Originally Posted by Val
When I was in high school, I used to think that the kids who got As in certain classes that I got Bs in were smarter than me. Many years later, I discovered that they had something I didn't have at that time: study habits. I had no concept of sitting down with a math book every day for an hour or so and really thinking about stuff. I didn't need to, because I was getting Bs, which was fine in my teenage mind. At the end of the year, I'd spend some time cramming the weekend before the final, and would always get an A (if not the highest grade in the class) on it. I never really thought about why I could do that.

My point is that it's easy to assume that other people are "smart" based on achievement.
This reminds me of a story from when I was a kid. In 4th & 5th grade we had "optional" math workbooks that had different colors. We were allowed to work on these when we had free time, or bring them home. At least in my mind it was prestigious to be farther along in the books. One particular girl really impressed me because she worked through the entire sequence. She brought them home while I never found the time to work on them at home. The top book was supposed to be 8th grade work. Forward a few years and I was very surprised to find out that she was not one of the kids selected to take Algebra in 8th grade. It really surprised me, in my 10 year old mind she was a math genius.