A*: The expert and student dilemma
Usually when we see someone scoring A* in a single subject, we start believing that they must be an “expert” at this game, someone who knows every nook and cranny of the syllabus. It starts to feel like no matter how much we try, we won’t reach their level.
But this perception is not always correct. We don’t struggle because we’re incapable — we struggle because we see top scorers as perfect, rather than as students who built their way up.
What really matters is not giving up after every hard question we face, what also matters is staying consistent with your tasks and that’s exactly what most high achievers do.
Can’t get that graph right in a past paper? That’s fine. You’ll get another chance in the next one.
For me, that subject was Economics. My Achilles’ heel.
At first, it genuinely felt like a foreign language that I believed I could never master no matter how many times I read the content. Terms like “aggregate demand” and “monetary policy” weren’t just concepts, they felt like obstacles. They stopped me from moving on down and eventually started affecting my confidence in other subjects too. I could not sleep without thinking about that 12 marker I could not solve, really.
One moment that really stuck with me was during a timed paper. I came across an 8-mark and a 12-mark macroeconomics question — and I froze. Yes, I had studied. Yes, I knew the content. But I didn’t know how to start, what structure to follow, or what the examiner actually wanted. I kept staring at the blank space, feeling my confidence drop by the minute. “I should’ve taken IT,” I remember thinking, completely frustrated.
So, I changed how I studied.
Instead of doing past papers blindly and looking at the answer key too early, I changed how I approached the subject. I started watching videos on the internet and studying how the structure breaks down, analysed the marking scheme and tried to manipulate the areas where I can score maximum marks.
Most importantly, I started asking for help. There are tons of professional teachers online, and the only step you have to take is to ask.
Slowly but surely, the tables turned.
For Economics, I realized:
- You don’t just need definitions, you need application to real scenarios
- Diagrams aren’t optional, they’re marks you can’t afford to lose
- Evaluation isn’t extra, it’s often what separates an A from an A*
Questions that once felt impossible started to make sense. Not easy but at least manageable. And that’s the gap between “the student” and “the expert.”
It's not that one never struggles or is born with academic gifts, it’s that they’ve learned how to respond to struggle.
An A* doesn’t come from getting everything right the first time. It’s about getting things wrong, figuring out why, and improving each time. In the end, its resilience, not perfection, that actually gets you there.