Everyone wants to be the gifted kid in school. I mean, having to study is so lame. Wouldn’t it be great to be naturally smart? Isn’t life so much easier when you can finish homework in less than half an hour?
That’s the assumption for gifted kids. But the assumption is also wildly incorrect.
Being gifted doesn’t mean that you are an automatic genius. In fact, there are two types of nerds. There are those who study hard and achieve the grade they worked for. And then there are those who don’t.
Throughout their lives, the second species of nerds haven’t bothered to study much at all. Why would they? Getting A’s comes naturally. It’s as normal as a burp.
“In earlier grades, they’re being told they’re gifted, so they feel they don’t have to study, but when seventh or sixth grade comes, they start slipping because raw intellect isn’t enough anymore,” said sixth-grader Taylor Z.
As odd as it sounds, some gifted students don’t spend hardly any of their day studying. They simply wing it. But when it doesn’t work, what happens next?
“You’re getting older and things are more different,” Says Maya D, a 7th grader at Day Creek.
Expectations change and classes get harder. Winging it stops working. Instead of laying back, learning to study becomes essential. Or the unexpected expectations of that oncoming GATE class may catch the nerd with some awfully bad habits.
“[My daughter] did get everything easily. She was cum laude in high school. [Then] she started at Chaffey and really wasn’t sure what she wanted to do,” says Mrs. Routh, a 7th grade teacher at Day Creek.
All students struggle when the work gets hard. Lacking the tools to retain information is a huge drain of energy apart from the actual coursework. Grades start slipping and students struggle to put in the necessary effort.
“I think that it’s about putting the effort into it. I think [that] everybody has the ability to have good study habits, and I know that [with] support, [and] perseverance, they can definitely achieve study habits,” said the care counselor, Mrs. Robbins.
Easy grades don’t last forever. Even Einstein studied. Students can break the cycle of not studying by asking teachers for constructive criticism or by visiting Paper, a tutoring website. Having good study habits can help students when “winging it” doesn’t work. Gaining helpful study habits now can help students avoid tripping up down the road, especially when obligations outside of school compete with homework and test prep.
“Studying is important because it challenges you mentally. If you can breeze through an exam effortlessly, that’s okay. But if someone were to receive an outcome or score that they were not pleased with, that is not negative. That is an opportunity for growth,” says Mrs. Gaines, the counselor at Day Creek.
