As the title suggests, how do you beat those naturally smart people? Weird and abstract question, i know but still i can't emphasize my frustration but it's not like i hate them or anything. For example, in the Maths Ext II test that i've done for this term this guy in my grade, obviously brilliant...he ranks 1 in most subjects and probably his worst rank would be in the 10's but that's Studies of Religion..no one really cares about that
(no offense to you religo's out there
) So anyway, he is a really bright student, he walks into the exam and tops it beating me and the rest of the guys in 4U by about minimum 5 marks; which i think, is a lot.
It's not like i don't study, because i do about 4 hours every night and a bit in the morning during exam period but not now..i've really relaxed these past days since i'm off for christmas holidays in a few days. (OH YEAH!) Yeah, so anyone have past experiences or related stories? I'm sure in most schools there has to be a genius raping every subject! I'd just like advice on how to chop him in half (mark-wise ofcourse >;D)!
To be honest, I think
Tangent has given you the possible answer, but I thought I'd throw some opinions in for having been through it - in case you are not convinced by him.
To quote some: "your UAI (or ATAR) will not matter once you have received the offer from the university that you want to study at". If you are arrogant enough you may think that it's an excuse people have to comfort themselves for not having achieved what they set out for, which is fair enough because that does describe a lot of people (oops
), but there is some truth in it otherwise.
I have met
*lots* of very very very bright people. At the beginning it was very frustrating - let's face it, who likes to get owned in something that she/he loves doing?
That was, however, rather silly in retrospect. In fact, I feel fortunate to have met these people because they really do make you learn much faster, not to mention that they are generally really nice people.
(There are clearly some who are pretentious and/or manipulative, but meh, you just ignore them)
So, does that mean the rest of us are always second-grade? Nope! 'cause we really are cut out for different things. You will realise (I hope) that you are good at something that other people are not, much like
duckcowhybrid's idea of a
pet subject.
To give you a personal example, I've been quite pathetic at exams since after high school and the only attempt to top a core subject only saw me coming second; later on I realised by accident that I'm really quite good at research (saying something like that about oneself is often weird...); it's been fantastic since then and I'm owning everyone at what I know I'm good at.
(Oh, and learning from the smart people of what I'm not good at
) At the very least I know I can draw reaction mechanisms and understand chemical kinetics better than most.
After a looong detour and back to answering your original question/request:
it's pointless. Personally, I think that not only did
Tangent give you the best possible answer, he has also given you the best possible
solution.
If worst comes to worst,
your UAI (or ATAR... I should really figure this out) doesn't matter at the end of the day" (assuming that you are reasonably smart and care enough to work hard, which seems to be a fair assumption). Also, as a little aside, if you are familiar with
the law of diminishing returns, you should try applying that to a model comprised of
unit(s) of increase in exam marks,
time spent on studying,
time for relaxing and
time spent with family/friends.
Hope that helps!
^That was one of the most difficult things i have tried to read in a while =s
*Nods*!
dont be so worried about the guy in your class. focus more on yourself, and achieving your personal best. think of him as a goal, and use competition as motivation.
in the end you are up against everyone in nsw, so the best concept is focusing more on what you are doing than what others are doing
+1! :uhhuh: