SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic says that making a mistake while acting usually costs less than staying passive, because inaction lets problems grow and opportunities pass. The examiner expects the essay to show the hidden costs of inaction in business, policy, climate and personal life, while distinguishing calculated risk from recklessness and showing how good systems learn from errors.
ThesisErrors made while acting can be corrected and learnt from, but the costs of inaction compound silently, so societies should reward calculated risk-taking and build systems that learn from failure.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Economy: firms that avoid disruptive change to protect existing products often lose entire markets
- 2Climate: delaying action on emissions raises the eventual cost of both mitigation and damages
- 3Science: failed experiments and launches provide the data that make later success possible
- 4Governance: a risk-averse bureaucracy that fears audits may avoid decisions, costing citizens services and projects
- 5Individual: regret for chances not taken often lasts longer than regret for honest failures
- 6Limits: in areas like nuclear safety or medicine, being wrong can be catastrophic, so caution is sometimes the wiser action
Counter-view
- Some argue that reckless action causes greater harm than patient waiting, citing failed policies rushed through. The essay should accept this and frame the point as calculated, reversible action with feedback, not haste, while noting that inaction is itself a decision with costs
Open and close
- Open: Begin with ISRO scientists watching their first SLV-3 rocket fall into the Bay of Bengal in 1979, and the decision to try again rather than abandon the programme
- Close: Conclude that a nation which forgives honest mistakes and punishes only negligence will act boldly enough to grow
Where marks usually go
- Glorifying recklessness and ignoring areas where errors are irreversible
- Forgetting that 'doing nothing' is itself a choice with measurable costs
- Staying with motivational career advice and missing policy and economic examples
Examples that fit
- DataThe Stern Review estimated that unchecked climate change could cost at least 5% of global GDP each year, against about 1% for strong early action.Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change (2006)
- CaseA Kodak engineer built an early digital camera in 1975, but the company was slow to embrace digital and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012.Kodak corporate history; US Bankruptcy Court filing (2012)
- HistoryIndia's first SLV-3 launch failed in 1979, but ISRO learnt from it and placed Rohini in orbit with the next launch in 1980.Indian Space Research Organisation, SLV-3 mission history
- ThinkerTheodore Roosevelt praised 'the man in the arena' who errs and strives over the critic who never acts, in a 1910 speech at the Sorbonne.'Citizenship in a Republic' speech (1910), Theodore Roosevelt