Saying "I dont know" helps

My vivas got over today, it was the last viva of my engineering career. Man, what a joke it is. Its the same thing every year. The college gets over a few days before the vivas. Students buy books, get mass-xeroxs on the last day of college and start studying one day before the viva. They flood the corridor outisde the viva lab and wait for the first batch of students to come out after their viva and ask for reviews. The reviews range from "Arey external sahi cool banda hai" to "Abbe sala kholke maar raha hai".

Over the past four years Ive learnt that there are three kinds of people. Firstly there are people who are god-sent techies, true engineers. Second come those who are not techies but somehow manage to read 5 reference books inside out and say things like "Arey that answer is in the 3rd para of page 384 of that ref book". Thirdly we have people who dont study a thing and dont give a damn too. The external can also be of two types: one who asks direct questions from the book and second who asks random "general" questions which you will never find in the books you read. These 5 types of students and profs can make some interesting combinations. If the prof is asking direct questions, the first and the second kinds get away while the third gets screwed. If the prof asks "general questions" only the first kind (sometimes even the third) survives.

I certainly dont come under the first category. I am partly second(say 40%) partly third(60%). If the prof asks very direct basic questions i am saved but if high funda techinal ones are asked I am screwed. One bad thing about me, I never say "I dont know". Ill put in my maximum creativity and come up with my own invented answer. This can be good or bad depending on the prof. Some profs appreciate your creativity but some "jealous ones" dont.

Recently I tried creating my own solution for a link breakage problem in a ring topology network in an IEEE 802.5 LAN and the external says with a smirk on her face "you are just throwing things, its a technical subject, dont guess". I felt like throwing things at her..literally. Why dont they encourage creativity? So what if the answer is absurd. Every scientist's first try was absurd. This way I end up getting less than my partner who never opens his mouth. I guess someone has truly said: "Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish". From now on ill try my best to say "I dont know" rather than babbling some stuff and save my creativity for other things like painting or this blog. Now I ask myself the question "Will I stop babbling crap?" I would say "I dont know":) (I do learn but dont change so easily)

P.S
May 17th, 1310 hours;

I just finished studying that chapter of LANs from two different reference books and I found out that my "creative" answer to that linkage problem is very much possible (acc to the book Leon Garcia). And all I get for this creativity is some stupid criticism.. #$%£$*