alt Hacker News"Implicit in the design of most tests is the idea that a person's ability to quickly solve moderately difficult problems implies a proportional ability to solve very difficult problems if given more time."
I used to share that doubt, especially during my first semesters at university.
However, my experience over the decades has been, that people who solved moderately difficult problems quickly were also the ones that excelled at solving hard and novel problems. So in my (little) experience, there is a justification for that and I'd be definitely interested (and not surprised) to see credible evidence for it.
I could understand that, as we are inclined to hold this for true: "slow -> not smart".
What we do know is "not smart -> slow", because if you are dumb, you will be (infinitely) slow to answer correctly. But note this might indicate that the first proposition is a common logical fallacy where the modus tollens is applied incorrectly.
The slow but brilliant thinker wouldn't perhaps show up for solving a hard and novel problem, as they might have learned they are stupid, and they might still be slogging trough other problem sets. Other excuses are found in https://almossawi.substack.com/p/slow-and-fast-learners-3-qu...
If you want to test pure ability for deep thought, it will be very difficult to control all variables that affect slow people.