that regardless of your background and upbringing you should have it. For instance practical stuff like cooking might fall under the "common sense" bracket; I have barely any skill in this area but that's not because I'm incapable, it is because it isn't something I've done much of. There is stuff like basic spacial perception, not putting yourself or others in unnecessary danger, being able to respond to/understand simple social cues that is pretty common and within my and most people's grasps.

I think you are more likely to be perceived as dumb if you are socially reserved. Although I have the capacity to write very well I rarely display the same grasp of language or ideas in conversation with people. I answer in a somewhat robotic and laconic fashion and rarely "guide" the conversation/take the initiative. If you do not display your intelligence via social interactions, it will likely be assumed that you do not have much, rather than that you are simply introverted. If you are thought of as intelligent, it is as you say; they will only go so far as to think you "smart on paper". And it may well be assumed that you can only be all that good at "technical" subjects where there are concrete answers. An educational parrot, if you will, lacking any kind of creativity.

It is amusing as I spent my childhood writing pages upon pages of fiction; I've spent much of my adolescence writing music. But without knowing these facts and having solely speaking to me as a way of seeing what I'm like people would consider me dumb. I'm not saying this is some great evil; it is the natural and obvious consequence of somewhat extreme introversion - to be honest if I met someone similar to myself I would jump to these same conclusions even with my experiences as they seem the most sensible given the evidence you have.

edit: sorry for the long ramble, it seems I am missing essay writing..

Why do you think that? As a v/mature student, I'd like to hear more of your views.

Same. Unfortunately I didn't practice enough to prepare me for the really unusual papers of this year so ended up with a B in maths. :/ Don't make that mistake and you'll come out with an A/A*!

Ask the drug dealers in Limitless or Lucy.

Thank you very much for the long post, really enjoyed reading it so there is no need to apologise! I don't think cooking as a whole can be considered 'common 'sense' because it's something you learn. You aren't born knowing exactly which ingredients go well together or how to achieve the right consistency with something idk if you get what I mean? An aspect of cooking that relies on common sense for me would be something like not allowing something to burn by not stirring or flipping It over maybe? Or maybe even that is something you learn b/c I've definitely let something burn before without being specifically told to watch over it lol... But yeah I'm just like you, have zero skills in this area.

Yeah you definitely write very well, what do you think of how I write? (Be honest I really don't mind.) What I meant by the fact that I'm socially reserved is that I don't get out much and that limits my general knowledge. So simple things that most people know and don't need to think about, I do. But I could just be making excuses tbh. I am really crap at practical things... I remember one time we were given ID card holder thingys or something like that to wear (it wasn't just a case of swinging it around your neck) but I didn't know how to do it so my friend was like 'FOB' (fresh off the boat) and did it for me. Another example is one time I struggled to lock up shop windows... It was quite an old looking raily thing (you know those things that protect shop windows and have holes in them) and I seriously couldn't turn the key or even understand how to close the damn thing. So yeah I really lack practical skills.

I actually don't find socially reserved/introverted people like yourself who speak in a 'robotic' fashion dumb. To me those people usually just come across as not bothered with the conversation or that they just prefer being on their own/doing their own thing

Ah I understand your frustration, when you know you could have done so much better right! But a B is not bad.. To me it shows you more than understand the foundation but missed that edge which was the extra practice you should have done? Idk What you doing at uni? Oh and which papers did you find unusual? Thank you for the advice!

Yeah I was more thinking about the basics of achieving something serviceable/edible rather than making a particularly nice meal, so stuff like not burning and just using the equipment properly. (It is hard to overstate my inexperience) I remember I was useless at even this, along with textiles and woodwork and all D.T. stuff, back in Year 7-9 while all my classmates, even those who would do horribly in most subjects, had no issues.

Of course this isn't the best place to assess such a thing as you are using shorthands/abbreviations and presumably not trying to be grammatically impeccable (you can probably tell that I'm not) but from what I can gather your writing seems pretty good. I know how you feel. I've improved as I've grown older but I used to be unable to have difficulty opening normal things like food containers, and I was embarrassing at standard P.E. activities involving any projectiles. At work experience I was instructed to clean windows and honestly didn't know how to go about it properly; I can't even recall how I managed to mess that up... And science experiments have always been a nightmare; it was an utter miracle that the ones I had to do for A level coursework were very simple. But when it comes to abstract logic tests I can be extremely competent and rigorous; it's almost like I lack the patience, motivation and attention to be that way in real life.

Of course there are many aspects to personality and there are different ways a person can appear introverted/reserved. I guess I wouldn't assume they were dumb; it might just be an innate impression (like that gut reaction you get without really contemplating things deeply). It probably isn't aided by the fact that beyond myself the high achievers in my school have often tended to be rather extroverted and verbally expressive people, so I associate those qualities with intelligence.

I'm applying to study medicine (gap year applicant). I got A*AA in my other subjects (chemistry, biology and physics respectively) so I meet the requirements for most medical schools except for Cambridge.

And yeah, it does disappoint because I really wanted an A*. :/ I'll be resitting C3 and C4 in the summer just for my personal closure - just to know that I can do it if I put the time in. Oh well, no point crying over spilled milk.

Unfortunately, both the core papers this year were unusual for my exam board. If you look at the TSR pages people made after the exams (particularly for C4), you'll see how pissed off people were with the papers this year. I thought M2 was bad as well but nobody really agreed with me on that one so I assume that's just me and my lack of practice.

Yep that makes complete sense. OMG you are me in boy form. Like seriously, I went through my school years DREADING textiles and D.T b/c I was so practically useless. And yeah as you say, I would see my classmates who were academically less able to achieve good grades like I did, have no issues! I wonder why? LOL. Unfortunately I sort of think that I'm actually dumber than them and that they just don't know how to revise or something because they clearly grasp things better than I do. Idk.

Thank you Definitely not trying to be grammatically impeccable. You 'used to be unable to have difficulty opening normal things like food containers'? Is that a typo? I thought you used to struggle with practical things? And OMG yes science experiments I was the person who never knew what they were doing. Well no actually not even that, I just didn't know HOW to do what we were supposed to do sometimes.

Oh really? I've experienced quite a mix of people where I've seen both extroverted and introverted people be really high academic achievers. Anyway, it was nice talking to you, can I PM you some time?

Oooh nice! Are you going to write a new personal statement and do UCAS all over again or just ring universities when you have your final grade? I really hope you get the a* this time Was that just for WJEC? Because I'm doing edexcel

I didn't apply last year. xD It's a voluntary gap year so this is my first UCAS application! And hopefully my last one for an undergraduate course... As far as the application goes, I already have the grades in my other three A-levels so they probably won't give a hoot whether I resit for my own satisfaction or not.

Although, since medical schools do tend to be pretty stiff about resits outside the normal two-year study period, if I get any offers, I'll probably ask the university whose offer I accept (no firm/insurance system if your offers are unconditional) whether it's okay to resit for my own satisfaction. I'm probably going to self-study a further maths A-level as well, just to halt the decay of my study skills and for a bit of fun.

I'm not entirely sure about the other exam boards but yeah, I'm pretty sure it was just WJEC this year. This sort of thing happens from time to time in various subjects - OCR, for example, had an absolutely ****e chemistry paper this year and lots of people thought they were going to miss their offers because of it. Sometimes that can be a good thing because, immediately after results day, it turned out that a lot of people who missed their medical offers by one grade were getting in anyway, and most of them had missed that grade in OCR chemistry so my theory is that the admissions tutors decided to cut everybody some slack instead of rejecting them because of one bad paper. And this is medicine - a subject that never enters Clearing.

Thanks, I hope you get an A* too. Good luck with your studies.

Well I think there are different types of intelligence. You could say you are dumber than them in one sense, on a practical level, but you are more skilled in the traditional academic sense. Being able to revise effectively is a skill - it is possible to work hard and still do badly because you don't have the understanding of how to make yourself remember and understand information properly. And grasping practical stuff is very different to grasping theoretical stuff.

Yeah I had two ideas for how to write that; unable to and have difficulty with. Sadly I put both ideas in at once. I was the person in science group work who everyone hated because they sat around doing nothing - although sometimes I could be useful with the tables and graphs.

Perhaps I try too hard to systemize and generalize. There is a mix; I guess it's just that the select few very very best were pretty extroverted. To be honest I can be that way amongst people I know, so it's probably all a little more nuanced than I've implied. You too and sure.

Ah great you are sorted! Was it f324? A lot of people were going on about that! What was so different from the usual papers? Thank you!!!

Cool, you doing math at uni? Did you do further math aswell? I'm starting to find math so awesome... used to hate and dread it as a kid

Sorry by this are you saying that people are only considered 'smart' when they do well in something they are interested in? Sorry I'm a bit confused by that first paragraph. For the rest of your post, I totally agree. I'm definitely not a 'naturally smart' person, I'm so slow. You can probably tell by the fact that I didn't understand your first paragraph. But how can you determine that you are/aren't a 'naturally smart' person? How is this sort of intelligence measured?