The single biggest reason capable students underperform is that they have decided they are not clever enough. Once a student believes the outcome is fixed, good technique changes nothing, because they stop applying it. The fix is evidence rather than encouragement: small, measurable wins - a past paper section improving week on week - which prove the belief wrong. Method problems are easy to fix; belief problems have to go first.

At the end of primary school in 2025, 62% of pupils in England met the expected standard in all of reading, writing and maths. — DfE, Key stage 2 attainment, 2025

“I'm just not smart enough”

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Heard it a million times.

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It is possible for 99% of students to achieve grade A*s/9s with the correct techniques and methods.

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However, even after teaching them these secrets, some students continue to fail within school.

Why?

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Well, upon further questioning I find out that despite now knowing these techniques, they aren’t very motivated to put them into action.

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Because they believe they don't have the brains to do well in exams.

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No matter what techniques they use.

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No matter how hard they work.

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They think they just aren’t naturally gifted enough to succeed.

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Why do they think this way? Read on to find out…

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An interesting (yet very unethical) experiment

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American psychologist Martin Seligman conducted a psychological study in 1967, which was a byproduct of his study into depression.As with most experimental studies that happened back in the day, animals were involved - dogs in this case.3 groups of dogs.The first group of dogs were the control group. They were placed in harnesses and left to their own devices. Just to see if any other factors could interfere with the results. But what Seligman did with the other 2 groups was much more intriguing (and cruel).Dogs from groups 2 and 3 were paired up and then strapped to harnesses in separate rooms.

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Then each pair were shocked with electricity at the same time and were each given a lever to push to stop the shocks.

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However, only one of the levers for each pair worked!

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This way, the dog with the working lever could just push his lever to stop the shock, but the other one would only be relieved of his turmoil once the other dog in his pair pushed their lever.

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The dog would toss and turn, being continually shocked, desperately pushing the lever.

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Hoping for some kind of solace, but his discomfort would only be stopped by another unseen lever.As far as the dogs in group 3 knew, they were being shocked randomly and there was nothing they could do about it!But their agony wasn't over yet.

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Following this experiment, the dogs were placed in a shuttle-box apparatus (a chamber containing two rectangular compartments divided by a barrier a few inches high). The dogs were again shocked at random points.

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However, this time, all of the dogs could escape the shocks by jumping to the other side of the box. The dogs in groups 1 and 2 quickly learnt this and escaped the shock whenever it was delivered. However, the group 3 dogs – the ones who had the broken lever – laid down and accepted their fate. Why?They had learned that they were helpless to change their circumstances even when in this instance they could.

What happened?

Seligman’s study falls under something known as classical conditioning. Simply put: if something is reinforced/rewarded, we are more likely to repeat that behaviour again. And likewise, if we are punished, we’re more likely to avoid that same behaviour in the future.

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It was not the shock itself, but the inability to control the shock, that produced failure to respond.

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So, how do you unlearn this behaviour?Well, one of the key things to do is to be more objective when looking at your results.

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Many times, we tend to put the onus of things going wrong in our lives on internally related characteristics:If only I did better.

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If I only I was smarter.

Etc. Rather than taking a more rational explanatory approach to the subject.

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Objective goal setting is where SMART goal setting comes into play. The key thing I want to highlight is that whenever you undertake a task, make sure it is measurable. Don’t try to explain results without considering the data.

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When I hear a student say, “I failed my exam because I’m too dumb”, the first thing I do is look at their benchmarking sheet.What’s this?They only did 3 papers!

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Even if you’re Albert Einstein, you can’t expect to achieve top grades if you aren’t polishing your exam technique.

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Don’t justify a poor result by attributing it to some defective characteristic within yourself. Look at the data. Look at your revision strategy.

Where were you lacking in your preparation? If you aren’t reaching your full potential, consider these statistics. Not your supposed IQ!

You no longer have a broken lever!

So how did they get the dogs who had learned helplessness to sort their behaviour out? They simply moved them physically to a pain free area before they re-realised how to be in control and escape pain.

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The animals in those experiments were just dogs. You are an amazing human. Hopefully, me just telling you about this phenomenon is enough for you to break out.You are capable of getting that A* or grade 9.But it does take putting in the work every single day.

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At times, it may seem like only a complete genius could hack it.But keep at it.

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Always strive to do the best and put the work in because if you:

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‍“Aim for the moon, if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”

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What else is worth reading?

What are the honest limits of any grade or percentage figure?

Grade boundaries are set for each exam series, for each board and tier, after marking is complete. Every percentage and boundary described here is a historical example, not a promise: a 2025 boundary tells you about 2025. For the series you are actually sitting, check JCQ and your own board.

A warning about every results-day headline you will read:

“The number of results issued is different from the number of students receiving results.” — gov.uk, Qualification results in England

Where can you check this at source?

Grades, boundaries and headline results come from the exam boards and the DfE, and move every series: