I attended a top high school in Beijing. This school’s academic standard was much higher than the average school. See https://tanbintpy.wordpress.com/2016/07/03/toxic-fellow-parents-fixation-on-top-schools/. Therefore, the above-average students in a top school felt so high up there. In terms of the standardized test scores, they might be the top 1%. Same thing in Singapore.

However, they often fail to *maintain* the lead at the uni level. Many students from the average high schools catch up. Some of the top achievers in uni indeed come from top high schools, but
* other top achievers come from average schools.
* many fellow graduates from top high schools aren’t so outstanding (like me)

As I said in https://btv-open.dreamhosters.com/2016/08/16/roller-coaster-academic-competition/, these late bloomers pump up their effort and prove that their abilities aren’t that much lower than the early bloomers.

My colleague Damien said he became motivated to study only in the uni. That’s a huge contrast to my own learning journey, where my effort level and learning was greatest at high school level (mostly in Beijing), not university level.

Another reason is the nation-wide standardized tests. No such thing in uni, so your lead is significantly reduced.

After graduating from uni, the relative positions change even more radically…