Kim Ji-hoon Had an IQ of 150 and Top-1% Exam Scores, but Remembers Himself as a Wallflower

Kim Ji-hoon had the grades and the intelligence, but he does not remember his school years as a period of effortless confidence. Appearing on the YouTube program “Yoo In-na’s Radio,” the actor said he had an IQ above 150 and scored in the high 350s on a 400-point college entrance exam, a result introduced as being within Korea’s top 1 percent.

When host Yoo In-na asked whether such a score came from casual studying or relentless effort, Kim said he had done everything he could. Yet he still felt dissatisfied with the result. He had expected a higher score and even considered taking the exam again, but said the thought of studying for it another time was too unbearable.

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I did everything I could.

The conversation also touched on his consistently strong school performance. When guest Ko Young-bae said Kim had supposedly never fallen below third place, Kim immediately clarified that he meant third place in his class. The exchange turned to whether a student who performed well and looked like Kim would have attracted plenty of attention at school.

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I expected a somewhat higher score.

Kim’s answer was unexpectedly self-deprecating: “I was a wallflower back then.” He said he had severe acne in high school, possibly because of hormonal changes, and wore glasses because his eyesight was poor. His school appearance, he suggested, differed considerably from the image audiences see today.

Kim later graduated from Ajou University’s psychology department and became an actor. He previously said he chose the university partly because students in the top 3 percent of the entrance exam received four years of full tuition and dormitory support. He currently appears in the Coupang Play series “Adultery Is Not the Problem Right Now.”

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I was a wallflower back then.