Sir, we write in response to a recent paper on understanding the personality traits of dental students and creating a supportive student culture.1 We totally agree that certain personality traits tend to correlate with academic and clinical success through the various stages of educational experience of a student in a professional programme. Moreover, we would like to further highlight how certain personality traits affect the learning of an individual.

Personality traits can be articulated through different learning styles (auditory, visual, read/write, kinaesthetic) which facilitate a student for better understanding and learning, aiming to achieve the desirable learning outcomes or goals. Conscientiousness is also associated with work discipline, generating interest in the subject, attentiveness and considering studying as relatively easy.2 Students using the planned approach are good at work organisation, time management and believe in putting hard work in their studies as they have already set clear goals. Openness is linked to critical thinking, analysing problems, a logistical approach and correlating along with building on their existing knowledge. Students with this trait are self-motivated, focussed on their self-development and they look for personal comprehension independent of the programme syllabus.3

Neuroticism is associated with a lack of attentiveness, anxiety of failure and experiencing studying as always stressful. It can be linked to the surface learning style which focusses on mugging-up and memorising content without any understanding as the main concern is to only pass the examination.3,4Hence, personality traits play a major role in the overall development and academic performance of a professional student.