My First (Un)Learning at Indian School of Business

As I sat through the first few lectures of my MBA, trying to learn concepts of accounting and economics, I could not help but notice, that every time the professor introduced a new concept, the first question that came to my mind was how(in which form) can this concept be asked in an exam.

Sadly, this is must be true for a large part of my cohort. A batchmate asked the professor out of the 2 approaches taught, which would fetch him more marks in the exam. We have been tuned to learn things from the perspective of getting marks in exams. Simple math equation at play here, relating an Input(learning in class) to an Output(Exam results), what I have always tried to do is maximize the output with the minimum input. Even though I have succeeded a few times, my Input(learning) has rarely been used for any other Output like practical applications.

So, here is my first learning, I had to Unlearn the Input(learning in class) Output(Exam results) equation. Instead of learning to get marks, I am trying to understand things from a first principle basis. This approach has been quite counter-intuitive to me, as there is no immediate Output here, no instant gratification. All I am hoping is I'll be able to retain this knowledge been imparted and use it when the correct problem shows up(Delayed Gratification).