I Memorized Math Tricks to Feel Smart

I used to memorize these elaborate mental math formulas—like calculating what day Christmas falls on in 2061—because I thought it made me look gifted. Party trick intelligence. I'd practice the Rainman day-of-the-week calculation until I could do it faster than anyone could Google it. Month codes, year codes, divide by four, subtract multiples of seven. I had it down to muscle memory. But here's the thing: I was drowning in actual coursework. Failed my statistics midterm the same week I perfected calculating leap years in my head. Could tell you what day Lincoln died on, couldn't explain why my regression analysis was wrong. I thought being the 'human calculator' would make professors notice me. Instead, I just became the kid who did math tricks while everyone else actually understood the material. Turns out memorizing formulas isn't the same as learning. Who knew. #Education #AcademicAnxiety #GiftedKidBurnout