The Difference Between Top Students and Poor Students

Many people find this hard to grasp.

School exams are limited in maximum score and relatively easy. The ceiling is only 100 points, and the questions are simple. A top student can score at most 100, while a struggling student might still manage a 90, so everyone appears to perform similarly.

What happens when difficulty increases? The top student still gets 100, but the struggling student might score only 9.

What if the ceiling is removed entirely? The top student might score 10,000 points, while the struggling student remains at 9.

In many cases, this actually favors weaker students. For certain purposes, it functions like a curved grading system—the raw scores might be much lower, but they get inflated.

This makes it appear as though the gap between students isn't that large.