As a gifted adult & parent of 3 gifted children I will give you my perspective. I did not have to try at my studies until perhaps my senior year in high school. And even then it wasn't very hard--mostly lack of planning on projects/papers. When I got to college, I had professors who gave out their syllabi and expected their students to keep up. I had never been taught study techniques; had never needed them. So almost everything got done at the last minute. That only works for so long & then the adrenaline runs out.
My kids have been much more challenged in their gifted classes than I ever was for which I am profoundly grateful. I try to make sure that they learn study habits. It is hard, though. They don't want to listen to Mom. DD14 is going into the Pre-IB/IB program which helps prepare kids for college.
So I guess I would say make sure you teach them good study techniques & the value of perseverance like annaliisa wrote. These are skills and qualities that will last a lifetime.
