If everyone calls me a genius, why are my grades so bad?

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These days, a lot of people can't afford to spend an extra year or two in higher education, so they have to cram it all into four years. It is even worse if you missed some stuff in high school. And then you have those over-achievers who have a head start with a couple classes worth of college credits.

I crammed 6yrs worth of academic course credit into 3.5yrs b/c of financial pressures.

It was difficult and had health consequences...I would not recommend it.

You sound like a genius, who has been neglected by a system which he is smarter than. You don't sound entitled at all, really.

Are you sure you're doing a subject which occupies a majority of your time? Is it what you end up focusing on anyway, or do you do something else with your spare time?

I think us aspies, have trouble incorporating our interests with our line of work sometimes . Unlike NTs, we need to incorporate our interests and obsessions, to better motivate us toward the goal of academic study and achievement, or we will be weeded out of an often tyrannical and pleasure-driven system.

Grades don't equal intelligence.

Einstein went to polytechnic school and did a teaching diploma. that's on level with tafe or a technical college. and he did really well in the field he was interested in. was he still intelligent? yes.

Additionally, what are your plans after you have achieved ? That is what you are looking for, achievement, right? The need to achieve something, whether that be grades, or realizing your IQ scores from way back when.
Not being confrontational, but that is what seems to motivate this whole inquiry.

Last edited by xraydave on 05 Sep 2016, 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

When I was 13 and in junior high I was told that I had the IQ of an 18-year-old, but my grades made it looked like I had the brain of an 8-year-old.

I got fairly high grades in high school [70, 80, the occasional 90], but I was so often bored, and because of my background with homeschooling, I know so much more about the things I like [mythology, fantasy, epic tales...]. Is it arrogant to say such things? Now that I'm in university, I'm not interested in doing essays on Jane Eyre. I want to translate Beowulf or [if I could get my hands on the necessary books] the Kalevala [even though I don't know any Finnish] or study Tolkien!

All the editions and translations of the Kalevala can be found in the Society’s library. Visitors can also get acquainted with the scholarly research dedicated to the Kalevala.

These pages provide reliable and authoritative information on the Kalevala; among other things, it is possible to read the corrected 1849 version of the Kalevala in its entirety.
http://neba.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?se=y

^Thank you kindly! I have a translated copy at my house, and when I was younger, even though I didn't fully understand it, I found it fascinating.

I have been in this situation all my life. I couldn't get through college and everyone keeps wanting me to try again. I keep on trying to no avail. Various courses I did well but can't pass math and in the process ruined my GPA. I'm in therapy trying to figure it all out as I am unemployed and on disability. I can't get the education needed to get a job. I ruined my resume. So what can I say but that this was one reason I knew I had AS. I have all the traits.

To make use of your smarts in future, it is best to do the busywork now.
If you are smart, the busywork is easy, and can be got over with quickly.
You can study more advanced things on your own in your topics of interest, if school is not intellectually stimulating.
No matter what you choose to do in life, you will always have to spend some time doing things that are not interesting or you think are pointless.

Genius doesn't always mean good grades - unfortunately in most school systems you have to learn what they want you to do, and then do it. I have an IQ of 158 and rarely listened or contributed in class because it didn't engage me. Also I couldn't see the point of discussing answers, my brain doesn't get teamwork lol. My books were full of doodles and drawings because that's how I learn, and I daydreamed constantly. Try to look at your brain and how you work best (maybe get a friend or teacher to help you), so that you can optimise it and improve your grades. At college I used to sit through the day without taking anything in, and then go and re-learn the information in my spare time in a way that suited me. It was time-consuming but it worked. I also procrastinate too much, which is something I'm still working on. I definitely have a problem with tasks or questions where the scope is too broad. For example I would write 26 page essays where 1 would do if no word limit was set, or spend hours on a 15 minute homework task. Occasionally I wouldn't even start because the task seemed too big, too challenging, because it was lacking specifics and definition.

My advice to anybody learning is to think about how your brain works, think about what the examiner wants, and try to find a route to the middle of that Venn diagram.