Why You Must Read Questions Before Answering

Answering questions without carefully reading them can be a costly mistake, not just in exams but in life too. This simple yet profound cause and effect is often overlooked, yet it can have significant consequences. Anyone who jumps to answer questions nobody is genuinely asking is a fool. Similarly, anyone who starts answering a question without fully understanding it is an idiot. If you don’t read the question, you don’t have a reason to answer—it’s that straightforward.

A Classic Example from an Exam

There's a famous example of an exam that had a final instruction to put down the pencil and leave. The reason? This instruction was hidden among the other detailed ones. Students who hurried through the instructions and didn't read carefully ended up taking a test they didn't need to, while those who read everything carefully didn’t have to waste their time on the exam. This teaches us a valuable lesson: Always read the questions or instructions before proceeding.

Practical Examples from Personal Experience

Personal experiences back up the importance of reading questions. On Quora, I've started answering questions without carefully reading them, only to realize later that my answer was not relevant or even incorrect after re-reading the question. This underscores the significance of pausing, reading, and comprehending the question fully before responding.

Importance of Relevance and Context

Reading questions before answering is crucial to ensuring your response is relevant and engaging. A relevant answer provides value to the reader, engages them, and helps them understand the topic better. By doing so, we collectively help to enrich each other's knowledge and lives. When we share our experiences or knowledge while answering a question, we aim to provide comprehensive information that is not only helpful to the original poster (OP) but also to other readers interested in the topic.

Examples of Common Irrelevant Answers

Some common habits, as noted by Quora moderators, lead to irrelevance in answers. These habits include using answers as an opportunity to vent about personal grievances or to seek validation through constant self-aggrandizement. For instance, writing answers to achieve personal validation or bragging about oneself can detract from the value of the response and go against the purpose of sharing knowledge on platforms like Quora.

To avoid these pitfalls, always take the time to understand the question fully and provide a thoughtful, relevant, and engaging response. Doing so not only helps the OP but also adds value to the communal knowledge base. By focusing on relevance and context, we can make our contributions more meaningful and impactful.

Keywords: Relevance, reading questions, context, Question and Answer platforms, Quora