<p>Inq, I skipped assigned readings and school altogether (save for the occasions I actually cracked the books open before a test I’d decied it was best not to slack off on). I went to school in Scandinavia, so no options to self-study out of things at all were offered - you accept the roadblocks they put on your thought, or you drop out. </p>
<p>I used to hang out at the library and read material school tends to convince students to stay away from until they get “ready” (by reading bullet-pointed intro matieral that waters down the basics completely? Give me a break). I hung out on political debate forums and discussed ideas through with older friends. Do you feel this same way? Like the idea that school is the only, or even best, venue to get knowledge is just the most absurd thing ever?</p>
<p>(Btw, my favorie book is “Goedel Escher Bach”. You have to read it. It’s very star trekkie and sends your mind into a complete tailspin.)</p>
<p>Grades & scores: I think you’re right. I have a 4.0 gpa today, mostly because I got myself together and realized the game isn’t played by my rules, and I have to adapt. I’m still not the happy-go-lucky student with organized notes and a datebook for deadlines (although I have a fetish for buying datebooks, post-its, all the good stuff – then never touching it again), but I manage by trying to be creative with my assignments rather than creative with how to interpret deadlines, haha.</p>
<p>My ACT is 27, but I can’t say I care. Like we talked about in the other thread, standardized tests say very little (in fact, 88% of the time throwing a dice better predicts college aptitude than SAT scores… but believing otherwise is benefitial to testing agencies, so there you have it).</p>
<p>I used to feel a little bitter about kids with no originality in their thought getting better grades than I did simply because they believed in the system so much. I’ve come to realize it’s been my own fault for not just sucking it up and adapting. Another issue I’ve had school-wise is my tendency to abandon a topic as soon as I feel I’ve explored it enough - there is no consistency, and so I end up not truly excelling at anything; neither do I feel the need to, even though I know it’ll be the end of me once I’m hurled into life beyond college.</p>