The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness

by Todd Rose

He sat down and proceeded to show me a way to convert each problem into a kind of visual table that allowed me to draw the precise relationships between Jerry and Jenny and Julie in a clear and reliable fashion. At first, I was completely skeptical that this technique, which was indeed very easy for me, could possibly work. But I tried it out on problem after problem, and each time it gave me the right answer. I couldn’t believe it. Two weeks later I took the GRE and I got my highest score on the analytical reasoning section. My GRE instructor had figured out a way to solve problems that suited his jagged mental abilities—but not necessarily mine. Fortunately, my father had a clearer sense of my jaggedness. He helped me see that my problem was not that I had weak analytical skills—the one-dimensional view I had settled on after failing practice test after practice test using my instructor’s method—but rather that I was relying on one of my weakest mental abilities, working memory, to solve the problems. Once my father helped me identify a strategy that played to my strengths, I could finally answer the test questions correctly and demonstrate my true talent.