When the husband has a good sense of humor to give company, conversations like these make life better one moment at a time. It also opened up my mind to the quality I must focus on instead of expect. Well, here you go.

While we spoke about School exams and the footprints it has left in our hearts we couldn’t do it without discussing the  segments in the question paper. 2-marks questions and 16 marks detailed answers. While I have always loved the 2 mark questions, I have wrestled with 16 marks even then. That’s when I realized there are moments where we keep our conversations short and to the point. Just like our 2 mark answers. At others, we need to explain in depth. It could be about why something happened or why we are not interested in talking about something or someone.  

Most of my answers are 2 marks. Yes, sometimes I am okay with answering in a paragraph or two for just 2 marks. It is because I know I will score it. Just think about the 16 marks. One has to explain in detail, make a sketch to convey the point and also make a very neat presentation of what we put forth. Still, one is given 10 to 15 and not 16. Not that I care about marks, but it is the effort that counts. 

Conversations with certain people be like 2 marks. You remain on the same page and converse easily. That is mostly a dialogue happening between two people with some thoughts being provoked and at times laugh riots follow. At other times, these types of conversations could also be starters between two new people. We listen to each other and have a curiosity to know more about each other.

Whereas, conversations with others be like 16 marks. You share in depth information of why something happened and how it can be resolved, on their initial insistence, but find out that they were not interested to really work on it. It was just a joke played on you to see how far you can go and still give you a 10/16 because they’ve already fixed it there. One of the main reasons why I don’t like the 16 mark types are because they mostly fall in the “not-needed advice” category or self-praise category. Oh, I also forgot the “I have not done anything wrong, it was you, so you must explain” category too. 

Many people usually say , School hasn’t taught life. I don’t really think so. Exams are the first challenges in life that teach us about failure more than winning and how we learn to handle them. Though we know what will be asked, it is about that moment, about how we handle what we already know. Or, how we handle what we forgot or what we never bothered to consider as important. 

At times, people can make us plead by explaining a lot. Or, we think that explaining will resolve issues and give our life and soul to someone who doesn’t see the importance of it. Still, neither party is convinced. It leads to resentment, a feeling of unfairness and fatigue. Whereas all that truth takes is a few lines said genuinely.

Truth holds a better value even if it brings out bitter emotions. People who understand you will not need explanations. Just a word or two will know if you are genuine enough to trust. I realized that I love the 2-mark answer that I am and why I don’t really have to explain every action of mine. If people really want to know, they will!

So, what’s your take on your question paper? Which one did you enjoy writing then? Are you able to relate to this in life? Did your exams leave a footprint in your life?

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This post is for Friday Reflections with Corinne and Shalini.