The Proverbial "Box"

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People are always saying "Think outside the box!", especially if you are a student. However, I have noticed, and it has been remarked upon by others, that I have no trouble thinking outside the box. I have trouble finding this 'box' that everyone keeps referring to, and it is extremely difficult to conform to the dimensions of said 'box' when it is expected of me. Needless to say, this gives me trouble in school, when rote assignments take me forever, and creative assignments barely feel like work.

Has anyone else run into this issue?
If so, can you share some stories of situations where this came into play, or possible coping techniques?

The perceived prejudices, which are supposedly hold you back.

When I'm supposed to be brooding, my thought processes are very, very simple.

I'm pretty sure that "thinking outside the box" refers to "considering factors other than those conveyed by previous experience, culture, and habit". I find it far easier to do than most people apparently do, possibly because I haven't got too much of a tendency to absorb the culture around me.

It can backfire, though. It often does. I find myself frustrated at multiple-choice tests, unable to figure out which the "right" answer should be even though the question is easy and I know more about the subject than most of the other students. (I'm not unusually intelligent for a college student but I am older than most of the other students, so I've had more time to learn.) The trouble with multiple choice exams is that I don't just see the obvious angle, the one that usually contains the answer; I see all the other possible angles too, and more often than not one or more of them points to another of the answers as possibly correct. When I can't tell the difference, I get stuck, pop out of my seat, pace, mutter to myself, generally try to think out which answer the professor meant me to consider "right"... Thankfully, I get a tiny private testing room, or I would have to stay in my seat and stew about the test, getting more and more frustrated and not finishing the test.

I prefer essay exams or short-answer tests. They require more intensive study to answer correctly, but they also remove that ambiguity that causes me so much frustration on a multiple-choice test.