AS in education - underachieving or overachieving?

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Overachiever, although sometimes I get really consumed by my interests and can't concentrate on my studies.
Also, I'm an extreme perfectionist, which can get in the way.
I skipped most of grade 8 due to drama and P.E., but still wanted to get perfect marks. I just didn't know what to do, I was so overwhelmed by the conflict between my desire for excellence and my avoidance of social situations. There was also cultural shock involved as I was a recent immigrant. So as long as there was no group work/public speaking involved, I did very well. Now, I've grown to like public speaking, and probably wouldn't mind taking drama or even P.E.

I was somewhat of an underachiever in public schools for most years, stemming from health issues. I was sick so often that I had to repeat 4th grade, and on multiple occasions, had my schedule cut down after being ill for months. On the years that I didn't get seriously ill, I still had good grades.


In my college years, health was less of an issue. I ended up having the highest GPA of anyone in the department. Then, I earned a Master's degree.


And now, after a year of an all-too-stressful job, my health issues (different ones) are back with a vengeance, and I worry about my capacity to hold *any* job.

Also a very uneven pattern of achievement...

I got very good grades in elementary school. Even after skipping second grade, I had no problem with the work.

In middle school I got bored, and my grades started to slip, though apparently I was still doing well enough to be put in all the honors courses. In high school I was practically failing, because I just didn't care enough to do the homework. (Actually, the class I did best in may have been my AP class - AP is like honors, but higher.)

Then I quit school.

After a few years I went to community college, to see whether I could handle school again. I got all A's. Then I moved on to a "real name" 4-year college. None of my final grades were less than a B-, and in my major I did well enough to be inducted into the honor society. I graduated cum laude. I achieved this while inadvertently giving people the impression that I never did any homework.

In sum: I work, and achieve, in proportion to the difficulty of the work.

A paradox.

Sidenote: My gym teachers didn't "teach" gym either. I remember an incident where a classmate used my obvious ignorance of basketball rules to get possession and score. I was mad at the time, but now I think it was a pretty brilliant move. (Although probably itself against the rules.)

Overachieving in relation to many others, but underachieving in comparison to my potential.

My grades are fairly average, maybe even below average for my "smart person" school, but they would be a lot better if I actually cared about school.

Used to be overachiever but after my sixteenth I swung right to underachiever.
Though I'm still able to (sometimes barely) pass grades with little studying, I could do much better.

I was an over-achiever from K-6 grade cause I went to a poor urban public school where the majority of students were often failing, flunking out...whatever.

Then I got transferred to Catholic School in 7th and 8th grade and all went to crap. Underachiever from there and ever since. (I know for damn certain I should've flunked 7th grade but I guess the Catholic School officials were too cowardly to make a student have to repeat a year).

But I graduated from high school and college about average.