In school, one question always floated around the room.
“Will this be on the exam?”
If the answer was no, everyone stopped listening.
We finished assignments because they were required. We studied to pass. We checked boxes, submitted outputs, and called it a day. Then we went out, played, or partied, because the work was done.
School trained us to think in tasks.
To wait for instructions.
To do only what’s graded.
Especially in graduate school, there is no "Loyalty award." "Most punctual," "Best in recitation."
Maybe that’s why so many people carry the same mindset into work and life.
We look for checklists. We wait for deadlines. We rush to finish instead of learning to grow.
It’s how the system trained us. Not to explore, but to comply.
But life outside the classroom isn’t graded the same way. There are no rubrics for growth. No medals for curiosity.
In the real world, no one hands you a score. You make your own.
So stop asking if it’s on the exam.
Do it because it’s worth learning.
Do it because it makes you better.
Because the real test never ends.