I feel like a fake!

[Alastair_Moonsong]

@Anne_Neville

Oh yeah? Well, they made me take the SAT’s for the Not Terribly Bright. At least that’s the only way I can reconcile my score (high 1300s in early 1990s) with the fact that I know damn well I am not smarter than 99% of other people. I must have actually taken the special SAT for the Not Terribly Bright.

I almost achieved drink-spewing glory when I read this. I felt the EXACT same way - I scored a 1480 on the SAT (1600 point version) with no studying, preparation, or practice - I just showed up, took the test, and walked out. Next thing I know, people are calling me a genius, recommending advanced courses and Honors colleges and stuff, and all i could think was “This has GOT to be a mistake! I’m not smart, really!”

I’ve always felt like this though - no matter what I achieve I always feel like I’ve somehow cheated, or it was just luck, or people are only telling me I’m attractive/smart/talented/whatever because it’s not polite to say what they really think. It sucks.

[Jodi]

I’m almost forty, and every time I get a professional pat on the back, I think, “Fooled them again!”

So don’t expect the feeling to go away.

[echowit]

[quote=“Alastair_Moonsong, post:21, topic:493241”]

I almost achieved drink-spewing glory when I read this. I felt the EXACT same way - I scored a 1480 on the SAT (1600 point version) with no studying, preparation, or practice - I just showed up, took the test, and walked out. Next thing I know, people are calling me a genius, recommending advanced courses and Honors colleges and stuff, and all i could think was “This has GOT to be a mistake! I’m not smart, really!”

… rest of moonsong’s quote deleted by echowit for brevity’s sake … QUOTE]

I sorta know this feeling too. I really have no idea if I’m “bright” or dim. I just take tests well. Scoring well on tests ( and taking shameless advantage of the oportunities provided by it ) got me through my working life and into retirement. Down side is, a couple of really deserving peers (probably betters, actually) allowed themselves to be cowed by their performances v. mine and did not achieve their true potential. I’ve always felt a little guilty about that.

[The_Second_Stone]

If you are new at it and they know you are new at it, then they don’t expect you to know how to do the job.

On the humorous side, I felt you, and you are the real thing!

So you aren’t a very convincing fake.

[Captain_Carrot]

@matt_mcl

I get this really bad about two weeks into an election.

You mean campaign, right? Aren’t elections 1 day even up there in Soviet Canuckistan?