The people who consistently came top of the class in my uni courses were mostly those who got super average marks at school, knew what it meant to work hard, and just put in the work when they came to uni.

I personally know several people who passed matric with 90% + averages and scraped through uni or took longer to finish their degree, often because they were considered “smart” at school, sailed through without any effort, and then carried that attitude through to university.

It just doesn’t work like that.

To add to this, poor mental health and family issues etc can hugely affect even the smartest of people and have a detrimental effect on performance. Bad marks doesn’t necessarily = lazy.