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A friend of mine got perfect math SATs at 12 and started taking college math at 13. He never got past freshman year to graduate, just jumped from school to sch

A friend of mine got perfect math SATs at 12 and started taking college math at 13. He never got past freshman year to graduate, just jumped from school to school repeating freshman year, dropping in and out of college. I think he had trouble with anything that required long-term logical reasoning that could not be done in 1 shot. He constantly rocked back and forth and could never sit still, even into his 20s. His eyes always darted back and forth when talking with people. I don't know what he's doing now -- he seemed to be overclocked with very little cache and ram. Wonder what became of him.

whacked_new 17y ago
For high level abstract, symbolic reasoning, low cache and ram is a critical impairment. At that level SAT math really means nothing. In fact, college math at 13 doesn't even seem that impressive -- I believe after Kumon level J you get into calculus and plenty of grade-school kids take this. It could have been a genuine problem for him, but even with the best drugs, I wouldn't expect some kind of "unlocking your potential" moment. I remember reading a study that found the biggest difference between high-performers and their peers precisely that of attention control. It involved looking at lights moving in a particular pattern. When the pattern was detected, normal people showed increased brain activity. High-performing individuals showed decreasing brain activity, presumably because they optimized the pattern recognition process, and focused all the resources there.
- tokenadult 17y ago
  I believe after Kumon level J you get into calculus and plenty of grade-school kids take this. Here's some quantification of the number of students who take calculus before the "usual" age in this era: http://www.maa.org/columns/launchings/launchings_05_07.html http://www.maa.org/columns/launchings/launchings_05_07.html
  - whacked_new 17y ago
    I suppose those are USA stats. I come from a place where Kumon is a household name. I never went to one, although when I learned about it from my friends in 5th grade, I was actually jealous that my parents didn't send me there.

whacked_new 17y ago

For high level abstract, symbolic reasoning, low cache and ram is a critical impairment. At that level SAT math really means nothing. In fact, college math at 13 doesn't even seem that impressive -- I believe after Kumon level J you get into calculus and plenty of grade-school kids take this. It could have been a genuine problem for him, but even with the best drugs, I wouldn't expect some kind of "unlocking your potential" moment. I remember reading a study that found the biggest difference between high-performers and their peers precisely that of attention control. It involved looking at lights moving in a particular pattern. When the pattern was detected, normal people showed increased brain activity. High-performing individuals showed decreasing brain activity, presumably because they optimized the pattern recognition process, and focused all the resources there.

tokenadult 17y ago
I believe after Kumon level J you get into calculus and plenty of grade-school kids take this. Here's some quantification of the number of students who take calculus before the "usual" age in this era: http://www.maa.org/columns/launchings/launchings_05_07.html http://www.maa.org/columns/launchings/launchings_05_07.html
- whacked_new 17y ago
  I suppose those are USA stats. I come from a place where Kumon is a household name. I never went to one, although when I learned about it from my friends in 5th grade, I was actually jealous that my parents didn't send me there.