I Think Therefore I am

So I have been encountering a problem that is becoming familiar by frequency.
For the duration of my life I have been told that I can accomplish anything if I set my mind to it. Another way of saying this is that I was told that I could be anything I wanted to be, a doctor... a lawer... etc. Similarly People have affirmed this by telling me that I am smart and enforced the concept that I am not stupid.

While I am not against this positive affirmation, I sometimes question it. We should encourage people to strive for something greater than they are. But to what extent?

In my more recent history a friend has been engraining it in me that I am allowed to ask for help, that I don't need to fight through my experiences by myself. However, I am finding that time and time again when I come to a place of needing assistance, there is none for me.

For example: I am in college and as a college student I write papers. There are occasions where I become overwhelmed by the task of collecting, organizing, analyzing, and explaining data. The problem is not that I don't understand, but merely I am unable to "connect the dots". The response I get when I do poorly on an exam, is 'what's wrong your smarter than this' or with papers an average mark is deemed inappropriate and unacceptable for my situation. But what frustrates this situation the most, is that when I am stuck and needing direction I get a pad answer "Just do it" "Just Get it done".
It is these answers that I am finding increasingly frustrating, it leaves me with many questions.
Just because people deem me smart, does that mean that I actually am?
Who defines whether a person is or isn't intelligent?
Just because I am 'smart' does that mean that I don't require help?

Or is it just me, am I simply in capable of communicating my deficiancies to the point that I can actually find dialogue that leads to clarity? I'm not looking for a easy way out when I ask for help, it's not because I don't want to do the work; it's because I am in need of a learning construct that allows me to come to a place of preparation.

I think that it was best said, "there is a fine line between Genius and Insanity" So maybe my mind is simply getting the best of me.