i had a professor once say that an indicator of excpetional science fiction is when the fiction greatly outweighs the science, meaning the story is the key and the science merely adds nuance. asimov wrote with such subtlety if you removed ten percent of the content, the story would be contextually anachronistic. and, this was like the third or fourth novel the dude ever wrote. i think he scored an exceptional high school conselor because he's definitely doing what he should be doing.