Imagine the plight of an examiner who has to evaluate a pile of answer sheets, reviewing answers to the same question and allot marks. As the drive to score better than others continues to take its toll on students each year, how you present your answers can make a big difference.
The answers could still be the same but the allotment of marks is different. After the declaration of the result, students often complain that they wrote exactly the same answers as their companions but still couldn’t score as well as the others.
For example, a biology paper will always invite some diagrammatic explanations rather than a monotonous paragraph stating the same thing. A civics answer might fetch more marks if it is presented using a flowchart, stating the passing of a bill in a legislative assembly.
The moral of the story is that presentation is as important as the content. This might not hold true for all subjects but the mantra works for most subjective ones.
The human brain is divided quite symmetrically into two halves — the left brain and the right brain. The left brain is said to be responsible for ‘logical, sequential, rational, analytical and objective thinking’, and evaluates parts first and then the whole. The right brain is more about ‘creativity, random, intuitive, holistic, and subjective’ thinking — looking first at whole and then at its individual parts. Simply put, the left brain is responsible more for analysis, speech, language, and for solving math problems, while the right brain contributes more to fine arts, 3-D imaging and chronology.
Overall development of the brain, the central co-ordination centre for all vital activities, is the key to performance. It is imperative that students focus on all-round development of the brain. This can help them score better marks. If a student can bring in creativity, visual or otherwise (more right brain regulated) in the way he/she answers questions, his/her answers will stand apart from other mundane formats and will give him/her a definite edge. What appeals to the eye catches immediate attention from among a plethora of answer books.
Overall development of the brain, the central co-ordination centre for all vital activities, is the key to performance. It is imperative that students focus on all-round development of the brain. This can help them score better marks. If a student can bring in creativity, visual or otherwise (more right brain regulated) in the way he/she answers questions, his/her answers will stand apart from other mundane formats and will give him/her a definite edge. What appeals to the eye catches immediate attention from among a plethora of answer books.
The author is a senior consultant psychiatrist with Moolchand Medcity and Vimhans, New Delhi. Send him an email at
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