zlacker

>>i7l+(OP)
I'm not quite a "child prodigy", but I did skip two grades in math in school. It made me feel very special when it was a kid but as a thirty-something software person I don't think I'm smarter than most of my coworkers now.

I think I was better than most kids at math, particularly algebra, but those kids grew up and caught up and I suspect many of them are as good or better at math than I am. I know nothing about child psychology or anything adjacent, but I honestly think a lot of "advanced child" stuff is just maturity.

>>tomber+Bc
To be fair, in my journey through public school, there was no difference in the math level from one grade to the next. Ok, there was a little, but the teacher was still going through the times tables in grade 7.

>>Walter+7e
I was actually bumped to ninth grade math from seventh grade, so I would have been twelve.

ETA:

Should add that this carried on through high school, and since I finished my math two years early, I took college-level courses for math the last two years.

>>tomber+Oi
I missed 3 months of 4th grade. When I came back, the teacher told my mom that I could not continue, because I'd missed 3 months of education. I'd have to finish out the year in 3rd grade.

My mom would have none of that, and demanded I be put back in 4th grade.

And so I was, and it was like I wasn't gone for a single day. The class had not advanced at all.

This was quite unlike university, where I didn't dare miss a single lecture.

>>Walter+6t
I think there’s a significant difference between fourth grade and high school level math, especially the more advanced courses. I got the flu in 9th grade and missed a week of trigonometry. I was able to catch up and it wasn’t the end of the world, but it wasn’t trivial, there absolutely was a “catch up” period.

Agreed university is much harder though.

>>tomber+Iz
You were fortunate in attending a better school.

I was an air force brat, and so attended many diverse public schools.

I took 2 years of honors physics in high school. College freshman physics blew through that in 2 weeks. And then I was in deep doo-doo.

I am eternally grateful to Prof Ricardo Gomez, who kindly took the time to coach me one on one. I never thanked him for that, one of my many regrets.