Marks Are Not the Full Story

Yesterday, my first-year B.Tech results came out. I scored a 9.62 CGPA. A friend congratulated me and said, "You would have topped the class." I said, "I never topped. I was never a topper." She replied, "You are always unsatisfied. Marks are not always important."

That one line made me stop and think. Am I really running behind marks?

The answer was no.

I am not running behind marks. I am running behind doing things properly. There is a difference.

A Mark Sheet Cannot Judge a Life

A single sheet of paper cannot judge my whole life. Yes, it can change my next path. It can decide which college I go to, or which door opens next. But it cannot decide my life goals. Those are mine to decide, not a mark sheet's.

Marks also don't depend only on how hard you studied. They depend on many things you cannot control:

• how you feel on the day of the exam
• your mental state while answering the questions
• small moments of luck or bad luck inside the exam hall

Two people can prepare the exact same way and walk out with very different scores, just because of what happened in those three hours.

My Own Proof

I have proof that I don't run after marks. When I try something and it's not really my interest, and I score low, I don't feel bad. My NEET score was 200, well below average. My JEE score was 83 percentile, nothing to be proud of. I have also failed exams like Navodaya and elementary drawing exams. I have topped the class in japanese from bottom, makes me happy because I passed.

None of these results made me sad. Why? Because I never fought for them. I gave them a try, but my heart was never in it.

But here's the real test: what about the exams where I did give everything?

For those, even if the result is low, I still don't feel disappointed. Because I know I gave 100% from my side. After that, it's not in my hands anymore. It's destiny, or call it luck, or call it the situation of that day.

The MHT-CET Moment

I still remember my MHT-CET PCM attempt. At one point during the exam, I felt like I was going to fail. Not even score 90, forget 99. It was a scary moment.

Then something shifted in me. I told myself, "Fight back. Try your best." And I did.

If that moment had not come, I would not have scored 99, even after a full year of hard, consistent work. And if I had scored low that day, it would not have been because I didn't work hard. It would have been because of that one situation I could not handle in time.

Now flip the story. What if I had NOT recovered in that moment? I would have probably scored low. And people around me would have said, "He wasted a whole year. He fooled his parents." Nobody would have known about the year of hard work behind it. They would have only seen the number.

This is exactly what happens to many students every year. They work hard, truly hard, but they cannot convert that hard work into a good result because of one bad moment, one bad day, one situation they could not handle. It is not their fault. But the world only sees their marks, not their year of effort.

So What Should We Judge?

I believe we should not judge people by their marks. We should judge them by:

• the intent they had while preparing
• the honest work they put in behind the scenes
• how they handled themselves when things got hard

Marks are just one visible outcome, and outcomes are shaped by many things beyond our control. Effort and intent are the real, honest picture of a person.

What This Means for Me

This way of thinking has made me kinder towards people who score low even after working hard. I no longer see a low score and think "they didn't try." I think about the story behind it, just like my own MHT-CET moment.

I believe satisfaction should come from your effort, not from your marks or your rank. We should be happy with what we have honestly given, and simply try to be a little better than yesterday.

That, to me, is the real meaning of success.

Signing Off,
Mayur B Gund,
SY BTech CSE