Vineeth K Kolarath
Imagine two students who both score 85 out of 100 in the same examination.
The first student studied the night before. She read the chapter several times, underlined important lines and revised the answers she thought were likely to appear. On the day of the examination, she remembered enough to do well.
The second student studied over a few weeks. He worked through examples, got some wrong, went back to understand them, asked questions and explained the ideas to a friend. On the day of the examination, he also remembered enough to do well.
Same marks. Same report card.
Now imagine that, a month later, both are given a problem they have never seen before. It uses the same ideas, but in a different setting.
Who is more likely to manage it?
We cannot know for certain. But the second student has had more opportunities to practise using the ideas, rather than simply remembering the answers.
That difference is what I want to explore.
Marks matter
Let me say this first, because it is easy to misunderstand the point.
Marks matter.
In our education system, they can influence admissions, scholarships and the opportunities available to a student. For many families, examination results carry a great deal of hope and anxiety.
So I am not suggesting that students should forget about marks and concentrate only on understanding.
I am suggesting something slightly different.
A mark is a summary of how a student performed in one examination, on one day, under particular conditions. It is useful information. But it cannot tell us everything about what that student knows, how deeply they understand it or how well they can use it in a new situation.
Two students with the same mark may have very different strengths and gaps.
The report card does not show us all of that.
The feeling of knowing
Why do students sometimes spend hours studying in ways that do not help them remember as much as they expect?
One reason is that understanding something and feeling that you understand it are not always the same.
Read a page for the third time. The words begin to look familiar. You recognise the examples. You can follow every sentence. It feels as though you know the material.
Now close the book and try to explain the same idea without looking.
Suddenly, you may struggle to remember the details or connect the different points.
Recognising something when you see it is not the same as being able to recall it yourself.
Researchers Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke studied this difference. In their 2006 research, they found that students who practised recalling information from memory retained more of it after a delay than students who spent the same time rereading the material. This is often called the testing effect or retrieval practice.
The finding is useful because it tells us that trying to remember is not merely a way of checking what we know. It can also help strengthen what we remember.
You can read their research, Test-Enhanced Learning.
This is why closing the book and trying to write down what you remember can be so revealing.
You discover the gaps much sooner than you would by simply reading the same page again.
It may feel uncomfortable, but that is not a reason to avoid it.
As I wrote in Mistakes Are Data, a gap you have noticed gives you something to work on. A gap you have not noticed can remain hidden until the examination.
What understanding looks like
If the feeling of knowing is not enough, how can a student check whether they really understand something?
There are a few simple ways. None requires special equipment.
Can you explain it without looking?
Close the book. Explain the idea aloud, in your own words, as if you were teaching it to a younger student.
Do not worry about using impressive words. Try to make the idea clear. Where you struggle to explain something, you may have found a part that needs more attention.
Can you solve a different problem?
If you can solve a question with one set of numbers, try changing the numbers. Then try applying the same idea in a different situation.
If you can solve only the exact question you saw in the textbook, you may have learnt the pattern without fully understanding the idea behind it.
Can you spot an error?
Look at a worked solution that contains a mistake and try to find it.
Following a correct solution is one thing. Understanding each step well enough to recognise an incorrect one is another.
Can you connect it to something else?
Where does this idea appear in everyday life, in another chapter or in another subject?
Understanding often becomes stronger when you can connect one idea to another.
Do you know its limits?
Most ideas and formulas work under particular conditions. Can you explain when a formula applies and when it does not?
Knowing the limits of an idea is part of understanding it.
None of these is a perfect test. But together, they give you a much better picture of your learning than simply saying, "I read it three times."
Why this matters more now
For a long time, remembering information and reproducing it accurately were important parts of doing well in examinations.
They still matter. A student cannot reason well about a subject without knowing something about it.
But the world around education is changing.
A search engine can find information in seconds. An AI assistant can produce a fluent explanation or solve a textbook-style problem almost immediately.
That does not make knowledge unimportant. In fact, you need knowledge to recognise when an answer is incomplete, misleading or wrong.
What becomes especially valuable is the ability to understand an idea well enough to ask a useful question, examine an answer and apply what you know in a new situation.
That is why I keep returning to the same advice.
In Good Questions Matter More Now, I wrote about the importance of asking the right questions.
In Learn the Basics Before the Tools, I argued that tools are most useful when you understand what lies underneath them.
And in Use AI as a Mentor, Not an Answer Machine, I suggested using AI to support your thinking rather than doing all the thinking for you.
These ideas are connected.
A student who understands a subject can use technology more thoughtfully. They can question an answer, recognise a possible mistake and decide what needs checking.
India's education system is moving in this direction
This is not just an idea about how individual students should study.
India's National Education Policy 2020 calls for a shift away from rote learning towards conceptual understanding, critical thinking and competency-based assessment.
The policy also envisages changes in how students are assessed, with greater attention to whether they can use what they have learnt.
As part of this direction, the National Assessment Centre, PARAKH, was established within NCERT in February 2023. Its responsibilities include developing assessment standards and supporting competency-based assessment.
These are important steps, but they do not mean that every examination has already changed. Students still face different examination patterns, and many continue to require careful preparation for conventional written papers.
The policy direction is worth noting. The practical challenge is to bring that direction into classrooms and everyday learning.
You can read more about PARAKH at NCERT.
Do both
So what should a student actually do?
The honest answer is: work on both understanding and examination performance.
They are not enemies. In fact, they can support each other.
Understand the idea first.
Spend time on the concept before trying to memorise the final answer. Work through examples. Ask why a method works. Try explaining it in your own words.
When ideas are connected, remembering them often becomes easier.
Then practise the examination.
An examination is also a skill. It has a format, a time limit and expectations about how answers should be presented.
Practise past papers under timed conditions. Learn how to organise your answers, manage your time and show your working clearly.
Understanding a subject does not automatically teach you how to complete a three-hour paper.
Use your mistakes.
After each practice paper, do not look only at the mark. Go through the errors.
Was it a careless slip? A gap in knowledge? A misunderstanding? Did you know the method but choose the wrong approach?
Each answer gives you a better idea of what to practise next.
Do not leave everything until the end.
Trying to cover an entire syllabus in the final few days leaves little time to understand, practise and revisit difficult topics.
Short, regular study sessions, with opportunities to recall what you learnt earlier, are often more useful than relying entirely on last-minute revision.
I would not say that understanding guarantees high marks. It does not. Examinations have their own demands, and students need to prepare for them.
But understanding gives you a stronger foundation than memorising answers alone.
A word to parents and teachers
Students pay attention to what we reward.
If the only question we ask after an examination is, "How many marks did you get?", we should not be surprised when marks become the main goal.
And if students are constantly compared with their classmates, some may begin hiding the things they do not understand.
Try asking a second question as well.
"What did you find interesting in this chapter?"
"Is there anything that still confuses you?"
"Can you explain one thing you learnt today?"
You do not need to be an expert in the subject. Listening to a student explain an idea can be a useful way to encourage them to organise their own understanding.
For teachers, there is a similar opportunity in the classroom.
Alongside questions that test recall, ask students why something happens or what might change if one condition were different. Occasionally, ask them to explain their reasoning aloud.
These conversations can reveal where students are confident and where they need help. They also send a message that understanding matters, not just the final answer.
And when a student's marks are disappointing, look at the paper together before reaching a conclusion about the student.
The answers and working often show where to begin.
Try this
Pick one chapter you are studying this week.
Read it once. Then close the book and spend ten minutes trying the following:
- Write down everything you can remember, without looking.
- Explain the main idea aloud in your own words, as if to a younger student.
- Make up one question about the topic that is not in the textbook, and try to answer it.
Then open the book and check.
Use a different colour to mark the points you missed or got wrong. Do not just correct them. Try to understand why you missed them.
Come back to those points the next day and try recalling them again.
Do this with one chapter over a week. If you can, compare the result with another chapter that you studied mainly by rereading.
You are not trying to prove that one method is always better. You are learning to notice which methods help you remember and understand.
In my first essay, Bring a Rough Idea, I asked you to bring a rough idea.
This time, bring a chapter that you can explain without looking.
Marks will tell others how you performed in an examination.
Understanding will help you decide what you can do with what you have learnt.