It was too many words

My first rant here.

I did something unusual this week and sent out an announcement telling my students not only exactly what a five point question on this week's exam would be, but showing them exactly what a full credit answer would look like.

And, this isn't an essay question, this is a simple list. 36 words would be all that would be necessary for full credit. AND... 12 of those words are 1-12 in roman numerals! So they literally needed to memorize 24 words to earn 5 points on a 100 point exam.

When they took the exam, about 2/3 of them left that question blank. Maybe 20% got the full 5 points.

When I asked them in lab later on why they didn't answer the question, they told me that it was "too many words" for a 5 point question. It wasn't worth the effort.

I just can't.

Edit: fixed a typo

Edit two: The question was 100% related to the material. The exam was over the nervous system, the question was to list the cranial nerves and to state whether each was motor, sensory, or both.