This is a difference in cognition types. Concrete thinkers think facts are knowledge, abstract thinkers model systems in their mind so they can predict facts.

This is a difference in cognition types. Concrete thinkers think facts are knowledge, abstract thinkers model systems in their mind so they can predict facts. Almost all of our teaching and testing is for concrete thinkers, but the gulf between the two is enormous. As an abstract thinker, I can't remember facts. I have to know why something works the way it does. Interviews are very difficult for me. I either hit an abstract t thinker and look like a genius, or a concrete and look like an idiot.