There’s the Batman problem, and “an Elephant is in the way” problem.
I have a contribution that I’ve recreated below. Back when I was teaching for the Navy, there were many opportunities to learn “new” physics and see interesting answers (one shipmate kept a list of the various spellings of “Bremsstrahlung” found on exams; he had over 35 by the time he left), and the occasional tactic, as shown in the above links, of a student realizing he can’t answer the exam question, so some other reply is needed. Sometimes you change the question (hoping for a Kobayshi Maru-esque commendation for original thinking), and sometimes you just write something down, hoping it’s correct and praying for the gods of partial credit to save you.
There was this one student who wins the gold star for this. He had been a decent student through the first several months of nuclear power school, but then something happened and he started to flame out, spectacularly. A student could be dropped from the training only after failing two courses, among other requirements, so the fact that he had completed several classes and passed exams in the current courses meant that the trajectory was visible for a relatively long time. Passing was set at 62.5%, and he failed a couple of exams (including what I was teaching) with scores of less than 50%. Most students who failed out would at least keep up the appearance of trying, lest he be found guilty of dereliction of duty, but it was clear that tis particular student just stopped caring. On an electrical systems exam, he answered only one question: “Draw a one-line diagram of the XXXX system” (a one-line diagram is a schematic) This is what his answer looked like
He was given full points for the problem, and then booted out.
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Added 6/3: It’s not just physics. Check out this bio question
