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Are grades linked to genetics (IQ), socalisation or hard work?

Some people do lots of work and get As
Some people do little work and get As
Some people do lots of work and get Es

How much of this variation in results down to these factors:

-Socialisation (class background)
-IQ (genetic)
-Work

Reply 1

spoon1

13

I think it's a mixture. I did sod all at gcse and got 7A*s and 2 A's. However the subjects i did absolutely sod all in and i hated (English and english lit) I got A's in. My friend did even more bugger all than me and got good marks. Not so clever people did loads and loads of work and improved their gcse marks immensely from their mocks. So its a bit of a mixture really.....

p.s. some people do little work and get E's. You missed that off your list.

Reply 2

spoon1

13

well, i didnt actually do sod all, but i did find myself working less than other people in my year...

Reply 3

Excogitant

OP

Same here. Last year I got 7 As for AS modules I sat; I don't put in as much effort as other people (I'm lazy and spend most of my time reading books full of useless information, socializing and spending time on my PC). This year I am doing AS and A2 so when I finish college I should have 5 A levels and 2 AS...
Personally, in my case I think my acheivement is down to my father being a teacher as well as the genetic IQ factor

Reply 4

Cellardore

11

It's a mixture. Environmental factors i believe play a big part as i don't think we are born with the same opportunities.

Reply 5

kellywood_5

17

Well, I did work hard for my GCSEs; perhaps not as hard as some people, but harder than most. I got 1 A*, 6 As and 3 Bs, so I'd say that was down to a combination of lack of work and lack of natural ability in certain subjects. I'm working much harder for my ASs this year since I'm doing subjects I enjoy, and my current grades are AAAC. I think all those factors are important, but probably IQ and hard work more so than socialisation.

Reply 6

bleeper

11

IQ, hard work and good exam technique

Reply 7

Euripides

IQ alone.

Think about it - some people, no matter how hard they work, cannot achieve good grades because they're too dumb, simple.

Socialisation has nothing to do with good grades (look at prince Harry!), if a kid's clever enough they will succeed whatever their background.

Reply 8

gringalet

12

I'd say it's a mixture, and depends from person to person: some people are just intelligent, some are intelligent and hardworking, some are just hardworking; some have lots of support, financially or otherwise, which I think can only help in any situation; some are lucky and have all three, and still fail.

I'd also agree with whoever said exam technique – some people are too clever for exams!

Reply 9

Excogitant

OP

I know someone who's extremely intelligent and has had to resit his GCSEs because his parents were awful, put him down, did not emphasise the importance of education and would not let him work at home...

Reply 10

spoon1

13

Euripides

Think about it - some people, no matter how hard they work, cannot achieve good grades because they're too dumb, simple.

Harsh but true.

Reply 11

Missy B

exam grades do not show intelligence, they show hard work.

Anyone who manges to put the hard work in the right way will succeed as todays exams are rigid and structured and do not rely so much on common sense.

Reply 12

rachelrainbow32

2

i think exams rely on common sense, i did no revision for my last practice papers in RE and Psychology and managed to get full marks just by using common sense

i do think that its IQ and hard work that matter, i have one friend who works like mad and manages to get mainly Bs and a few As while i do a little bit of work and get get As and A* it just depends realli

Reply 13

saiyamanadingdongbanana

rachelrainbow32

i think exams rely on common sense,

Common sense? What is common sense? an ability to derive an answer based on your own understanding of the question and applying your opinion, which is usually correct.. Suggesting a link between grades and IQ. There have been times when i have known people to trust their 'common sese', and get a very low mark, yet others getting high grades.

Not sure about this one, depends on how intense the 'hard work' is. Hard work affecting grades, people might feel under pressure and experience something similar to the Yerkes-Dodson Effect. although, with less hard work, links between information will be made, you will effectively remember more stuff when entering the exams. But, the effects of stress cannot be ignored with this. Therefore, taking into account the stress created, and increased pressure, i feel that there is not a sufficient link between hard work and grades.

For socialisation, i believe people can affect your performance for the better or worse. It is possible that negative states of mind can derive from social problems, causing bad performances in exams and the likes. The implications are so extensive, i would say there must be some kind of link, simply because people deal with things much differently (eg: A person who was skitted at a lot in childhood might adopt one of many possible states of mind, 'ill show them in the exams', 'im better than them', 'i hate myself', 'i want to die', 'i dont care what they think'

Reply 14

rachelrainbow32

2

common sense is looking at a question and guessing what the answer will be
eg, a psychology question about sex and gender
Write about one investigation into sex and gender across different cultures.
all i knew was that the answer involved tribes, after being away for that lesson, but i used my common sense and came up with an answer, that got full marks.

Reply 15

Jump

18

I'd say it is a combo of lots of factors but most important is IQ which provides potential for success and hardwork to realise such potential. Other variables are merely hygine factors.

Reply 16

lostinfantasies

2

I'm not sure. My grandmother is brilliant at Maths and Science. My dad's brilliant at Maths and Science; he has a degree in something of the sort. My mother however, and her mother, aren't so good on the calculation front, but they're amazing at English.

I'm sort of in the middle. I'm not too sure what I'm good at. I don't think intelligence is genetic, but maybe my grandmother taught my dad about Maths, and that's why he's pretty good at it. He's practically completely deaf so he would have had to have some tutoring from her.

Reply 17

stratomaster

Hard work and intelligence.

At GCSE you can blag a lot of it.. lets be honest and still get a good grade, however at A-level you cannot blag it. You need to know the work to be able to answer it.. the inteligence doesn't really come into it there because you either know the answer or you don't ...

Are grades linked to genetics (IQ), socalisation or hard work?

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