Always include the answers in bracket

Always include the answers in brackets

Lets say you saw the markscheme of the definition of mass number:

(The sum of) number of protons and neutrons (in the nucleus)

You will probably memorize “number of protons and neutrons”. We are born to be lazy, right? But laziness isn’t an effective way in this type of definition questions.

What you memorized is the markscheme from a certain year. The same definition question you will be doing in the real exams may not have the same markscheme. It is so flexible that the next time it will appear like:

The sum of (number of) protons and neutrons (in the nucleus)

Never trust brackets! It is not an optional choice for you to skip happily. It is used to provide a fully explained definition. The next time you write a short answer, the markscheme may take the “bracket answer” out and make it compulsory. Then you will be the one who moans, “Oh god, why didn’t I memorize the full definition?”

So, don’t think it’s effective to ignore “bracket answers”!