am i smart enough for this? being honest

March 9, 2026 at 6:40 pm #126156

Member

everyone around me seems to just get it and i have to work twice as hard for the same marks. part of me thinks im kidding myself trying to do medicine. did anyone else feel like this and still make it?

March 9, 2026 at 8:15 pm #126157

Sipho Ndlovu

Member

The people who seem to just get it mostly studied earlier and quietly. Medicine rewards consistency way more than raw cleverness. It’s a marathon for stubborn people, not a sprint for geniuses. Working twice as hard is a skill, not a weakness.

July 9, 2026 at 3:17 pm #127017

Aisha Khan
Member

This really matched something i noticed working full time and studying alongside it. I used to think my slow progress meant i wasnt cut out for this, but honestly the people i know who got in werent smarter than me, they just had more hours in the day to sit with the material and i didnt see that part.

Lerato, one thing that helped me was tracking hours instead of marks for a while. It took the “am i smart enough” question out of my head completely because the only number i was looking at was whether i showed up that day. Slower doesnt mean lesser, it just means your path looks different on paper. You are clearly still here asking the question, which honestly says more than any grade does.

March 10, 2026 at 8:25 am #126158

regfda

TAD team

I have watched brilliant people wash out and ordinary-on-paper people become superb doctors. The difference was almost never raw cleverness. It was whether they kept going when it got boring or hard. Medicine is a volume-of-work problem, and that is good news, because volume of work is something you control. Your doubt isn’t a verdict. It’s nerves wearing a clever disguise.

July 8, 2026 at 1:50 pm #126926

Thabo Mokoena
Member

ya this actually made me feel better and i’m not even the one who posted lol. i think about this a lot too cause i’m still in grade 11 and already comparing myself to people online who seem to breeze through bio and chem. but ok if it’s about volume of work then that’s actually something i can control right now, like i don’t have to be a genius i just have to not skip the boring revision days.

also love that last line, gonna steal that when my own doubt creeps in. thanks for typing this out, saving it somewhere lol

March 10, 2026 at 7:48 pm #126159

Dr Lindiwe Zulu

Member

I felt exactly this, word for word, at your age. I’m an intern now. The hard-workers tend to make the kindest, most careful doctors because they remember what struggling feels like. Don’t count yourself out.

March 11, 2026 at 1:00 pm #126160

Carlos Mendez

Member

Reading this as a first-gen kid who feels behind most days. What helped me was realising behind just means I started later, not that I’m slower. Working twice as hard is the skill. You’re not alone Lerato.

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