<p>WashDad, I don’t think your son is particularly unique (I’m a high school senior). I got an 800 on the SAT physics test with little study even though my high school physics class had practically no coverage of rotational mechanics. I never took the AP exam, but my overall grade in the freshman mechanics course I’m taking at a community college is highest in the class right now, and I know that for at least one exam this semester the professor set the next-lower score after mine as 100% because my score wasn’t representative of the class as a whole. Another exam was an “off-day” for me - I had studied little & hadn’t slept enough - yet although I lost some points I still ended up highest in the class and was therefore above the 100% mark.</p>
<p>I’m not stupid and I can recognize that, by certain measures, I might be above-average in physics. Nevertheless I know I have a few weaknesses which could really get me in trouble later on; for example, I often take the “path of most resistence” in solving problems. I think in a complex manner so the simple solutions elude me every time. It’s frustrating and it forces me to appreciate the fact that I am not the be-all-end-all of physics; I know I will run into problems, both in college and the real world, which I cannot figure out by myself. Every person has different qualities (innate or not) to bring to the table, and the problems which really matter can only be solved with the efforts of diverse groups of scientists.</p>
<p>You have a perfect right to laugh. It’ll probably do him some good (I know having someone laugh at me would have done me good at various points in my life).</p>