I bet most people don't talk about their studying, and if you don't see the person studying, what stands out is their ability. So if the person goes home and spends twice as much time studying as you do, you still only see the part where they demonstrate their knowledge. If they studied ahead, they'll look like they know everything when really they are working twice as hard as you.
Basically, we humans are really bad at judging things, particularly abstract things like "intelligence". Heck, we can't even really define it yet.
Just get your results, and be happy with those.
Re:I Was Told I Was Very Smart
by asciilifeform on Thursday October 22, 2009 @07:56AM
(#896550)
> they spend plenty of time studying
A comforting half-truth.
I think seemed is the key word here. Many people that are good at what they do give the impression that it's a breeze for them. When examining it closer, it isn't: they spend plenty of time studying. I've never really gotten to the bottom of it, but the difference seems to be that they simply talk less about the studying and more about the material itself, which gives the impression they know their stuff very well, even though they studied hard as well.