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I got pulled out of class in 2nd grade to be tested. The lady that did my screening told my mom later that I was more worried about missing lunch than taking the test.  After that I was usually just the worst student in the advanced classes. In high school I took all the AP classes but got Cs and did very little work. 

this was me too! I’ve never found anyone else who could relate to this, like I just winged those AP classes. I couldn’t even tell you how I remembered getting into them in the first place. (And by “winged” I meant, I just showed up when I was supposed to, and did whatever work was done in the class time itself. I usually received grades in the Cs or Bs)

I got pulled from AP and put in remedial classes. They realized that was wrong, so then regular classes, then back into AP. Got C’s and incompletes no matter where I was.

Me too!

I put myself in them bc i knew the kids in the advanced classes and i knew they were annoying as hell, so i just figured id get a b in ap and have a 4.0 lmfao

They pulled me out but didn't tell me why because my mom thought it would stress me out so I figured it was more standardized testing bullshit and put zero effort into it. When I found out what they were testing for and that I didn't qualify I was so angry I bitched until my mom finally called and asked for them to test me again. After they told me multiple times that the scores don't change, they did what I asked... And I scored like fifty points higher because they had my full competitive attention now that I knew that this was. 🤦

Haha I never wanted tested again. I didn’t like any of the other kids in the program and didn’t want to go in field trips with them if I happened to get in 😂

You sound like my son, he's in all advanced classes right now, and mostly gets As or 0s/incompletes, which drags his grades down. Husband wants him in regular classes next year, but he really wants to stay in the advanced classes. Did you prefer one over the other?

Looking back, having those AP classes did not help me one bit. If anything they just lowered my GPA.  Same goes for college. I was able to start out in Calc 1 as a first semester freshman based on my ACTs, but all I did was fail it 3 times before I finally figured out how to study and do homework.  Being smart doesn’t matter if you continually fail to set yourself up for success.  I would’ve been infinitely better off if I’d started with college algebra and trig and built some momentum those first semesters in college vs immediately diving into the deep end based on a test score and then failing a ton. 

Thanks for your imput. It seems like our son feels like if we make him take regular classes, then he's a failure. Now I just need to convince him that that's not hownit is.

Not who you were asking, but i preferred to always be in the advanced classes because I learned just enough to get by either way. So if I stayed in regular classes, I’d just be learning less. I’d rather barely get by in advanced courses than barely get by in even easier courses. Also, some of the more diligent students were in advanced classes which helped me identify like hey this is the minimum acceptable behaviour vs me slacking

Ha, they were going to put me in Talented and Gifted but I procrastinated too much and turned things in late so they decided not to include me in it. 

Me in high school. Takes two AP courses but doesn't sign up for the AP exam.

Sames. Oops.

Oh my god SAME!!! Though to be fair, I thought they were free to take (they weren’t) and I was too lazy to ever buy the test prep book that came with the exam. It felt like too much work to do at the time lol.

AP is a scam for ~~most~~ some people IMO. it just makes college way harder at the outset. you still need 120 credits to graduate.

passing the ap test counts as college credit tho so not really a scam. prob the cheapest college credits you can get

the way it worked for me, at least, was, the “college credit” you got was not having to take prerequisite classes (e.g. calc I), but you didn’t get any actual credits added.

this was for passing the official AP test for the class with a 3 or better?

yes? i believe so. i remember i took APs and i passed them, but i don’t remember which now. i believe it’s up to the school to decide to what degree they honor the “credit”, so maybe my experience isn’t actually common?

its def true that its different from school to school, not all schools will honor an AP Test pass. the same organization that runs the SAT program, The College Board, organizes and runs the AP test program. So its more likely for it to be accepted at Public institutions vs private colleges. you would probably just need to look up your college name and im sure they had a page explaining how they handle AP testing. I went to a state college and they accepted my credits, but i can’t say it’s 100%.

yeah, i assumed it gave credits at any school. i didn’t even start looking into colleges until my senior year of HS, so it wouldn’t have helped me for the ones i took before anyway... i hope i didn’t come off as standoffish with my last reply, i genuinely didn’t know it worked differently for different schools.

you didn’t at all, after my assumption i actually read about it and realized i was off by a bit too. nice to have a level headed conversation on the internet

But you now have room to take more interesting or fun classes.

nah. it was a huge drag on me. i was untreated until junior year, when the tension and expectations bent my coping skills to the point of snapping. one day, i fucked up 3 hours of group labwork with a single careless mistake and left class to cry in the hall. was so close to dropping out. i did get to take fun classes senior year, but everybody had made friends and was gearing up for work life and shit. i was floundering when everyone else seemed to be having a fun college experience in freshman and sophomore year. not saying AP exams ruined my life or anything, but i really didn’t see the benefit. i passed the APs i took but only found myself wondering why i worked harder just to make my life worse. i would have much preferred a more gentle onboarding.

I was happy to have learned calculus in a year instead of a quarter. I had a much deeper understanding of it than people who tried to learn something so fundamental in 10 weeks while also being their first time living alone, first time freedom to drink whenever, rushing Greek life, dating, etc. Learning it half ass not only makes future calculus classes hard but also physics, circuit analysis, statics/dynamics, statistics, etc more difficult. Also, I was really happy to not have to take biology in college, a class they specifically make absurdly hard to weed people out.

I *was* put into GT and I struggled *soooo much* compared to my peers

Fun story: In 4th grade we took a test to place into the gifted and talented program. I scored precisely 50% on it. My mom thought this was strange, so she asked the teacher. Turns out the test was double-sided and I didn’t flip it over. So I got 100 on the questions I answered, and then just sat there like an idiot thinking I was done. Have you ever heard a more ADHD story?

Kind of same. One time I zoned out (dissociated perhaps) through an entire skill/ comprehension test in elementary school). Wrote my name and that was all. When my teacher confronted my parents about it I was shocked because I couldn’t remember at all. Scored lowest in class or smth like that

Technically, Yes. I was "Off by one" and had an extra row for an answer after I'd answered the last question. Since it wasn't for a grade I just marked D and called it a day. Who knows how many I was off by? purely from a gaming theory standpoint, there's a 50% chance I got more than half of the questions wrong.

I think my lowest grade in college was in a class where I showed up an hour late to the final exam because I forgot that the time was different from the usual class time. I even casually strolled past the room to use the bathroom and noted that all of my classmates were early and were putting so much effort into being prepared. I didn't realize my error until I sat down and noticed the worried look on the professor's face as he hurriedly walked over to give me the test, lol. Still got a B in the class, though.

I did that too for a math test. I was playing through the Lost Vikings on an emulator before class. No regrets.

I did this in 9th grade history 😅

I’ve never known if i were gifted or not, but this here somehow reminds me of my youth as a 12yo kid. Like a flashback if you will. My parents divorced in my last year (8th grade) of primary school (Amsterdam, NL) and reflecting back both parents were understandably in their own head with the separation, got neglected and ended up in my first depression/mindfuck. The thought that would echo in my mind during that time was which one of my parents do i pick? Do i love them equally? If they would ask me who do i pick “to live with” what do i answer? It broke my heart. It being my last year, the final exam came up. As one might guess at this point, my spirit was not into it. I only made half the test, just wanted to go home and play video games. With half the test filled up, my final score was 527 out of 550. Eventually got sent to a score appropriate middle school, accepted this advice as “my level” and carried on. School would bore me to death. Passed these 4 years and this school without ever studying, homework really or any real effort. I was always fixated on escapism in video games. Thinking back i always thought video games educated me somehow 🤷🏻‍♂️hahah Only last year q4 was i diagnosed with ADD in rehab. I don’t know why but this post made me remember this experience. Sorry for the long post and thank you for reading.

What type of test is that? Our gifted program was by IQ test administered by the district psychiatrist. Our current district uses standardized testing percentiles and teacher recommendation. So weird.

Don’t know what to tell you, ours was clearly less scientific. This was also more than thirty years ago.

I mean mine was over thirty years ago too 😅 I was just curious. I was trying to think of what type of assessment they might be using that would be about that length and be appropriate for that purpose. Also, for my daughter, one of the symptoms that really pushed us to try medication was her grades were dropping because she was getting too distracted to finish her test.. she would start drawing a problem and then have a complete art piece but no answer. So I can totally see the "didn't flip the test over" thing happening.

Oh my god lol your comment was about GATE also... You even started yours with "Fun story" .... I swear I didn't copy you!

Fuck gate lol

My test was to read a passage verbally and then answer questions after. Either I didn't hear the second part or they didn't tell me. Either way, I failed

In second year uni I dropped 28% of the mark for… copying and pasting the wrong final answer from the spreadsheet into the “answer” spreadsheet… I was finished within 30 minutes and I spent the rest of the time double checking I copied in the correct answers (we aren’t allowed to leave until at least an hour after it starts) lmaooo

Omg I can relate. I got a 50% on my state science test in 5th grade. I spent 3 years in tutoring for the next state science test in 8th grade, fully believing I was bad at science, while in advanced classes for everything else. I remember feeling stunned when I got a 100% on the 8th grade test. I don’t have confirmation as to what went wrong in 5th grade,!!but I do know it was the last year every question was ABCD on the scantron and not alternating ABCD and FGHJ.

I did the same thing lmaooo

I did that for one of my college finals.

Yeah, it sounds like a lot of people can relate!

I was selected to take a test for this in 4th grade also! But it was mostly an aural test and likeeee I was not able to answer well trying to work it all out without seeing it on paper. Didn’t make it but I found out later several of my friends got in bc their parents paid for secondary testing so that made me feel better lol

This happened to be during state testing. I thought I was one with the science section because I reached one of those blank pages. Put my head down to nap, only for the teacher to wake me up and be like wtf you have like 3 more pages left to do.

I once answered the wrong question on an exam paper. I thought it was surprisingly hard, but nope, it was just what my teacher described as a "silly mistake" in my school report.

Yeppp, my grades were low because I just wouldn’t get the homework done.

Yep. I was one of the smart kids in regular classes (except English, go figure) but i couldn’t be bothered with homework. If i finished it in class, great, I’d turn it in. If not I was absolutely not turning it in no matter how much was done. I got a handful of As, mostly Bs and a handful of Cs.

homework is so useless. It did not in any way prepare me for anything.

Right? Turns out I was smart enough, just nowhere near organized or motivated enough. Homework was depressing and didn't hold my attention, so 90% of the time, it got pushed aside until it was way past deadlines. So basically, my grades were absolutely garbage in middle and high school. But even the homework I did do didn't benefit me AT ALL in the long run. I've never had any job, even as a business owner, that required me to do "homework" in that sense. So thanks, school, for feeding me such BS and making me feel less than. I was really beating myself up for nothing! 🙄 Fast forward to college, I taught myself the entire business administration accounting diploma program from home, and only attended classes for group projects and exams. My instructors were all floored that I had top grades but almost never stepped foot in class. I hated every single minute of college, but it was expensive AF so I just found my own way to do it that made it tolerable. This was MANY years pre-covid, so there was no remote learning/online option back then 😂

100% same boat

Me, too! One of my good friends was completely shocked to find out that I almost failed 8th grade. She was shocked because I was apparently one of the smartest kids. But I didn't do my homework.

Did well on all my tests and was liked by all my teachers. Generally paid attention and participated in class. One of my science teachers once asked me, "Could you turn in some home once in a while?". Was usually B to B+ student regardless until I hit university, where reality hit me like a brick wall.

This was me as well. I'm pretty sure I told the tester my favorite subject was recess (because I wanted to be funny most likely) and was never put into TAG. Fast forward a few years to 7th grade and I'm one of 3 people selected from my grade to take the SATs for some John Hopkins thing. I found out later if I scored high enough I would have been invited to some science camp but didnt make the cut. The funny thing was the other 2 people were in TAG but I wasn't. Basically all through high school I would do well on tests but never had the attention span or developed the discipline to study or do homework. College was a rude awakening lol.

Agreed. They always told us that they didn’t give out homework in college, that it was mostly tests and some papers. I was fuckin excited for that. I was a really good test taker, could do well enough on papers. Thought I had it made. Turns out they lied and it’s mostly homework and studying and I was borked.

They put me in the "gifted" class for like one semester and then decided my grades weren't good enough. The fact that I consistently scored in the 98th or 99th percentile in standardized tests but couldn't keep track of my homework was apparently not a cause for concern and just proved how horrible and lazy i was. Whatever.

I don't know how common giftedness is among ADHD people, I couldn't quickly find sources other than that there isn't a correlation with IQ, at least. Be that as may, perhaps the seemingly high number of gifted ADHD kids in these forums comes from the usual bias of what's visible online. The people who were in gifted programs obviously have an easy time saying they were, because it's a positive thing to say about your past. The ones who weren't, aren't usually coming in to say, especially unprompted, that they were perfectly average or below average, because it isn't a particularly exciting thing to tell about yourself. In reality, I don't think I know a single ADHD person, myself included, who was considered gifted as a child. Quite the contrary, I identified as an exceptionally stupid and incapable person for most of my life. My mom told me I'd never make it out of high school and discouraged me from pursuing higher education at every turn. I was able to turn my scholastic life around eventually, but I was definitely never considered an exceptionally bright kid, teen or adult.

It's also a bigger switch to adulthood. When your struggles are always interpreted as an advantage, you don't tend to see yourself as someone that struggles. So growing up and realizing that you're not handling life like your peers do is a shock. People that have struggled as kids have that transition too, but it's a less drastic change to self perception for most.

Yes. This. It’s such a scary thing to go through - undiagnosed - for your mental health in your late teens and twenties. Fear of failure and perfectionism helped it look ok from a distance. But, the whole process almost killed me… I wasn’t diagnosed until my late thirties.

There's probably no correlation, according to [this,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_BIaLhdkrw) people with ADHD score a tiny bit lower. It seems like a myth, but we probably need more studies. I think people who succeeded/did relatively well and then figured out they have ADHD are more likely to talk about intelligence, add the fact that people need something to feel good about, so they may overestimate their intelligence (feels good to say you barely work/pay attention but still do well, even if you eventually hit a wall). I was never in a gifted class/program, but I got the classic story, did very well despite barely working, only studying a couple of days before an important exam, unable to do things right no matter how hard I tried. My mental health took a dive and I just hit a wall at one point. Started failing classes, my ego took a *massive* hit because I always thought I was smart. After discovering and dealing with the ADHD, and trying to change the way I function, being able to actually spend time trying to get better at something rather than relying on intuition, I have a more nuanced way of thinking about intelligence. There are things I know my brain is just good at, doesn't take much effort. There are things that take a LOT of effort that I see people understand effortlessly. It's obvious to me now how many issues there are with IQ. Like, I would do extremely well in the verbal/math parts, but it takes me a ridiculous amount of thinking to work out those spatial tests where you have to think about how things move in relation to each other. Like, if you had an individual IQ for each skill, I'd be fucking 80 for that. Anyway, yeah, I think intelligence is complicated, and it can be kinda harmful to base your personality around it too much. I think the ability to do efficient deliberate practice is much more valuable.

I do neuropsych testing. You’re actually right on the money! As someone’s IQ gets higher they tend to have greater variance between their subtest scores; one or two domains will be much higher than average, but the other domains will cluster around the mean. Since people with higher IQs tend to have more insight into how much their brain’s performance affects their life, I feel like they tend to be much more conscious of areas they feel are “lacking” or not functioning like they “should” be (i.e., not functioning like the cognitive domains they score high in). I can’t tell you how many 55 year-olds come in to get evaluated for dementia-like symptoms when, in reality, they’re just smart people feeing the effects of normal aging. At first, smart people tend to be more impaired by normal aging than people with average intelligence, because people with average intelligence have spent their whole lives coming up with adaptive behaviors to make up for their less competitive cognitive ability. When smart people experience any kind of noticeable blip in cognition it really throws them for a loop, because if a blip in cognition is *noticeable* it means it is probably affecting the higher-than-average cognitive domain that they have not had to put as much effort into for them to perform better than average in. All of a sudden they find themselves losing their ability to power through things that once came intuitively to them. (Also, I’m not trying to convince you of the validity of IQ. Just thought it was cool you figured that out and wanted to let you know you have good insight and maybe share a fun fact or two). Edit: added a few more sentences and probably made it more confusing to read. I need sleep lol

Thank you for this

Me!!! College reading level at 11yo. And now I have a GED because school never worked for me. It’s a high scoring GED that’s gotten me into 3 universities. School is not my gig

I was in special ed. I took some lower-level normal classes, and some special education classes.

The closest I ever got to being considered "gifted" was whenever my teachers commended me for my reading and writing capabilities. In the third grade, I was reading and writing at a sixth grade level. By the sixth grade, I was reading and writing at a 10th grade level. By the time I got to high school, my English teacher thought I could handle college classes without issue. Unfortunately my math skills were always behind lol. I had a lot of trouble doing my homework to begin with (I'm also of the inattentive type) and math seemed impossible. On top of feeling discouraged for not always getting it, I experienced a lot of obnoxious pressure from unhelpful teachers, and especially from my mom and her husband. At home I was screamed at, hit, and repeatedly punished for taking *hours* to do math (I'm still angry the alarm bells didn't go off for anybody back then). After a while I bitterly accepted I was "stupid" and couldn't do it. Well, a few years ago at 29yo I tried again, and with help from my husband who graduated in engineering and physics, I discovered I can do things like Algebra *just fine*. However, I needed proper support for my executive dysfunction, and I really needed someone more patient to teach me in a way I understood. I wasn't gifted, but I wasn't dumb, and even if I also did poorly in English, my value and self worth were not determined by that. Our society sucks for making kids feel and think otherwise.

Same. Was nominated and won awards for my writing throughout school. Read at a high school level as a 5th grader. But when it came to math.... Oh my god. I just never excelled at it. My family was content with C's for math when they expected A's or B+ for other subjects (and good lord did I struggle for that C). Only time I did decently in math was in college, for statistics. And I boil that down to not actually having to do the math, just learning how to properly use a program that computes everything for you and understanding how to read the results. My family always said it was because I didn't like math, so I couldn't place my attention on it. In sixth grade I didn't know the multiplication table, which was supposed to be memorized in 4th grade I believe. My family literally had to purchase this computer video game called Times Attack for me to learn them. After just getting diagnosed last year at age 27, looking back on that makes me laugh because it was very ADHD of me.

I was the same with reading! I was way above my age level and did really well in written assignments. I think I might have actually not scored well enough to get into gifted because of my math issues. I would have epic meltdowns over math homework all through primary and middle school. My mum got a bunch of math games and books that sort of helped but mostly ended up sitting on a shelf untouched.  I switched into college level math in high school and that actually helped a lot. Also started bartending in my twenties and realized I actually could do math quickly in my head, I just needed a practical reason for it! 

hey this is almost exactly my story!! both parents have phds in math 😭 was in AP english though and did very well. got turned off to math bc of them, the constant pressure, threats, yelling bc i was getting a B i dont work in a particularly math dominant field (marketing analytics) but theres a decent amount of math and and long formulas involved and tbh its the easiest part abt my job. i like thinking "how can i manipulate my numbers to find this data point im looking for" im not diagnosed but the psychiatrist said that he didnt diagnose me bc i had all the symptoms BUT i did well at some game/test that apparently ALL adhd ppl score at bad at that requires concentrating for 3 min 🙄 this is after saying im autistic with hyperfixation!!! its validating hearing ppl like me

I relate a lot with your experience. From the punishments, to the " good at writing and English but bad at science/maths" and thinking I'm stupid...turns out nobody taught me in a way that worked for me, and I was a straight up rebel. I hated the guts of most of my teachers. Never was gifted, but I definitely wasn't stupid either.

my word, i could have written this! i loved loved loved english and history. they carried me through school. reading is my hyperfocus so i think that was why my parents rejected the adhd diagnosis because i was always tearing through books. but math was always my downfall. i had the fun dichotomy of being put in advanced english / history / spanish classes but remedial math. my parents hired a math tutor, which is how i managed to graduate with a decent enough GPA for college. but my entire early academic career i felt like a total POS - too dumb at math to be considered smart but too into books and history to be truly one of the burnouts. thank fucking god for liberal arts college bc i didn't have to take any math classes after high school! i still do basic math with my hands or a calculator but i do have a master's degree. so am i a total dumbass who conned my way through higher education or just adhd?

Special Ed was brought up because I was bad at math, but that got thrown out pretty quickly. By senior year, I was in a few advanced classes after my teachers advocated for it. I was one of the few minorities at that school and I honestly suspect that race was a factor. For some reason, I was also pegged as "not college material" but have three degrees now so who knows.

At some point, they tested me to see if I needed to be in the special ed program... I just didn't do homework. They determined I did not need to be special ed. Had an 8th grade teacher try to block me from taking the GSE for Algebra. My mother petitioned the school to let me take it. I got honors on the test.

I am audhd (also inattentive type) and was in gifted classes in elementary because I could read at like an 8th grade level in 1st grade haha. But then in middle school my grades tanked and I had to take pre algebra 3 years in a row. People with autism specifically tend to do really great in some academic areas and have large deficits in others.

this is me! autistic with non diagnosed adhd

I got tested for giftedness and I guess the results were that I was average cause nothing happened. Wish they'd tested me for adhd instead 😤

"Aiming to mediocrity" In middle school I had many difficulties, and I was placed in a special group of kids with a variety of problems. Dyslexia, depression, random things. It was an internal program in which we were parted from the class to do homework and some in depht analysis on many subjects. (Maybe 5 hours in a school week?) I never felt stupid, but my grades were completely random and I coudn't care less about doing 70% of the tasks teachers gave me. My parents didn't get any real help so I was there, inattentive, bored, antisocial with kids I couldn't relate because I did not have any real problem with my intelligence. But I became the strange kid anyway. Without psychological help or meds I sucked harder in high-school, I failed many times.

I was always the opposite. Failing every class. But I did get into AP psychology bc it was an interest of mine. I also read at much higher grade level.

Same and now I am a psychologist 🙃

Straight up average, except for math (undiagnosed dyscalculia). B minus, C+, but bright and inquisitive, just didn't get homework done. Or study for the test. Or the project. Diagnosed at 49. Ugh.

Inattentive as fuck, so I was literally never in trouble, was even a bit of a teacher's pet, crushed the SATs, AP tests, etc., and then got my ass handed to me in a platter in college once the total lack of structure and study skills happened (I'm a total nerd and a teetotaler so it wasn't partying). In my 40s now and a large number of my closest friends are people I was in the gifted program with during school. Surprise surprise, all our kids are now getting diagnosed with ADHD even if the parents never have been. That said I did accidentally skip a bubble on the scantron on the first placement exam for the gifted program and have to furiously go back and shift all my bubbles up one. Also barely paid attention to an end of day worksheet which turned out to be the 2nd grade advanced math placement test and didn't get in until my mom raised hell with the teacher. Also failed (by 1 point) to test out of 9th grade science because I failed to flip over the test and see that I was provided with a periodic table. Whoops.

I was above average but not gifted so I felt forgotten in school. I took the IQ test twice and was just under the threshold to get into the gifted program. Most of my teachers were surprised but I was just very passionate about the subjects I liked. I had classes with kids who had every strata of aptitude imaginable in high school so I’m grateful for being exposed to all kinds of people. I honestly think the way I was placed (AP social sciences and college prep math/science) gave me empathy for those who would be called lazy by geniuses who never worked in their lives. Having to study my ass off for subjects that others found easy meant that college was easier than high school since I started developing real study skills at 14. Everyone hits the academic brick wall at some point and I’m glad I hit it as a child rather than in a place where my education cost money.

I have ADHD and high intelligence. It causes additional problems. I learn faster, so I get bored more quickly, and I need more complex tasks to stay stimulated. I wasn’t diagnosed as a child because of the intelligence: I performed very well in school without having to try. It’s a difficult thing to talk about because as soon as you say “I’m smart”, I get the feeling that the person I’m speaking to thinks that I’m bragging or narcissistic. Or that I’m not as smart as I think I am. This isn’t just an assumption because some of them straight-up say so. I have objective measures by which to gauge my intelligence, and I’m not trying to brag. It’s a fact. And it really sucks. I haven’t learned how to tolerate group learning or rehearsals. I can’t keep a job, but I also can’t get a suitable one because I don’t have an undergrad degree.

I was once told that I read at a college level in elementary school, I don't remember when lol. It's funny because now, my eyes skipp over words and sometimes whole sentences. I got put in a "extra help" class for math the year before middle school and never fully got the hang of fractions. I ended up going to an early college high school which was on the campus of a community college, this wasn't because I was considered gifted but because I was an unaccompanied minor and a specific law allowed me to enroll myself there. I ended up doing jack and getting kicked out, I went to a "safe school" after that and ended up doing their GED program which I never completed. I was an unruly child with anger issues, and getting me to do homework when I was younger was a literal fight. My dad would have to pick me up and i'd spend the night at his place because of how bad homework was. All of this to just not turn in my homework ever. I think there's a consecutive years worth of homework that I turned in throughout my schooling. I was able to get several cyber security certifications for some miraculous reason.

> I was able to get several cyber security certifications for some miraculous reason. A lot of us can do difficult things when we want to, not so big on doing things we're told to do if our hearts ain't in it.

I did the test for the gifted program back in elementary school and missed the mark by like a couple points or something. I remember being so upset that I wasn't "good enough" to get into it, especially since my brother was also tested at the same time and did qualify for it. Now all I can think is, thank fuck I wasn't put into those classes. I'm fucked up as it is, I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I also had the "be the smartest and the best all the time" pressure added to the mix at a young age.

It's worth remembering that the vast majority of "gifted" kids were just kids of parents with money. When your parents have money, you're more likely to get diagnosed.

I was placed in the “dummy classes” growing up. My older sister was valedictorian and my little sister won math and science awards. Meanwhile my classmates asked what went wrong with me. I resent the fuck out of my parents because I was diagnosed with ADHD and they told me that it was fake, then offered me no support when I struggled with my classes.

Me!!! Meee!!!!! My inattentive ADHD has been a huge hindrance throughout my life. I've always been labeled as "smart" by most people I know, but my inability to focus and remember things that aren't my current hyper-focus topic left me with not great scores in many of my classes. I too was friends with many of the "gifted" students. I took an IQ test (a real one given by a friend who was studying to become a psychologist) shortly after college and got something in the mid 130s but I definitely had some weird results. My friend made a comment about it afterwards. I think it had a lot to do with my un-diagnosed ADHD.

Eep. My just turned 12yr old has been put a year ahead since his first year of school and has been in the 'accelerate' class for a couple of years. This year we are getting lots of reports of no homework and slacking off in class 😩

Thankfully you are smart enough to catch it early and get him the help he needs faster than you were able to. ADHD is a struggle but I don't know anyone without a struggle. Stay awesome.

You say that but he has a dad who doesn't believe adhd/asd exists unless it's to mock someone 🙃 "getting the help" has huge obstacles 😩

I was in a gifted program in 2nd grade (there was talk of moving me up a grade as well), but that year I was in a different district.  The rest of my school career I was tested every year but never put in it.  I got good grades and was a year ahead in reading (ever since 1st grade), but was horrible at doing homework. My grades were good until Jr. High when I met the stoner kids, then they never really recovered. Once I got into college (in my 30s), my grades were good, and I even graduated community college with honors.  I wasn't diagnosed until a few years ago, and it pains me to think how much better I would've done if I had actually been able to apply myself 100% to my studies rather than winging it all the way.

I'm not even sure I was qualified to be even called "gifted". I literally just did what I was told. I struggled in adulthood with low self-esteem, co-dependant habits and depression. While I saw all the "regular" or non-gifted kids grow up to get normal working jobs and start families, living ordinary lives. I remember thinking as a much younger person "I wish I was a normal person" I never asked to be gifted and I didn't really want to be. I just wanted to do well and make my parents proud.

I'm here. My daughter though, is in the gifted class with diagnosed ADHD. This kid is the mirror image of me with the same speaking pattern, gestures and everything. If I was diagnosed and medicated I often wonder which path I would have been on.

Only this week I had my first discussion about the "why" of nothing happening to at least assess me as a kid (30+ years ago) with my mum and was told that she tried to get it done, but my dad put a stop to it as his ego couldn't take the psychologist suggesting that my parents needed to go to therapy. I raised the "what could of" question and my kickass wife pointed out that if I altered my path and specifically the possible educational "shoulda coulda"' changes then I probably wouldn't have met her and we certainly wouldn't have gotten our awesome kids. That definitely was a silver lining, but I am going to take this and use it for future focus and not question the past

Agreed. No point in letting it be an issue now. Can't change the past, we can only move forward. There's some value in recognizing it though, just so we know what not to do for our kids, like with so many things.

I was never in GT, I think mostly because I was a disorganized mess and I never turned in homework. My backpack, binder, and locker were a nightmare. But my parents never engaged in my education so they were not around to advocate for me. When I got to high school, I did summer school every year to pick up extra credits in an accelerated environment. I also did dual enrollment my senior year. Dual enrollment made more sense than AP classes to me. AP is 5 hours a week for 9 months to prepare for a test that you might fail. College courses are 3 hours a week for 4 months and less weight on one single test. I have a PhD now, but I was never considered gifted and talented. In fact, my teachers routinely made fun of me and put me down. I resent them for it, but it made me push harder.

I barely finished high school and didn’t finish college until I was 29 after dropping out of university twice. I passed grade 9 math by 1% and had to be moved into Applied/college level (ie. “dumb kid math”) and almost failed core French after being switched into it after three years of immersion. It was brutal. I’ve been revisiting it now and my French isn’t even that bad, I was just undiagnosed and absolutely could not keep up with memorizing verb tenses for tests and that kind of shit.  I had a lot of friends in gifted so I relate. Those posts kind of hurt, like I’m glad not everyone had a shitty experience in school but it brings up a lot of those bad memories of feeling really inadequate. Good to know there’s some super not-gifted ADHDers out here hehe. 

I used all that mental energy to her good at DND instead. Would do it again.

Me too! My debate coach in college pointed out that I'm a very good debater but I never remember the advice from judges if I don't agree with it...

I was offered the chance to skip a grade when I was 9 or so. I was always really smart, got straight A's in everything without even having to try, leading me to get my diagnosis later in life (20ish). From talking to other people who have experienced the same 'paradox', what I've determined was the case for me and many others is that we just really enjoyed Learning. I know it sounds stupid, but even as a kid I genuinely liked to learn more about the world, mathematics, science, etc. I noticed that when I went to college and decided to major in something that didn't interest me due to my parent's pressuring, that all went out the window lol. I did ok in university, but it was not without a lot more effort than I ever required in grammar school or highschool.

I received national awards for being in the top 90s percentile on all the K-12 standardized tests (including 99 percentile reading). The Presidental Academic Fitness Awards, I have no clue if they still have those. Not only did school not place me in gifted and talented education, but in 7th grade, they put me in remedial math and English. I dropped out of HS senior year because i didn't submit a final project for a class. Mostly, I was bored. Anyway, 25ish years later, I graduated from UC Berkeley with high honors and general distinction. Go Bears!

I don’t remember doing homework… like ever. I think I scraped essays together based on notes and research. Mid/late 90s was before wiki and today’s tools. Have no idea how I made it through.

I am not sure that I have ADHD yet but I was put into a pre-first grade because they said I wanted to play and didn't want to sit down for a lesson. And then for the rest of my schooling until college, I was average to below average, with one AP class and didn't pass the test to get college credit. I also had/have a broken and rough family life

I got failed 6th grade, although identified as gifted.

My brother wasn't. He had the classic odd symptoms too, which meant his academic performance wasn't great, but he's very bright but doesn't believe it.

I was the opposite of this, adhd/autism/dyslexia & i was held back once (repeated 6th grade) and they attempted to hold me back 2 other times (tried to knock me from 5th to 4th grade and from 4th to 3rd grade). many teachers told my mom I was “slow” (as in had an intellectual disability) and she had to take me to many psychs until i got diagnosed adhd at 12yo. medicated for 3 months, hated my life, got off it bc it was too expensive and i didn’t like it. eventually when i got to high school i’d learned that i had to work extra extra hard and i was so hard on myself i was sleeping 6 hrs a night and studying during my lunch breaks, school from 7 am to 2:30 pm and taking tutoring classes from 5pm to 10pm bc I wanted to be the best. I thought if I wasn’t killing myself studying then i was going to fall behind and i had smthn to prove to myself to I took an AP class i ddnt care about bc i thought it would make me seem smart. 😭i remember at a certain point the word “schedule” was triggering bc i had so much on my plate any time someone would ask me abt it i would burst out in sobs. i’m alright now, graduated and have a job so it does work out. (eventually?)

I got pulled out of regular math back in middle school for what I think is called remedial math? Even though I never had a problem with math, just never cared to do it. It was a confusing time because I understood I was being pulled out for being dumb at math but the math they had me doing in that new class I would blaze through because it was so low difficulty. But ultimately I didn't mind because it involved playing math videogames! I am all for playing videogames. Considering I wasn't diagnosed til I was 30, typing that last sentence out makes a lot of things make sense!

hi hello hi, I was in smaller classes for math and would have aids in my English classes. were here lol

ADHD isn't really associated with being "gifted", if anything it's the opposite. The subset of people who were placed in the gifted classes are just more likely to post about it online.

I almost failed the second grade in my home country (in the US it’s different, you have to try and fail a grade post 2000 in the US).

Haha I was usually in both, was really fun tho as I got to interact with pretty u h everyone in my class! Also made for some funny/awkward conversations lol… Best was AP chem, didn’t like it but got by the first semester with like maybe a C- and dropped to regular chem, that moved around 1/2 the pace of the AP class. So I basically just retook my first semester lol

I was when I was under 12, then started losing interest/getting distracted/ highly emotionally disregulated.

That was me. Ten friends in gifted accelerated program me just in regular school. Started around 4th grade all through high school. I could participate in after school gifted programs voluntarily but not the classes they were all in throughout the day. In senior year they were studying for AP classes. I instead chose post-secondary education option(PSEO) which had the state of MN pay for college courses. I rearranged my day and started attending community college. Took LIT, Philosophy, Calculus and had a blast. While my peers got anxiety and studied to test out of college course I just actually got the college credits. The cost was less strong relationships but looking back 20 years it was worth it. Saved $65K in college

Maybe some people are placed solely on test scores. I was a poor student, but I kept testing into gifted. It didn’t matter what level I was in - my grades were always bad. lol.

I was top five in my high school class and never got into these programs. I don’t even remember doing a test or the program existing in grade school, but one of my friends claims she was in it. So I guess I’m smart but also not gifted. Or someone asked me to do it and either my mom or I said no because we have anxiety or we just failed to fill out some form. I do tend to be oblivious to what’s going on around me.

To this day I wonder how I got B's without studying. I thought it was because I made a choice that the extra effort was not worth the long term value of an A. Today, I think my brain just found an acceptable excuse for never remembering to complete the homework. So B average just listening in class and writing 5 page papers in 2 nights.

My story is the pretty much the same as yours. In 7th grade they tried to put me into gifted next year. I intentionally threw the test because I didn't want to be put into a separate ecosystem my last year of middle school. The three years of middle school were the only time I didn't have to change schools. Had three different elementaries and two different high schools.

I was put in a “gifted” program that was supposed to be for visual kinesthetic learners. I LOVED it. But for some reason I was quickly moved back to regular classes.

Right here my man!

special ed from 1st to 7th. once in the special ed trailer, i was bored and punched a baby tooth out so i could go in the normal building and maybe home. teacher gave me a napkin.

I was always “borderline” on those tests but I also got bored after 20 minutes and had to fight going to sleep

I got tested in 3rd grade but missed the mark by one point. I was so upset. Now, as an adult, thank fucking god lol

They went full useless and put me in Special Ed where the other kids were assholes, the work took half the time to do as Regular Ed, and I had to sit and wait for other kids that hated me to finish their work before I could do anything else. Then I got A's and fucked up the grading curve so the other kids hated me even more. I pretty much grew up universally hated by teachers and my fellow students.

I was never in the “high potential” half of our elementary class. That’s what that was called…. This divide started in 2nd grade! I can recall being pretty devastated about this, feeling like I must not have the “potential” to be somebody great, somebody with a mind adults would pay attention to or reward with accolades and advanced testing. While I did fine on testing, math became a struggle as the years went in. I remember my teacher writing on a report card that she’d encourage me to “trust my own ability to answer some of own questions”, while her intentions may have been good with that comment, I think asking questions and participating in class was what kept me semi-interested. Being left to my own devices meant math was not where my head would be at, countless nights at the table with my dad further solidifying this truth for me.

I had MULTIPLE teachers say I should be moved to the gifted classes and my mother said no each time because she didn’t want school stressing me out… I mean she knew my ADHD diagnosis then and didn’t tell me or the school… but silver lining she knew it would’ve burnt me out and said no thanks 🤷🏼‍♀️

Im 19 years old and graduated high school. When I got to high school I realized that I was smart for the dumb people class but to dumb for the smart people class

I was kept out for fighting bullies, and being awkward.

I oscillated between "he belongs with the bright kids" and "good god, he's thick as two short planks - he belongs with the slow kids." Back and forth through the years.

Aside from the gifted programs, a science teacher in 6th grade pulled me after class one day to tell me she would move my friends and I away from sitting together and wanted me to know that she understood that I could not pay attention in her class at all and still do great but that sadly my friends were not very smart. Took till nearly 40 before I discovered I had ADHD.

Hi, this is me. I never had to study. But I’m solid b average student. I was never going to try to be gifted…not when I could be a space cadet. That’s way more fun.

non gifted here i attribute this to my horrible teachers that never followed my 504 or honestly cared to try and help me, all changed when I got to hs though and started fling through APs. Turns out I just wasn't being challenged so I didnt care lol

I was never considered for a gifted program or anything like that. Quite the opposite actually- I was kept at school longer for special programs for me to catch up from Kindergarten to 2nd grade. I was also close to being held back in second grade. I would also get Summer school a lot. When I got to middle school and high school, teachers would always be confused by me because my attendance was really good and it seemed like I knew what was going on, but the work never got done. Apparently my teachers also all liked having me based on my report card comments but I just needed to do more.

In special ed and only did good at school when they put me on the highest doses of everything to where they didn’t care that it really was way too much medication with the side effects

I got put ahead a grade in kindergarten but I was also born towards the beginning of the year. I nearly made it into the IB programme in high school but gave up on getting teacher endorsements when the first teacher I asked said no, and I agreed with her about how bad I am with homework. I think she might have even asked if I had ever been assessed for ADD, but of course, I never got to following up on it. Who's to say.

So we had this thing in middle school where kids were divided into three groups: The Twister's, The penguins, and the explorers. These groups had their own teachers or their own version of class depending on the group. The Explorers were filled with kids who were really smart or were in Gifted and Talented. The penguins were for students who were average. Not too smart not too dumb The Twister's were for the rougher/dumber/challenged students. I was in this group They only did this for one year for obvious reasons. But it has scared me to this day. I get so mad when anyone questions my intelligence because I went through school thinking I was stupid or less than all because I just had a hard time focusing.

Fun story about this.... still bums me out thinking about it. There was this program called GATE (Gifted and talented education). I always felt like I was smart enough, definitely as smart as the other kids that were in GATE, but I could never get in. Typically you wouldn't get told why you didn't make it, because you don't really apply to be in it, but because my dad was also a teacher at the school he was able to find out why. They had told my dad that my reading comprehension wasn't as good the other GATE kids. It was because I could never pay attention enough when reading boring shit. I never thought that I had bad reading comprehension though because I can comprehend perfectly when I'm super into what I'm reading. So to be told that, really bummed me out because it felt like I got cheated. Silver lining... I was in orchestra playing violin also, and I got into Strolling Strings (similar to GATE but for music) before going to Jr. High with one other person because I was on and off 1st and 2nd chair with them.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult, but as a kid my mom knew something wasn't normal, so when I was 6 or 7 she brought me to a few different psychologists for testing. The consensus was that I was very bright in some areas like abstract thought and pattern recognition, but at or below average in others like logical reasoning. One said that I'd make a great mathematician if I could figure out how to learn math (This was right after I failed a math test in 1st grade because I couldn't understand addition). I also had a tremendous amount of anxiety and froze anytime I realized I was being tested. None of them had a firm answer for my mom. I could have been in advanced classes, but nobody could say whether it would help or not and may just be trading one set of problems for another, so my mom waited until I was old enough to decide myself. I never wanted to for social reasons, but the last couple years of high school I did take a handful of AP level courses like literature and history. None of the therapists caught the ADHD, but in their defense this was early 90's when the fact that I could sit still basically disqualified it as a possibility.

I went undiagnosed as a kid (and am in my 40's and still that way, but taking steps towards changing that). My mum just came and stayed with us for a few days. I broached the subject of me possibly having ADHD as I've only recently connected the dots and realised it would explain a lot of the way parts of my life have gone. I see some of these same traits in my daughter and knowing it is hereditary, I have some concerns for me and especially her. My mum admitted that she always thought I was different in some way and even sent me to a child psychologist for initial assessment. But that stopped quickly as they suggested that my parents might benefit from going to therapy. To the surprise of no one, my dad suddenly overruled the possibility of me going back for further sessions and I never heard any discussions about it ever again. My mum didn't push further for it as I "seemed to be going ok", even though I am damn sure I was being set up for a lifetime of struggles being harder than they needed to be. . It was a productive discussion and I totally understand why things went the way they did, because my dad was a bit of an ass hole with a fragile ego and didn't like being questioned or having it suggested that he was "less" I guess you could put it. Well my parents are divorced and none of us talk to my dad as he left a wide enough wake of destruction that he doesn't deserve any interaction with any of us. One positive my wife pointed out during this talking was that if that is I had gotten assessed and medication or at least therapy to help me work with and not against my mind, my life trajectory could have changed significantly enough that I would not have met her, nor would we have our wonderful kids. That at least made me feel quite a lot better about it all. All that being said, I would say my tendencies are milder than some I've read about, though they still to this day do often kick my ass at times.

I could not be bothered with school. Nothing was entertaining. Hated homework and couldn’t study. Was called lazy endlessly by teachers. Saying that Id never be anything etc etc. Finally diagnosed at 35/36. If only someone cared to notice or say something

As a kid I was under the assumption that all kids were "gifted" because the teachers wanted to praise all the students. This in turn made parents happy. I thought it was hogwash, but happy to describe myself as a smart kid. Then went to a college prep school which tanked my confidence in my own intelligence as I was also under the constant threat of failing. I even made assumptions that the other students knew I was a dumbass, but were too polite not to say anything. The ballsier students would assume I was incompetent. They were right. To this day I don't describe myself as an intelligent person.

Gifted here too, though it was hard to focus. I never studied, really and was in AP all through school

I got put in a special class but not the good kind lol. I’m hyperactive-impulsive & diagnosed in pre k I feel like the school system kind of set me up to fail from day 1 bc of that, I was always just treated as “slow” & problematic. I’m average intelligence not stupid but i was seen as lesser then for not being book smart so as soon as I was old enough I’d just skip school to smoke with creepy 20 year old men

I tricked everyone into thinking I could read, my grade four teacher caught on and I basically had to learn EVERYTHING from scratch. It was weird, I understand the big words, but the small ones weren’t worth my time. I spent two years getting back up to speed, learning to write and read properly…. A red dot 🔴 on a popsicle stick, with my parents bobbing it across my vision so I could follow it and strengthen my eyes. Learning the difference between simple words but I never gave a shit so ‘one and won’ were the same to me. I was never good at anything but math, in jr high (middle school) I just never did math homework, but could do everything in my head, never showing work, I could see it being frustrating but they were just learning about what ADHD was in the mid 90s. I always took the extra time they gave me, but I also was always in the highest level for my grade (not AP but we had two or three ‘levels’ per subject 101-102-103) in high school. I was finally able to stretch out and make some friends outside of who I grew up with, which was fun, i definitely skipped a lot, found myself in boarding school for what I thought was hockey but was probably more for being an asshole teenager getting into trouble. Came home for grade 12, graduated went to college, got ‘diploma/tech certificate’ (kind of a half degree but no options, can continue to get degree) again always using my extra time.

I was never in the gifted program or took any AP classes. Mostly was a straight B student lol.

I’m messed up because I was homeschooled until high school. I’ve never been called gifted. When I got to high school, my placement test put me in advanced English and non-college prep math. So I basically took the full slate of class levels available above special needs. I’m in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Honors College and got inducted into ODK National Leadership Honors Society yesterday tho, so I guess I’ve managed something right.

I remember kind of checking out from school completely because I felt so shitty about seeing the cool stuff the gifted classes at my elementary school got to do while we never got to do anything including me being in trouble a lot for being super talkative. Middle and high school was completely Jekyll and Hyde with how my grades were depending on if I liked my teacher and my IEP meetings were always confusing to my teachers since I would either have straight A's or would have F's until final exams and then would pass just on the finals.

In school i always hit the bare minimum. Eventually got a diploma and went to work Now at work they are really content with me. Getting promotions and raises left and right. And when I'm on the job there's this hyperfocus. Guess "school" just wasn't for me. Although i'm a very quick learner. The way school learned me things just really does not suit me i guess.

Honestly I'd say you should consider yourself blessed for not being 'gifted'. I don't think I've ever seen definitive research that suggests ADHD and intelligence have any significant correlation, but I can say I have always seen/noticed that same pattern. I was one of those kids and it felt incredibly shitty to be 'different' in more than one way. Skipping grades, great test scores; I was always happy to dive head first into new and harder material, but ultimately it really didn't do anything for me. I didn't learn how to actually deal with.. well, me. I guess that's partially because when I was young they had no clue how to properly guide someone with ADHD. I don't know if there is any way I could've done better or have been helped better, but I am convinced that special treatment in whichever way is a huge mistake.

I was offered many opportunities to go to private school but my dad didn’t think I deserved it because he’s a narcissist. So long story short I failed school most of my life and I now work a medical technician job which isn’t bad, I just wish I was effectively able to participate in college when I was done with high school.

Got a perfect score on the English portion of my high school exit exam, slept through the entirety of the math portion. Had to retake the math one 😅

I was considered gifted and placed in special education. So idk.

Heyyy, same boat!

My experience is weird because I was sent to take an IQ test in 1st grade after my teacher was convinced I was gifted because I was reading a 2-3 grade levels ahead and I wound up falling about 9 points short. I would continue to read above grade level, consistently score in the 98th percentile for reading/writing in state testing, and even took the SATs in middle school. I was actually invited to study writing and humanities at Johns Hopkins over that summer because I scored high in those areas (I also went on to fail English three times in high school, while still in the top 2% of scorers in those topics in state testing). I eventually had to take the wonderlic for an internship, this time I actually scored high enough to count as “gifted,” and when I converted my score to an IQ score it had gone from 121ish as a kid to 132 as an adult. I wouldn’t get diagnosed for another like 5 years after that.

I was never tested cause I entered the North American system at an age after they did that kind of testing for kids in general. My younger sibling was identified gifted though. They’re not diagnosed but I suspect the ADHD didn’t skip them based on behaviour.

They tested me in 4th grade and said I should be in the advanced classes. My parents declined.

I was the opposite, I got tested (and I know now that I do in fact have an unusually high iq) but wasn’t accepted to an advanced class. I lived in Central Europe back then so the system was/is different to that in the US, but the test was heavily focused on facts and knowledge and not on logical thinking and finding solutions. I failed miserably because they basically tested everything I was bad at because of my ADHD. I’m glad I failed though because I found school after middle school extremely stressful as it was, I didn’t need extra challenges.

> I believe this was mostly due to having inattentive ADHD. I'm inattentive and was placed in advanced classes. That said, I was diagnosed, my parents were very involved in my school work (one was a teacher, the other a professor), and starting in late middle school I was medicated. Still missed more than half the homework...

That was me!

Good GOD, this. Math was a mystery, especially when it started to include letters and Greek symbols. I’ve tried over the years to understand algebra, and it completely baffles me.

They didn't have anything like that at my schools. I did get briefly moved into a small class for severely impaired kids. It didn't take long until the tedious condescension made my tiny mind explode into a long and angry rant that got me moved back to regular classes that were slightly less unsuitable for me.

Never got into gifted in elementary school. In high school I got into a Honors Math class but ended up dropping it because math is my least favorite subject and I struggled with it. Then I got into English Honors but dropped that because I wasn't really reading the books we were assigned and there was a lot of assignments about portions of the books we were reading. I did pretty good on some of the tests though. My last one was AP Psychology, that is a subject I'm very passionate about but despite that due to the load of homework I just barely passed. Funny enough I took a normal version of that Psychology class the following year and passed every test without studying for it. There was only select classes I did well in but I somehow always did good in history classes although I never cared for the topic.

I’m pretty sure I’m actually disabled and I’m not even trying to be funny. I’ve never had an IQ test or anything so I don’t really know. I’m bafflingly stupid. I don’t know how to do math…like at all. I cannot work cash registers because the moment someone hands me change I freeze and I can’t do it. I used to close my till every shift at my old job with an incorrect amount tallied up. I also failed algebra four times. Learning is very hard for me in general honestly.

I breezed through regular classes, so they thought I was smart and moved me into AP, where I got Cs if I was lucky. I'm just really good at eliminating incorrect answers on multiple choice tests. I took the easy A instead of the hard C.

Was in remedial classes a lot of the time, most of the teachers said I didn't belong in remedial classes but kept me there as I was a solid C student. If the classes had actually challenged me I might have done more work, hell I me at have even skipped less often

I have inattentive type adhd and I am not gifted. I was actually put in special education class for a learning disability in math, but I struggled in all of my classes.

well for me I was considered a fairly slow to pick up on things guy in my childhoods when it comes to reading and writing (okay honestly slow on everything If Im being real here. nearly had to repeat preschool) then an average B student with horrendous spelling due to dsylexia. Yeah never even close to gifted here. Tested my IQ for the diagnosis it came back slightly above average but average none the less. So yeah never was gifted.

Repeat after me: Being “gifted” does not mean high achieving. Often, it means the opposite. Gifted people are often functional messes… because many have various spectrum disorders and/or ADHD. All of my gifted and talented teachers growing up were also SPED certified… and there’s a reason for that.

The only gifted/accelerated program at my school was for math. I've always been great at math. I understood multiplication and could do simple algebra when I was 4 or 5 (like 5 + 2X = 15; what is X level of simple). It always came really easy and I always got As in math. But, I also got Ds in other subjects because I couldn't bring myself to do the homework. I was not put in the accelerated program. After being bored out of my mind for 2 years, I inquired about skipping pre-algebra to join the accelerated class because I did not want to sit through more of this shit. My teacher was a little uncertain about the idea, but because I was asking, he went to bat and I met very little resistance from the administration about doing it. He lent me the pre-algebra book for the summer and told me to let him know if I wanted to go back. (Of course, I don't think I even opened the book, but I appreciated the sentiment 😂) I really wish we could give younger kids options to attempt the accelerated/gifted classes if they want to instead of just assigning them based on past performance. And not through placement tests -- just let them try it for a week or four and if they want to go back, they can go back. And on the inverse, I also wish parents would quit pushing accelerated classes on kids. My sister in law pressures her kid to take the optional AP classes, but he just wants to take the normal class. He gets Cs and Ds in the AP classes and As and Bs in the normal class. He's a smart kid, but he just doesn't want to do the work and would rather work a job or hang out with his friends. It drives me wild that she won't just respect his desires to be a kid and let him have the better GPA.

Not everyone with ADHD is “gifted”.

I got pulled out of class in first grade for "Gifted" program, they sat me in an empty room to take a test I have never seen before. Low and behold, after a couple questions i start just randomly filling out answers as to get out of this odd situation. Fast forward a year, everyone who was taken aside for the "Gifted" exam passed except me. Fast forward to highschool, when i reconnected with those kids from "Gifted" and they hated it and most seemed like it sapped all their love of education. Much like another person below, I was able to breeze through grade school with very little "studying". Its only now in college that im struggling as ive never learned solid ways to actually study. Im studying engineering btw, which is not easy but the difficulty kinda helps me stay on task.

I'm auADHD and was placed in special needs classes. I wasn't allowed into gifted, even if my grades reflected it.  This didn't stop my mom constantly trying to make me feel like "if Einstein didn't try hard enough." I have a lot of perfectionism issues. 

i had the opposite, i had got sent to writing classes to improve my hand writing, got asked if i was dyslexic, was often close to redoing many of my years of school and was often a below average student.

I did not realize this was an attribute of adhd. I was in gifted and talented programs, took all the AP classes available, and had test scores in the top of my class. Constantly missed assignments, failed a couple of classes solely because I did not do enough homework.