You wear thick eyeglasses and carry volumes of books in your arms. Inside your bag is a scientific calculator, a pad of paper, all sorts of pens, photocopied materials and other student gadgets. In your head is nothing but arithmetic and computer programs. You love every figure and formula that your teacher introduces during your Geometry class and the matrices of HTML codes is music to your ears. In other words, you’re a nerd, or close to being one. But does it mean you’re smart?
Some people confuse the meaning of “smart” with the definition of “nerd.” Just because you have a straight-A or a series flat-1, it doesn’t mean you’re a certified smart person. According to the dictionary, a nerd person pursues intellectual activities to improve his knowledge rather than engaging himself in social activities such as sports. He is intelligent, yes, but is socially and physically graceless. Worse is, he is unaware of how awkward he is.
A smart person, on the other hand, is someone who shows mental alertness in appropriate situations. He knows what he is doing and is aware of what other people are thinking of him. When he is in a confounding situation, he can confuse and convince others that he is right through his words and actions. In other words, he knows the way out. What’s more, he has many friends and many others would wish to be his friend.
Perhaps the reason why many people confuse a smarty with a nerdy is because a nerd has more potential to become smart. If you’re a nerd, you don’t try hard to excel in your field or fields of intelligence (e.g., verbal-linguistic, math-logic, spatial, musical, etc) coz it just flows in you naturally, if not habitually. Your intelligence is somewhat innate and enhancing it is as easy as eating peanuts.
For you to become smart, you just need to work on your personality (considering that most nerds seem weird; though they feel they are normal). You have to ask yourself: Am I socially acceptable? Do people feel comfortable with me? Am I comfortable with them? Can I keep a good conversation going? Am I versatile enough to adjust to any situation? If your answer to these is yes, without biases, then you must be smart.
To be smart, one doesn’t have to excel in all intelligence areas and brag about it. He just needs to foster the areas he is strong at and randomly learns, as life teaches him the other fields. And since he is smart, he is not a second-rate-trying-hard-copycat. He talks and acts smart naturally. He may have doubts at the back of his mind but he knows how to control his subconscious level.
Most achievers, be it academic or non-academic, are said to be of high intelligence quotient (IQ). They are those who belong to the top three in section A classes and reap medals at the end of the school year. They are usually the thinker, the leader, and the
frontliner. They are the popular, the trusted and the pride of the institution. In short, they are not necessarily nerdy but are smarty because they managed to balance both curricular and extra-curricular activities. However, that doesn’t mean that those at the backstage aren’t smart.
Perhaps you, or the person next to you, are one of the smarty pants out there who avoids the limelight and prefers to keep their smartness to themselves (that isn’t so smart though). Here’s a quiz from allthetests.com that can help determine how smart or how mentally-alert you are. Take time to assess yourself and see if the result boosts up or knocks down your confidence. Get a pen now and write down your answers.
- Is there a Fourth of July in England?
- Yes
- No
- How many birthdays does the average man have?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Some months have 31 days; how many have 28?
- 2
- 1
- 3
- 12
- How many outs are there in an inning?
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Is it legal for a man in California to marry his widow’s sister?
- Yes
- No
- Divide 30 by ½ and add 10. What is the answer?
- 25
- 35
- 60
- 70
- If there are 3 apples and you take away 2, how many do you have?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- A doctor gives three pills telling you to take one every half hour. How many minutes would the pills
last?
- 90
- 60
- 30
- A farmer has 17 sheep, and all but 9 die. How many are left?
- 17
- 0
- 9
- 8
- How many animals of each sex did Moses take on the ark?
- 1
- 2
- millions
- 0
- How many two cent stamps are there in a dozen?
- 24
- 12
- 6
- 2
Before you read on, review your answers (you don’t want to regret it later). Now cross your fingers and check your answers.
- (a) Yes, it comes after the third of July!
- (a) Just one.
- (d) 12. All months have 28 days!
- (d) 6, three per side!
- (b) No because he is dead!
- (d) 70 (30 divided by ½ equals 60! Takes some thinking…)
- (b) 2. You took them, remember?
- (b) 60 (Start with 1st pill; 30 minutes later you take the 2nd pill; after another 30 minutes, you take the 3rd one).
- (c) 9 ofcourse!
- (d) 0. Moses didn’t have an ark, Noah did!
- (b) 12. There are twelve 2 cent stamps in a dozen.
Now is the moment of truth. Count your scores and refer below for the equivalence. If you scored:
0 = Well, what can I say? Your score looks like an egg.
1 = No comment.
2 – 4 = Maybe you’re good at something else…
5 – 7 = You have normal intelligence.
8 = You must be an honor student.
9 – 11 = This is not the first time you took the test!
The result may be flattering or painful to you but I’m sure it’s worth taking. Now you must have realized that it’s always good to be smart (especially if you scored 8 and above). Everybody wants to be smart but not all have the moral fiber to transform themselves. Work it out. Talk smart. Act smart. Here are some tips to smarten up your personality:
- Analyze the situation you’re in.
- Close your mouth and open your ears. Talk when spoken to; don’t lie.
- Do not talk about personal life.
- Read good books.
- Learn math. Solve puzzles.
- Do not brag. Eat a bit of humble pie.
- Listen carefully to others’ opinion. You don’t have to agree; just listen.
- Be nice to people. It’s also a sign of maturity and intelligence.
- Do things on purpose. Avoid nonsense stuff.
- Keep a good hygiene. Brush, bathe and wash daily!
- Don’t annoy others on purpose.
- Work on your vocabulary.
- Speak your mind.
- Fail rather than cheat. Have some integrity.
- Be friends with smart people who do all of the above.
And one last thing, list down all the tips above in your organizer and practice one tip at a time. Before you realize it, you’re smarter than you think! And because you’re smart, you acknowledge the fact that you cannot always conquer the world with your intelligence (like a smart aleck). Remember, some things in this world are still uncertain and that the world itself could snub you if necessary, regardless of
how smart you are.
Sources: http://www.wikihow.com/, http://www.paulstips.com/, http://www.allthetests.com/, http://wordnet.princeton.edu, and http://en.wikipedia.org
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