Who actually had good grades in school but struggled
Growing up, I was naive enough to think that all it took to get good grades was merely acquiring knowledge and performing well on assignments and tests.
I had a 4.0 until the 4th grade. When I as about 11, the school-district I had came in and cleaned house....... they swept away the old formats and curriculum, and they made the emphasis of "learning" in the school top-heavy on facets like group-work, extended assignments, classroom-participation, and various arbitrary indicators like "self-esteem" that a random teacher would mark you down something for from a totally subjective angle. You could seriously flunk a daily assignment for not looking "happy enough" or "confident enough," or whatever quality they thought you were missing that day in classwork, even if you were just tired or sick or something (I got marked off negatively for this often, which cut down my percentages.)
This went from some old penultimate format that was more traditional book-learning and regular exams (things i excel in.) As time went on, I was put in to classrooms where they swept away traditional desks and chairs and made everybody sit in circles with no privacy.
Anyhow, I am fantastic at the pure accumulation of knowledge. Even in subjects I am crap in like Math and Science, I can still study hard in short bursts to rote-memorize those subjects and get passing grades in those classes. (As was said, I also can't sustain those efforts though to be permanently functional)
I'd have still gotten good grades, but my failing was in all of the social areas....... I was retarded-socially in other things too that I barely could comprehend at that time, but others took for granted. For example, I had no ability at all to get on or "get in good with the teacher" and just being able to catch a break here and there.
I couldn't handle "organizational skills" (For example, there'd be extended projects to slave on for weeks, and then I'd forget the poster or diagram at home the day the thing was due, and I'd fail the lot.) It was crap for me since I coudn't handle any independent assignments that required prolonged planning........ i also had no clue how to coordinate group projects with other students I had been assigned to, so I'd bomb those in various ways. (Other students would steal my credit, etc, etc)
Different projects for "class participation," having AS, I blew those miserably under the eye of the teacher who slashed me for "not showing enough enthusiasm, get-go, etc"
Besides that, of course, I had to spend most of the day ducking and dodging clowns in P.E, Lunch, recess, etc. I had a terrible time of it socially......... I was so worried about social interactions that I could not concentrate on academics. My functioning was nowhere near its peak since I had to worry about petty crap like avoiding bullies, not getting staplers and spitballs chucked at me, where to sit in lunch, picked last for sports, and that sort of thing. It was awful. I had to constantly dread my next run-ins with violent thug-types I could not avoid in close quarters during "unstructured time"
Socially i was at the absolute bottom of the totem pole, and this totally carried over into my ineptness overall with regards to grades. One example, I was atrocious when it came to approaching other students to pick partners for projects. Just all of these things held me back.
Well, sorry for the long post, Thanks for reading my wheeze.
MakaylaTheAspie
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Mummy_of_Peanut
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I sailed through primary school and most of secondary school. But, I struggled with reading a book/ article within a given timescale, due to concentration difficulties and probable hyperlexia. By the time it came to certificate exam time, I did well, without studying (couldn't study anyway), and got all 1s and 2s (equivalent to B+ and above), but not as well as my earlier years had promised. School had become hell to me, due to the other kids, and I just hated being there, which didn't help at all. During the following 2 years, I did exams for entry to uni. By then, I was struggling a little. I did well enough to get into uni, but no more than that (got Bs and Cs). At uni, I was sort of average and found the work OK. But, by the third year, I was freaking out about the social aspects and my inability to speak with the lecturers and I knew some of the other students were laughing at me too. I got my ordinary degree and ran (which was as good as wasting 3 years). I did a couple of temp jobs that summer and realised how hard it was going to be for me.
Then I did a taught post-grad qualification and was one of the top students again. Computing was a large part of the course and I found I excelled at it. There was a work placement. I was really fortunate in that a staff member was leaving and the manager asked me to stay on, as a paid employee. It was admin and my qualification was in environmental monitoring, but it was a job. I stayed at the same place for 11 years, although I was definitely in the wrong job for the most part. My working life was really unhappy and stressful, but I was financially secure. At the moment, I've been a stay at home mum for 6 years and I don't know where to being in finding a job. I don't want to go back to what I did, that's for certain.
_________________
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiatic about." Charles Kingsley
I'm in my senior year of high school, I have about a 3.87 GPA(unweighted) or about a 96/100 and do pretty well overall. The classes I had trouble in and received Bs were either ones that required pointless group projects, or those in which a variety of students would talk all class to the point where the teacher allowed for it and the topic discussion switched constantly, meaning I couldn't focus on the content at hand, but was distressed by the multiple conversations WHILE we would take notes. Of course, when I get home I usually don't have any interest studying something that I don't like, and therefore I wouldn't study at home. That and last year I would miss a lot of school due to sensory problems and fatigue. So I ended up with two 88s for the year, which brought me down from a 3.95. This year, my Senior year, I basically forced myself to have the most difficult workload I can have in order to prepare my organization and planning skills for college. I usually have about 6 hours of homework/studying to do per day. I think I have things organized pretty well. My grades are all 95% or higher and I have many extra academic interests that I pursue. The advantage of college is that I can take classes that interest me with a wide variety of options, while the disadvantage is that I won't be handed the content, I'll have to look for it. This can accumulate as a lot of wasted time I think. My goals are to go to graduate school to get a PhD in High Energy Physics as an experimentalist, then probably work in some form of research center, most likely a particle accelerator.
_________________
Your Aspie score: 157 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 47 of 200
You scored 112 aloof, 112 rigid and 115 pragmatic
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