Anonymous
05/18/2026 10:47
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
It’s combination of many things. Its natural intellect as well as effort and organizational skills. I also think some students have weaker foundational skills from early in their education that puts them behind later on. I do think some people are naturally smarter than others, but being educated well at a young age does a lot of heavy lifting.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 10:40
Subject: Re:What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Some kids have challenging home lives that distract them from being able to focus 100% on school.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 10:33
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Anonymous wrote:Some kids are just more academically capable. There are kids who are maybe natural B students who can become A students with hard work and support, and an even smaller number who perhaps have an LD or other obstacle that, if addressed, they could move from being C or D students to straight As.
But most kids who get good grades start out that way. Yes they work at it, because they are curious and conscientious. They also have large capacity for knowledge and critical thinking. It's nature and nurture, but you can because great parent and your kid can work hard, but they might not be a straight A student because they just don't have the fundamental material for it. It's not much different than what makes someone a stellar athlete or artist --yee you obviously have to work at it, but some people have more to work with.
But also, can we normalize being a B or even C student? It's fine. Not everyone needs to be an astronaut or judge or surgeon. The world also needs salespeople and small business owners and mid level accountants. It's ok to do these jobs. It's ok to be average. Most of us are!
Yes, some kids are more academically capable. They test well, they better and more quickly figure out what is required to do well in certain classes, they are more proactive with teachers, etc.
And, some kids are just a lot smarter than others.
It's two different things.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 10:31
Subject: Re:What did the top 10% of students do differently?
I also think if you didn’t learn what you needed to in the lower grades, if makes it really hard to be able to be top 10% in middle and high school. By 2nd grade, you can see who has fallen behind, and those kids need to work very hard and drill addition/subtraction/multiplication and address any reading fluency or comprehension issues. If you’re not caught by middle of 3rd grade, I think it becomes much harder to do.
At some point (5th? 6th?) there is another similar point where you have to be caught up to a certain minimum point, or it becomes almost impossible. This happened to me in math. I had a spotty time in math in 6th and part of 7th and I just never caught up. I continued to take advanced math and hit AP calc in 12th, but I really never understood any of the concepts. Stats in college was a disaster because I didn’t really understand graphs or variables at all.
At some point (5th? 6th?) there is another similar point where you have to be caught up to a certain minimum point, or it becomes almost impossible. This happened to me in math. I had a spotty time in math in 6th and part of 7th and I just never caught up. I continued to take advanced math and hit AP calc in 12th, but I really never understood any of the concepts. Stats in college was a disaster because I didn’t really understand graphs or variables at all.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 10:02
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Anonymous wrote:A bit of a contrarian view here. I couldn’t have cared less as a HS student and finished in the bottom 10% of my large public HS class. Somehow a college accepted me and I decided it was time to turn it around. I followed a simple formula of working an hour or two a day more than others. That still left me with plenty of time to have fun. I did well and transferred to a T25 school and continued to work hard-I finished near the top of my class. I earned professional degrees from an Ivy and followed the same pattern in my career-and did very well. Don’t believe that hard work doesn’t pay off. It does. Get in gear.
I agree that hard work matters a lot, but you also clearly have a lot of natural talent. It didn't show during high school because you were goofing off, but it was always there! Being in the bottom 10% of the class is probably often due to lack of effort rather than lack of talent. Someone might be talented, or maybe not. We just don't know because they didn't turn in their work. That said, you probably can't take an average kid and vault them to the #1 slot based solely on hard work.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 07:53
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
School just comes easier for some people. There's a lot of stuff I'm not great at, but I'm very good at school and so I did well without working very hard.
Teachers want people to work hard because that's helpful whether you're academically gifted or not, but it's not the whole story.
Teachers want people to work hard because that's helpful whether you're academically gifted or not, but it's not the whole story.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 07:49
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Some things are easier for some people. If one of those things is math or writing, then you are going to have a leg up in many academic settings.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 07:09
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
A bit of a contrarian view here. I couldn’t have cared less as a HS student and finished in the bottom 10% of my large public HS class. Somehow a college accepted me and I decided it was time to turn it around. I followed a simple formula of working an hour or two a day more than others. That still left me with plenty of time to have fun. I did well and transferred to a T25 school and continued to work hard-I finished near the top of my class. I earned professional degrees from an Ivy and followed the same pattern in my career-and did very well. Don’t believe that hard work doesn’t pay off. It does. Get in gear.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 05:51
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
I’m a teacher in a Title I school. The teachers in my school work hard and many kids work hard and their scores don’t reflect the hard work. I do think IQ is genetic and I also think that environmental influences greatly impact memory and learning. So my students who were born from a mom who couldn’t afford good prenatal care into a family where the parents have to work two jobs and the kids are cared for by an older sibling, who have poor nutrition because they can’t afford better, who don’t sleep well because there are 4 families living loudly in one apartment…well all the odds are stacked against them.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 05:27
Subject: Re:What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Some people are alphas and some are epsilons, that’s just how it is.
Anonymous
05/18/2026 04:46
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Of course some people are just smarter than others. How is that not obvious?
I don’t think we’re allowed to say that.
That’s because it’s outdated thinking. What exactly makes a person smarter than another. In school it’s probably a little easier to detect. Academically smarter is someone who has an easier time memorizing a lot of new information. If you have a logical mind you’ll be able to relate to the information easily. If you have a mathematical mind then math will come easier to you.
But scientists have broken down the various forms of intellect that have nothing to do with IQ which will be more important after school is completed.
Most people don’t know their IQ or need to know unless there is a problem.
Anonymous
05/17/2026 22:44
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Some kids are just more academically capable. There are kids who are maybe natural B students who can become A students with hard work and support, and an even smaller number who perhaps have an LD or other obstacle that, if addressed, they could move from being C or D students to straight As.
But most kids who get good grades start out that way. Yes they work at it, because they are curious and conscientious. They also have large capacity for knowledge and critical thinking. It's nature and nurture, but you can because great parent and your kid can work hard, but they might not be a straight A student because they just don't have the fundamental material for it. It's not much different than what makes someone a stellar athlete or artist --yee you obviously have to work at it, but some people have more to work with.
But also, can we normalize being a B or even C student? It's fine. Not everyone needs to be an astronaut or judge or surgeon. The world also needs salespeople and small business owners and mid level accountants. It's ok to do these jobs. It's ok to be average. Most of us are!
But most kids who get good grades start out that way. Yes they work at it, because they are curious and conscientious. They also have large capacity for knowledge and critical thinking. It's nature and nurture, but you can because great parent and your kid can work hard, but they might not be a straight A student because they just don't have the fundamental material for it. It's not much different than what makes someone a stellar athlete or artist --yee you obviously have to work at it, but some people have more to work with.
But also, can we normalize being a B or even C student? It's fine. Not everyone needs to be an astronaut or judge or surgeon. The world also needs salespeople and small business owners and mid level accountants. It's ok to do these jobs. It's ok to be average. Most of us are!
Anonymous
05/17/2026 22:43
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Anonymous wrote:Of course some people are just smarter than others. How is that not obvious?
I don’t think we’re allowed to say that.
Anonymous
05/17/2026 22:42
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
Of course some people are just smarter than others. How is that not obvious?
Anonymous
05/17/2026 22:29
Subject: What did the top 10% of students do differently?
In this Reddit on the ask teachers subreddit (https://old.reddit.com/r/AskTeachers/comments/1tfpoz7/what_do_the_top_10_do_right/), so many teachers claim that you just need to study hard, do all the work, ask questions, and be curious. That’s all it takes to get As. Yet, so many teachers in NOVA talk about how so many students can work hard and study hard and still not get As. I just hate how teachers lie and gaslight by blaming poor performance on the students or parents, yet they also claim that just “hard work” is good enough for good performance. It’s just so hypocritical when most teachers are extremely left wing and believe things like IQ or intelligence are pseudoscience, yet they can’t explain the difference in academic performance between students once you rule out how someone studies. This is why I hate the education system so much