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What is an end of a year exam to you? An indicator of your performance as a student? A chance to show off what you know? A meaningless waste of 2 hours answering questions that insults your intelligence? A way to prove to your teachers that you were paying attention during lectures? A ticket to your 'A' grade?

A common student tend to view an exam as one of the above. There is nothing wrong with that. All I can hope for that the outcome of the exam is what you expected. I am a strong believer that students should get the grade they deserve. If you have been studying hard, then I'll wish you all the best in getting your 'A'. That's ultimately what an exam is all about right. An examination of what you have learnt throughout the year and appropriately applying it in answering the questions.

How about viewing an exam as a challenge? Many of you might think that the two constitute the same thing. Well, not quite. See, the result of an exam is really an indicator of what you know, whereas a challenge further test your aptness in taking what you know and using it in some cases which even may cost you your reputation.

Here is an illustration that I thought of to emphasize the meaning of a challenge. I would think of myself placed in a maze where I need to find the enemy hidden somewhere inside and eliminate him, using both my intelligence and my wits. Pure knowledge is not enough as this enemy is highly smart, being able to dodge my attacks and counter them.

Nothing comes closer in simulating such a challenge than the annual William Lowell and Putnam mathematics competition, the premiere undergraduate math competition which stresses problem solving. I work on a few problems every week and in most cases, the problems get the better of me. I rarely come up with a solution.

Yes, I do hope I improve in due time but at least working on the Putnam questions showed me the difference in treating it as an exam or as a challenge. Putnam questions are living entities. Before you can make any calculation, you need to have the right approach. But even if you think you have the right one, the questions themselves shift forms leaving you with a dead end. You then in turn must think of a counter approach if you were to have any chance of solving it.

Difficult as it may be, I guess this lies the excitement in problem solving. None of the questions are standard. Instead it test the power of the mind to think of alternative routes, and then ways to travel through the barriers in each route, to get to the answer. For those who persevere and reach that ultimate goal, he then says to himself, "Yes I defeated the enemy!"