Smart as a child but not adult?

Question

I was a gifted child, but I didn't score that well on an adult test. Has anyone else had similar experiences? I mean, I scored well, but not over the genius threshold.

indissoluble · Accepted Answer

Nope. In fact it was politically discouraged to admit I was a genius as a child because I was dyslexic and struggled with reading up until about 4th grade even though all the other work was way too easy for me. The teachers wanted to write me off as mentally disabled and the school psychologist saw that I needed a more advanced IQ test to accurately measure my ability because I was getting every single question right that measured IQ which wasn't reading dependent. If I read the question I might get it wrong, but if the psychologist read the question to me I got it right. Dyslexia was sort of a theoretical idea at that point in time so the teachers and psychologists had opposing views on me. What do you do with a kid that is brilliant, but can't read well. Political limbo... So I got As in everything except reading/language while getting bullied by my elementary school teachers who were incompetent. By 4th grade I had rewired my brain for dealing with language well enough. My 4th grade teacher recognized that I was really gifted due to how well I handled math and science and my extraordinary creative skills, but nothing was done about it. I was considered the best artist in my school and one of the top athletes as well. Outside of school I was winning art contests, winning the Mayor's Cup in soccer, getting involved in science fairs, learning how to build and program computers, learning about electronics and mechanics, going to science museums and shit like that since school really wasn't doing to much for me.

In middle school I went through as a regular student pretty much unnoticed with good grades, but my 7th grade math teacher recognized I was really good at math. So he let me work ahead. I finished the entire years work in like a month and a half. So he started me on an algebra book which the most gifted kids start in 7th grade and the little less gifted kids start in 8th grade. I finished it by Christmas break so I just spent the second half of the school year playing chess against him after he gave his lecture to the other students. Otherwise middle school was just floating through with good grades but more of a social event and no real challenge. I generally use to get a B in language class at that point because I had become accustomed to disliking reading/language class by that point and often just ignored it.

High school was much the same until 11th grade when I had an English teacher who was a complete psychopath. He would kick everyone out of class in the first 5 minutes with the exception of like 5 students. He couldn't handle his job so he just kicked everyone out every single day. After like 2 weeks of that I talk to my Mom and said you need to get me into a different class, this guy is going to fail me and everyone else because he doesn't want to do his job. I don't want to go to summer school because he's a jackoff. So she tried and the school said he's the only teacher that handles 11th and 12th grade English, so she played the learning disability card that I acquired in elementary school. So they had to retest me, and at that point I got an IQ rating of 142 which was the max the test went to, but they did acknowledge that I was previously diagnosed with dyslexia and that I had a history of having lower grades in language class than everything else so now they finally figure out I'm a genius, but they put me in SLD English class and I get As in English for the last 2 years of school and dodge the psycho English teacher.

Around 30 I went back to do a master degree in college and I was in a course for machine learning/AI and the professor sprung an IQ test on us one morning when I was groggy and basically had a hangover. It was Raven's Progressive Matrices. The idea was to test the entire class first as part of a research project into human and computer intelligence. Then we had an assignment to write software that could do well and hopefully beat us on an IQ tests. At that point I was rated at an IQ of 158 by Raven's Progressive Matrices which has a max IQ of 160. Considering Raven's Progressive Matrices is age adjusted and graduate students are generally age 24-30 I was on the upper bound of age, so I likely got every answer correct on that test as well. So who knows what my real IQ is. It's likely higher.

NathanDavis · Accepted Answer

that's the norm...

for example... I learned to read and write, and basic math pretty much by myself at the age 3/4 years old... impressive, right? and by the time I was 8 years old, I was ready for college level studies, amazing... right? that's common for very very smart kids

but then I got into college... and then I was just as smart, as all of other people who made it to college and were smart too but I was not that smarter than them were... we ended up at the same level of smart, I just got there first than most people

the truly "gifted genius" people... need to constantly challenge themselves and improve on a yearly basis, and there's programs and plans for that... you need to "cultivate" yourself in such rich soil for the rest of your life if you want to become "smarter"

which is not really smarter... just much more efficient within one specific field, or a couple of them, if you're into torture

Nikki1989 · Accepted Answer

I was a straight A student in every subject except maths, and even there I did OK. As an adult I have continued to educate myself through reading, but I will admit being on a website like this one is not good for the old brain cells.

Advisor Smith · Accepted Answer

Advisor Smith here.

Yes, I’ve seen this many times—with clients and in my own peer group.

A few points from experience:

- Childhood “gifted” scores don’t always translate linearly to adult tests; norms, tests, and conditions differ.
- Stress, sleep, mood, and test anxiety can easily move scores by 10–20 points.
- As adults, responsibilities fragment focus; we rarely live in the ideal conditions of childhood testing.
- What matters most for success isn’t genius‑level IQ, but sustained effort, emotional regulation, and good strategy use.

Your potential hasn’t disappeared; it’s just expressed differently now.

slatyb · Answer

How do you know you were a gifted child? "Gifted" in a public school is not that high a standard. Even MENSA (top 2%) is not all that special. I have worked in high tech for almost 30 years and almost everyone I worked with could have joined MENSA but no one wanted to because it's geeky and socially awkward.

strateguy632 · Answer

First try this test. The question reminds you to use logic. When you are not sure, tap the one that feels correct and proceed.

Smart as a child but not adult?

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Is there anything I can do to make myself more intelligent as an adult and not as a child?

Smart as a child but not adult?

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Is there anything I can do to make myself more intelligent as an adult and not as a child?

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