How on earth can you become smart?

[wilbur lim]

When you are young,you might not be intelligent yet and you are struggling to learn,subsequently,when you are a grown-up,you become literally smart,like hell!Can you share me your experience of how did you become smart?Many thanks!

[Bakiryu]

I have always been intelligent. Not because I think so, other people do. You can be both intelligent and young, intelligence is not a derivative of age, maybe you are thinking of wisdom?

[wilbur lim]

You have invariably been intelligent,what a great and remarkable thing.

[aBIGsheep]

stil lrning2spll

[Bakiryu]

You have invariably been intelligent,what a great and remarkable thing.

I'm not sure if I should consider this sarcasm, why don't you extend your query?

[wilbur lim]

I'm not sure if I should consider this sarcasm, why don't you extend your query?
First of all,I am not criticizing you,but just praising you.Well,what I mean is that,I work literally hard,and ironically,I still can't get good grades for my exam.

[Bakiryu]

First of all,I am not criticizing you,but just praising you.Well,what I mean is that,I work literally hard,and ironically,I still can't get good grades for my exam.

Maybe you should try to get a tutor or set a smaller goals for yourself.

I'm sorry for thinking you were being critical. Is yours a literature exam?

[wilbur lim]

Oh,the exam is literally an international exam.And yes,I am critical,for I am taking things seriously.

[Bakiryu]

Oh,the exam is literally an international exam.And yes,I am critical,for I am taking things seriously.

I meant, critical of me. Why are you trying to sound so smart?

[Lily Adams]

First of all,I am not criticizing you,but just praising you.Well,what I mean is that,I work literally hard,and ironically,I still can't get good grades for my exam.

That really doesn't have much to do with "smart"-that's a hard thing to measure. There are different kinds.

Perhaps you have test anxiety? I know plenty of extremely intelligent people people who fail classes because they are either too lazy, are too nervous, or have too much on their plate.

I really am sorry that you are having this problem-I had the same problem in eighth grade when I took Algebra I-I studied and studied and studied and only passed one test the whole year. I was stressed, and I was also very intimidated by all the math geniuses in my class. I am more of a right-brained person.

That's another thing-do what you do best. Of course you must take other class that you're not good in-but don't take any advanced courses in those. That way you're not stressed as much. Honors classes are only fun when you're taking them in subjects you enjoy.

Learn, learn, learn. The more you learn, the more you can connect it to other things and then things become easier. Even if you don't like the subject, try and do the best you can to get into it-just until you have passed the class and are over with it.

Calm down. Don't overload yourself. And do the best you can. I am sure you are doing this, because you have mentioned it. Keep trying.

Again, I'm sorry you are having so much trouble, but please keep trying. Smart is such a hard thing to define, so don't be so hard on yourself.

Hope things smooth out for you and good luck.

P.S. I wouldn't say that once people "grow up" that they become smart. Some people don't even grow up at all!

[wilbur lim]

I meant, critical of me. Why are you trying to sound so smart?

With regard to your reply,I am smart at all,and I am not sounding smart.Ironically.I am simply praticing my language for the best.

[Bakiryu]

With regard to your reply,I am smart at all,and I am not sounding smart.Ironically.I am simply praticing my language for the best.

ok, ok. I think maybe it sounds that way because english is not your first language?

[wilbur lim]

Many thanks,Lily.You're the best counsellor.


ok, ok. I think maybe it sounds that way because english is not your first language?

Precisely.

[Lily Adams]

Many thanks,Lily.You're the best counsellor.

Anytime. :)

[aBIGsheep]

With regard to your reply,I am smart at all,and I am not sounding smart.Ironically.I am simply praticing my language for the best.



Simple is always best since it makes it more understandable. Don't try to find a different word for every little thing; It becomes tedious.

[wilbur lim]

Simple is always best since it makes it more understandable. Don't try to find a different word for every little thing; It becomes tedious.
A decent thing to cite that,yes,simple...

[jgweed]

I don't know if you can become smart or smarter, since it may be that intelligence is fixed. But I do know that through attentive reading and paying attention to what and how you write, in addition to learning how to use various critical thought-apparatus, you can make the best use of what intelligence you have.
This is not always an easy task, given the distractions scattered around one's life, but if one is serious about it, one can find some quiet space each day to work on it.

[Dori]

When you are young,you might not be intelligent yet and you are struggling to learn,subsequently,when you are a grown-up,you become literally smart,like hell!Can you share me your experience of how did you become smart?Many thanks!

IQ (intelligence quotient) is determined by dividing your Mental Age (determined by tests--Sanford-Binet, or the like) by your Chronological Age (how old you are), and then multiplying that by 100. Thus:

IQ = MA/QA X 100 (or http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/c/6/8/c684921726bb348c9f018fc942f63543.png)

If you have an IQ of 100, then you're average. Anything above is above average, anything below is below average (forgive me for insulting your intelligence :lol:).

70 or lower = retardation
130 or higher = "gifted"

So intelligence, when measured by IQ, applies to all ages and compares an individual's intelligence with that of what is expected of a person of his/her age.


My advice:

Acquire a profound interest in your studies. Don't study what you don't want to study (unless it is required of you). Even if you don't like something, convince yourself that you do like it--that you've been fooling yourself all this time.

Also, check out the Teaching Company's lectures (www.teach12.com). They are delivered by the best professors in the country on a wide variety of subjects. This will get you interested in some subjects that you hated before. Downside: it costs money, but for what you're getting, it's worth it.

[TheFifthElement]

Make lots of mistakes. Learn from them. Live with the consequences. Don't kick yourself for it, no one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes.

Understand that you won't be good at everything.

Recognise your strengths, build on them.

Acknowledge your weaknesses, work at them.

There's a difference between wisdom and knowledge. Try to acquire the first, treat the second with caution. The danger with 'knowledge' is that everything you think you know can turn out to be wrong.

Listen. Remember that everyone has something they can teach you, whether they're 'smart' or not.

[Dori]

Make lots of mistakes. Learn from them. Live with the consequences. Don't kick yourself for it, no one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes.

Understand that you won't be good at everything.

Recognise your strengths, build on them.

Acknowledge your weaknesses, work at them.

There's a difference between wisdom and knowledge. Try to acquire the first, treat the second with caution. The danger with 'knowledge' is that everything you think you know can turn out to be wrong.

Listen. Remember that everyone has something they can teach you, whether they're 'smart' or not.


It is difficult to be muddle-headed. It is difficult to be clever, but still more difficult to graduate from cleverness into muddle-headedness.

-Cheng Panch'iao


The wisest man is often one who pretends to be a "damn fool."

-Lin Yutang

[wilbur lim]

Thank you very much for your responses! A decent thing to cite that calculation,Dori. It's stimulating,I see. 100 times mental age divided by chronological age...By the way,I don't conceive that it is accurate,as a 10 year old could even go to a university.

[stlukesguild]

There is a big difference between intelligence... which may indeed be largely fixed... and knowledge... which is acquired through experience. To the comments already posted on IQ/Intelligence I might add that Intelligence is no longer imagined to be as simple as it once was. The IQ tests have generally focused upon certain areas of Intelligence to the exclusion of others. Howard Gardner's research into the human brain resulted in the theory of "Multiple Intelligences" which suggested that Intelligence could not be limited to certain areas of achievement such as mastery of language, mathematics, science, memorization, etc... but also included Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Musical, etc... intelligences. Under this concept Intelligence is not limited to the traditional areas of Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematic and Memorization, but rather included the abilities in art, music, athletics, interpersonal relationships, etc... In other words a truly brilliant artist, poet, musician, or athlete is not "talented" (which assumes something one is born with that does not involve thought) but rather intelligent in those areas. Michael Jordan did not a have a body that was vastly superior than that of any other professional basketball player. He was simply smarter at basketball... able to envision what his opponents were likely to do several moves ahead of them. An intriguing... and humorous discussion of education in light of learning abilities/intelligences can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

[blazeofglory]

When you are young,you might not be intelligent yet and you are struggling to learn,subsequently,when you are a grown-up,you become literally smart,like hell!Can you share me your experience of how did you become smart?Many thanks!

This is a very interesting question if not to all, at least to me. Man is stupid, unlearned when young, and matures with age, but when aged he loses vitality, vigor and the emotion he had in his youthfulness.

But the combination of both is a rare phenomenon. I wish I had both the attributes but nature never bestows upon me.

[Dori]

Thank you very much for your responses! A decent thing to cite that calculation,Dori. It's stimulating,I see. 100 times mental age divided by chronological age...By the way,I don't conceive that it is accurate,as a 10 year old could even go to a university.

IQ tests aren't used to get into university...here in the US we have a standardized SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test) which measures critical reading, writing, and math skills. An IQ test includes questions that correspond to ages. If, let's say, a 10-year old is capable of answering what is expected of an 11 year old, his Mental intelligence is 11. We plug it into the formula:

IQ = MA/CA X 100
= 11/10 X 100
= 1.1 x 100
IQ = 110

If he is incapable of answering questions that are expected to be answered by 10-year olds, he will have a lower IQ.

IQ tests are used as follows:

Wikipedia says:

IQ scores are used in many contexts: as predictors of educational achievement or special needs, by social scientists who study the distribution of IQ scores in populations and the relationships between IQ score and other variables, and as predictors of job performance and income.


There is a big difference between intelligence... which may indeed be largely fixed... and knowledge... which is acquired through experience. To the comments already posted on IQ/Intelligence I might add that Intelligence is no longer imagined to be as simple as it once was. The IQ tests have generally focused upon certain areas of Intelligence to the exclusion of others. Howard Gardner's research into the human brain resulted in the theory of "Multiple Intelligences" which suggested that Intelligence could not be limited to certain areas of achievement such as mastery of language, mathematics, science, memorization, etc... but also included Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Musical, etc... intelligences. Under this concept Intelligence is not limited to the traditional areas of Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematic and Memorization, but rather included the abilities in art, music, athletics, interpersonal relationships, etc... In other words a truly brilliant artist, poet, musician, or athlete is not "talented" (which assumes something one is born with that does not involve thought) but rather intelligent in those areas. Michael Jordan did not a have a body that was vastly superior than that of any other professional basketball player. He was simply smarter at basketball... able to envision what his opponents were likely to do several moves ahead of them. An intriguing... and humorous discussion of education in light of learning abilities/intelligences can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Good points, stlukesguild. I should have commented on that also. There are also, as always, opposing views. Another theory, Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence divides intelligence into practical ("street smarts"), componential ("book smarts"), and experiential intelligences (creativity, etc.).


This is a very interesting question if not to all, at least to me. Man is stupid, unlearned when young, and matures with age, but when aged he loses vitality, vigor and the emotion he had in his youthfulness.

But the combination of both is a rare phenomenon. I wish I had both the attributes but nature never bestows upon me.

A combination is rare...best example I can think of is Hitler.

[wilbur lim]

There is a big difference between intelligence... which may indeed be largely fixed... and knowledge... which is acquired through experience. To the comments already posted on IQ/Intelligence I might add that Intelligence is no longer imagined to be as simple as it once was. The IQ tests have generally focused upon certain areas of Intelligence to the exclusion of others. Howard Gardner's research into the human brain resulted in the theory of "Multiple Intelligences" which suggested that Intelligence could not be limited to certain areas of achievement such as mastery of language, mathematics, science, memorization, etc... but also included Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Naturalistic, Intrapersonal, Spatial, Musical, etc... intelligences. Under this concept Intelligence is not limited to the traditional areas of Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematic and Memorization, but rather included the abilities in art, music, athletics, interpersonal relationships, etc... In other words a truly brilliant artist, poet, musician, or athlete is not "talented" (which assumes something one is born with that does not involve thought) but rather intelligent in those areas. Michael Jordan did not a have a body that was vastly superior than that of any other professional basketball player. He was simply smarter at basketball... able to envision what his opponents were likely to do several moves ahead of them. An intriguing... and humorous discussion of education in light of learning abilities/intelligences can be seen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Thanks,productive information!

[kasie]

IQ tests aren't used to get into university...here in the US we have a standardized SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test) which measures critical reading, writing, and math skills. An IQ test includes questions that correspond to ages. If, let's say, a 10-year old is capable of answering what is expected of an 11 year old, his Mental intelligence is 11. We plug it into the formula:

IQ = MA/CA X 100
= 11/10 X 100
= 1.1 x 100
IQ = 110

If he is incapable of answering questions that are expected to be answered by 10-year olds, he will have a lower IQ.

IQ tests are used as follows:

Wikipedia says:


Does Wikipedia also say that it was discovered many years ago that it was possible to 'improve' one's IQ by taking the tests several times? People being tested learned from each test and so improved their scores at each re-test. That's why they fell out of favour and all such tests have been regarded with a certain amount of caution ever since! (And underlines Fifth Element's advice to 'make lots of mistakes and learn from them'!)

[blazeofglory]

I find this this post fabulous for we all want to be smart in life. When we were children we dreamed of being this and that. Circumstances turn up different than what we wish. I was passionately desirous of being a writer in Nepali. I could not be so since for the economic reason I turned to banking and yet the desire of becoming the writer of my dreams has been always intense and powerful. Despite the fact that I remain in business communities, in parties, in seminars and meeting most of the times, my mornings and evenings are spent reading and writing. I now switched to writing in English and to be a creative writer in English, the language that is foreign to me, is a far cry. People may laugh at the structures I make in English. I do not care. I am not a purist and if I can get my ideas across and if people can comprehend me my purpose is served.

[Virgil]

Can you share me your experience of how did you become smart?Many thanks!

I took smart pills. :p Very smart pills. :D In fact I overdosed. :lol:

[Equality72521]

I think that a lot of smarts/intellegence can come from reading. I'm not saying that experience doesn't help but reading extends the mind, even if its just a little a day.

Also, there are different kinds of smarts, i.e. book smart, common sense, etc.

Over all, though, I just support doing a good dose of reading here and there and just livign your life, gaining experience through whatever you can.

[laidbackperson]

I may be bit out of topic, but this is what I would like to say:
There are three things: Intelligent, knowledgeable and wise.

Intelligent is a person who is sharper at grasping the new ideas. Say, two persons having same knowledge base are given a maths problem, then intelligent person can solve the problem faster.

Knowledgeable is a person who has a good knowledge data base. This data is acquired through books, tutors, travel, life experiences and other such things.
Also, you may be knowledgeable in a particular field only.

Wise is a person who can distinguish well between what is good and what is bad and takes the side of good. A poor villager not having knowledge or intelligence of a city slicker may still be a wise person. He also has a good common sense.


There is another category: cunning, person who would for his own benefits fool others and probably gloat over it. They think they are better off, but are essentially foolish people.

[cipherdecoy]

Hi Wilbur.

I'm from Singapore too and English isn't our mother tongue but it is our first language.

[JBI]

I'm of the mind to think intelligence is gathered by exposure, and "natural effects" are more minimal than people suppose. Honestly, just keep working hard - if you work harder, using the right methods, then you will achieve more, regardless of your intelligence. Anyone who supposes any form of test scores or numbers have any bearing are simply products of a system. Intelligence is unmeasurable, because the effects of it are unmeasurable.

School grades are perhaps the worst determinant of intelligence, because schools only deal with certain subjects, and don't deal with intelligence at all, but with performance in said subjects.

Keep in mind what the great Beethoven wrote about himself, "Beethoven can write music, thank God, but he can do nothing else on earth." We all have our strengths, and all we can do with that which we aren't good at is work harder, or abandon it.

[parap]

I don't see what's wrong with accepting that you're average. Most of us are.

[Dori]

I don't see what's wrong with accepting that you're average. Most of us are.

Average? You give everybody too much credit. ;)

[Joreads]

If it wasn't for us average people how would the smart people know they are smart!!

[blazeofglory]

Smartness does not go with age and some outsmart when young and others can not.

[wilbur lim]

I am ultimately sentimental of having to be stupid.

[blazeofglory]

Hi Wilbur.

I'm from Singapore too and English isn't our mother tongue but it is our first language.
Do not worry, in fact I am also non native speaker of English. Yet I feel comfortable with the English language and with time you become accustomed to it.

[Scheherazade]

How on earth can you become smart? Not sure how you can become "smart" on earth... I mean is anyone really smart on earth? Other planets, on the hand, can be open to discussion.

[cipherdecoy]

Do not worry, in fact I am also non native speaker of English. Yet I feel comfortable with the English language and with time you become accustomed to it.

I'm not worrying Blaze ;) It's just that Wilbur said English isn't our first language and I was just correcting him :)

Wilbur: In my opinion though, mastering grammar is the most important aspect of learning a language. Not that my grammar is perfect or that I have mastered the English language, but I think it comes before vocabulary, needless to say. It's also better to refrain from using big words when simple ones will do, or you might come across as being bombastic, unless you're very sure you aren't misusing them. :thumbs_up

[blazeofglory]

Wisdom appeals to me not smartness and intellectuality.

[Dori]

If it wasn't for us average people how would the smart people know they are smart!!

First of all, what does it matter whether these so-called "smart people" know that they are smart? The only reason I can see is bragging rights.

Back to what you originally said (I feel particularly argumentative at the moment): I believe some Americans--true Americans--have a problem accepting that they are average because they want to be great. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that. Great people are born from ambition, and ambition cannot coexist with the acceptance of one's limitations (or, at least the ambition that great people are made from).

[Joreads]

[QUOTE=Dori;619683]First of all, what does it matter whether these so-called "smart people" know that they are smart? The only reason I can see is bragging rights.

It is called having a little joke that is all.

[Dori]

First of all, what does it matter whether these so-called "smart people" know that they are smart? The only reason I can see is bragging rights.

It is called having a little joke that is all.

Man I hate it when that happens. :D

[Madhuri]

I read the word 'smart' over and over in this thread, and then I remember Lote :) For I am sure the first thing he would have asked is -- 'Define Smartness' :p :D

[muhsin]

True, Maddie. Lets haveee the correct definition of the word; see how everyone percieves it, then we can have our says. LOL

[blazeofglory]

I'm not worrying Blaze ;) It's just that Wilbur said English isn't our first language and I was just correcting him :)

Wilbur: In my opinion though, mastering grammar is the most important aspect of learning a language. Not that my grammar is perfect or that I have mastered the English language, but I think it comes before vocabulary, needless to say. It's also better to refrain from using big words when simple ones will do, or you might come across as being bombastic, unless you're very sure you aren't misusing them. :thumbs_up

I agree to your ideas.