I had three peers in my entire engineering classes like that. Two became PhDs, one has changed fields and applied himself rapidly. I wasn't like them, but that

I had three peers in my entire engineering classes like that. Two became PhDs, one has changed fields and applied himself rapidly. I wasn't like them, but that ability to understand on a fundamental level, not forget, and then very quickly tackle more and more complex problems so fast was like a superpower. It took me much much longer, without the detailed understanding.