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Asked by anon-271570 on 23 Nov 2020.
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Natsuko Imai answered on 23 Nov 2020:
The fact that you are interested in science and taking part in “I’m a Scientist” tells me that you are much better at science than you think you are!
I truly believe that anybody who wants to and has the passion and the curiosity can become a scientist. There are also so many different kinds of scientists (as you can see from all the zones and different research people are doing). You might find that there’s a particular type of science that really interests you.
For me, I was never going to be a physicist — I really struggled with this subject at school and just wasn’t really interested in it. But I loved biology and it meant that I didn’t mind spending more time trying to understand the tricky parts.
I would recommend talking to your science teachers at school – let them know that you want to study sciences. I’m sure they can give you advice and help. There are also some really great free online resources that have amazing recorded videos. https://www.khanacademy.org/science for example is great. Sometimes I find being able to go back over a topic in my own time (and being able to rewind the video) really helps me to understand something better.
Good luck!
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Sarah Killcoyne answered on 23 Nov 2020:
If you are interested in science and are willing to study to get better at the subjects you are interested in, then yes of course you can. Science is not about being brilliant at school. Creativity and the willingness to keep working (perseverance) at a puzzle are important to being a scientist. As well as continuing to learn and study, we never really stop!
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Guy Yona answered on 23 Nov 2020:
Yes, if you pull yourself together. A colleague of mine did very badly at school due to family reasons and didn’t graduate. He completed high-school education at an older age, got into med-school at turned out a brilliant neuro-surgeon and a scientist. It’s important to say that once he decided on his path, he became totally and utterly absorbed in it.
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Romain Laine answered on 23 Nov 2020:
Hi Ayana, I personally find that how you do at school does not always reflect how you would do in the professional context, including in science!
Maybe, if you feel you’re not as good at many subjects as you’d like, it means that you’ve not quite found what you like about them yet. So if you’re curious about being a scientist and are not sure how, it can be useful to ask around and even visit a lab near you if possible, and then if you think it can be for you, use this as a motivation to improve your grades! -
Jamie McGinn answered on 23 Nov 2020:
Absolutely, if you know that being a scientist is where you want to be – showing passion and interest is the most important start. How things are taught in school is completely different to how you learn as a scientist. I love the hands on exciting work, discussing and testing new things. I remember finding it difficult to remember all of the little things for my school exams, but once I set my heart on science – it all felt a little easier. If you would like to talk about best ways to study, and different things to help you learn, just ask! I can help you with some ideas and I am sure all of the other amazing scientist here have great ideas of things that would be useful.
Science needs more people that understand how tricky some stuff is to understand, so if you know that struggle – it will make you fantastic at explaining it to others!
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Melanie S. answered on 23 Nov 2020:
You absolutely can, if that’s what you want to do! Being a scientist isn’t about getting the highest marks in school, or even being the smartest person. If you find science interesting, you like asking questions, and you can work hard, then you absolutely can be a scientist.
I was never the top student in any of my subjects in school, but my secondary school science teacher saw that I was interested in science, and she encouraged me to become a scientist, even though I wasn’t one of the best students in her class – and I’m so glad I listened to her! The journey hasn’t been easy, but I love my work, and I’m grateful every day that I get to be a scientist and do work that I enjoy.
In my opinion, being a scientist is more about being willing and able to do hard work that will often not be successful; and about always coming up with new ideas. We’re trying to discover new knowledge and find answers to questions that don’t have answers yet, after all!
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Katie Pickup answered on 24 Nov 2020:
Yes! Grades are often a bad way to show whether someone is ‘good at’ something. If you are interested in science and find an area you really like then studying becomes more enjoyable and sometimes a bit easier. If you are interested in something but don’t understand it very well it’s good to keep asking questions, reading about it, watching youtube videos etc about the topic to help you get to grips with it -many scientists won’t understand something the first time they hear about it and have to ask and learn more about it before it fully makes sense.
A lot of assessments at university these days are becoming less exam focused and are using open assessments, problem solving assignments and essays instead. There is often chance to factor in what assessment style works best for you when you’re picking your favourite modules.
As everyone says, it’s far more important for scientists to be hard working and persevering than being an A* student. -
Paola Galdi answered on 24 Nov 2020:
I had some troubled times in my school years. Sometimes I did not feel interested or motivated and this showed in my grades. But there were still things I was passionate about: I liked learning new languages and understanding how things worked, so I preferred some subjects over others.
However in school, as in a scientist job, you sometimes have to do boring things along the things you like, even if you’re not great at it.
I don’t remember all the things I studied in school, but school taught me some skills that I still use today: be organized, meet deadlines, get key concepts from long texts, reason to solve a problem and so on.
So my answer is, yes, if you are passionate about science you can definitely become a scientist. You also have to finish school first: try to get the best you can out of it, and think that you are not studying for a grade, but for yourself. -
Berengere Digard answered on 24 Nov 2020:
Absolutely! I know loads of people who didn’t have good grades at school and who are scientists now! What matters most is to be curious, and to be interested in science! Then of course you need good grades to go to University, but maybe if your grades now are not so good, it’s just because the way you have to study right now is not the best way to work for you. Luckily, the way you work as a researcher has nothing to do with the way we work at school!
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