<p>Our first two kids were both smart and academically successful, which made it hard for us to adjust to the third- this kid works hard and does well on the SAT1 (1590/2200, ok so not so great on the writing part) and AIME but gets mostly B and B+'s even in math and science classes. We don’t want to scold him, but we feel he is not working up to his potential-
the trick is in knowing just what that potential is. </p>
<p>As notrichenough suggests, we have offered tutoring (declined) and proposed other ways of studying that might be more effective (ignored). So we are getting used to the idea that the kid’s grades won’t be at the level of his SAT and effort; he does seem bright and we think that when he starts to work he will be able to do so effectively.</p>