In a 2020 study by Cutumisu et al., results demonstrated that students' design-thinking choices were more important for their poster design performance than their prior academic achievement in Mathematics, Science, and English Language Arts. Specifically, critical feedback seeking was positively associated with performance through revising, regardless of prior academic achievement. Prior academic achievement only indirectly predicted performance, with critical feedback seeking fully explaining the link between prior achievement and revision. A possible interpretation of these findings is that high-achieving students attained their academic levels by spontaneously employing these design-thinking strategies during their prior studies.