Gifted students may exhibit many, but not all, of these characteristics. When you observe students consistently exhibiting these behaviors, the possibility that they are gifted is very strong. Trust your own observations more than the "evidence" of mediocre standardized test scores or poor grades.
Advanced vocabulary for chronological age
Outstanding memory; possesses a lot of information
Curious; asks endless questions (why? and then... what?)
Has many interests, hobbies and collections
May have a "passionate interest" that has lasted for many years (example: dinosaurs)
Intense; gets totally absorbed in activities and thoughts
Strongly motivated to do thins that interest her/him; may be unwilling to work on other activities
May be reluctant to move from one subject area to another
Operates on higher levels of thinking than his/her age peers; is comfortable with abstract thinking
Perceives subtle cause and effect relationships
Prefers complex and challenging tasks to "basic" work
May be able to "tract" two or more things simultaneously (example: her/his daydreams and your words)
Catches on quickly, then resists doing work, or works in a sloppy, careless manner
Comes up with "better ways" for doing things; suggests them to peers, teachers and other adults
Sensitive to beauty and other people's feelings and emotions
Advanced sense of justice and fairness
Aware of global issues many age peers are uninterested in
Sophisticated sense of humor; may be "class clown"
Transfers concepts and learning to new situations
Sees connections between apparently unconnected ideas and activities
May prefer the company of older children or adults
May prefer to work alone, resists cooperative learning
Bossy in group situations
Needs to constantly share all he?she knows; impatient when not called on to recite or respond
May be "street smart" while not doing well on school tasks
Displays original ideas
Sees endless possibilities for various situations or uses for objects
Says what she thinks without regard for consequences
Brilliant thinker, but absentminded about details or where her/his work might be found
Outstanding sense of humor; loves to play with words and ideas
Passionately interested in some topic or field of endeavor
May be talented in the fine arts
Fluent in idea generation and development
Able to elaborate on ideas
Experiments with ideas and hunches
Great imagination; frequent daydreamer
Values nonconformity in appearance, thought, etc.
Standardized test scores may be significantly better than class performance
Believes he/she is valued for what he/she can do rather than who she/he is
Has been praised consistently for her/his "greatness and exceptional ability"
Fears he/she will lose the regard of others if he/she loses that exceptionality
May cry easily in frustration that her/his work at school can never be perfect
Works very slowly in hopes that her/his product will be perfect
Discovers a mistake in her work; erases until there is a hole in the paper or crumples up paper and throws it away
Asks for a lot of help and reassurance from the teacher (Is this all right? Is this what you want? Please repeat the directions.)
Cannot take any criticism or suggestions for improvement without being defensive
Expects other people to be perfect, too
Resists challenging work for fear his/her struggle will be seen by others. (If my teacher and peers see me struggle, they will conclude I'm not so smart)
Procrastinates to the point that work never even gets started