Effort and high performance in the access of science olympiads medal winners to public higher education

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the phenomena of effort and high academic performance in science olympiads medalists. Since 2019, these students have been able to enter universities in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, because their awards in knowledge competitions are considered admission criteria. They are taken as evidence that the candidates have the competence to attend a higher education course, and because both the olympiads and the preparation for them demand above-average ability, commitment to the task and creativity, which are indicators of giftedness. The method chosen was a literature review and semi-structured interviews with students and course coordinators. The data collected from the interviews was analyzed using the Discourse of the Collective Subject. The main findings were that there is no evidence that effort produces high performance, nor that lack of effort facilitates it, because high academic performance and effort seem to be independent phenomena, even when they occur simultaneously, since no relationships were identified between them.