Can this question possibly belong to the exam?

I can’t possibly produce an excerpt from this post without actually quoting the whole… You should go read this wonderful letter at Adventures in Ethics and Science. Especially if you ever had students asking questions about the exam that you could not imagine were actual or relevant questions but hopelessly designed to get bits if not the whole expected answer. A really good read, unfortunately reminding teachers the worst situation ever: when students realise they will regret their own decisions about what was important to know the big day and what wasn’t…

I suspect, from your crestfallen look, that you are now rethinking the cost-benefit analysis that led you to skip that lecture and those reading assignments.

It’s sad but you can’t possibly do more at this time. My latest crispation was students asking me, with regard to a distance from place X, whether the starting point was 0 or 20 (meters -that is, which ends of the graph does place X stand?). Hey, a senior is expected to know better!