Meaning & use
academic potential
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The ability a student shows now that suggests they could do well in further study.
Grammar: No article and no plural: teachers talk about 'academic potential', not 'an academic potential'.
Patterns
- show academic potential
- have academic potential
- reach your academic potential
The school looks for students with strong academic potential, not just high test scores.
Her teachers say she has academic potential but needs to work more consistently.
The program is designed to help students reach their full academic potential.
Common combinations
- high academic potential
- The scholarship is aimed at applicants with high academic potential.
- show academic potential
- He showed academic potential early and was moved into the advanced class.
- reach your academic potential
- With better support, more students could reach their academic potential.
- identify academic potential
- The test is used to identify academic potential in younger children.
Synonyms and how they differ
- academic ability
- This refers to current skill rather than future possibility, so it is narrower than 'academic potential'.
- aptitude
- A more formal word for a natural ability to learn; it often appears in tests and job contexts rather than school reports.
Word family
- academically adverb
- In a way connected with study or school, as in 'academically gifted'.
- potential noun
- The general quality of being able to develop or succeed in the future.
Commonly confused: academic potential or academic performance?
academic potential vs academic performance
This means how well someone is doing now, while 'academic potential' means how well they might do later.
Practice
The teachers believe that all children should be helped to reach their full ______.
Choose one answer.
'Academic potential' is the fixed noun phrase meaning future ability to succeed in study. The other options either use the wrong word form or reverse the order of the words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “academic potential”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.