'If we all agree to this, then we can all get perfect scores': Professor with bizarre grading policy gets schooled after students game the system, giving everyone a perfect score

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Nov 12, 2023 8:00 AM EST

Imagine taking a test where the factually correct answer was irrelevant and what actually mattered was saying what the majority of the class said. This might be a fun exercise. Perhaps it could be a lesson about plurality and group decision-making. However, facts should matter, and just because the majority of the students in a class may think that the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1776, that doesn't make it true. Just in case you're curious, the Constitution was devised in 1787, ratified in 1788, and adopted in 1789, but I digress…

Teachers like this with bizarre grading policies may be entertaining themselves, but they are not doing their students any favors. At the end of the day, their knowledge of the material is ultimately beholden to the knowledge and intelligence of their peers, which is obviously unfair. After all, there could be some total morons in that class.

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  • 01
    TENING SECT "For every question, we are going to choose the first option" L 0000 0000 000 0000 0000 VOOO 0000
    via Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu

  • This thread was posted to Reddit's r/MaliciousCompliance and follows one student's determination to game the system and expose to the professor how flawed this concept is. He and his classmates got together and decided that for the next exam, they would always answer the first option (the test was entirely multiple choice or True/False questions). Once the professor caught on, he was forced the rethink the effectiveness of his grading policy. 

    Keep scrolling below for the full story from OP's perspective and for the best reactions from folks in the comments section. For more stories like this, feel free to take a look at this compilation of stories from children of Karens.

  • 02
    I organized a rebellion against the professor in my Political Science class L OC This was about 10+ years ago when I had returned to the local university to finish my bachelor's degree in Political Science.
    via u/phetish23
  • 03
    The Preface: I was a "non-traditional" student so I was a little older and little more willing to question things. I was taking a 3000 level Political Science course so it designed was for PoliSci majors and was required for my PoliSci degree.
    via u/phetish23
  • 04
    It was a fairly basic Political Science course but the professor did some weird things. Specifically, there was a quiz every class over the assigned reading. These quizzes made up a significant part of the grade.
    via u/phetish23
  • 05
    But here's the tricky part: He seemed to be doing some sort of experiment with the "wisdom of crowds".1
    via u/phetish23
  • 06
    The Setup: The "correct" answer for a quiz question was the answer that was given by the most students in the class (a plurality) - whether it was based in fact or not. Whatever the most students said was the answer was the "correct" answer.
    via u/phetish23
  • 07
    For example: if the question was "What year was the US Constitution ratified?" Even thought he factually correct answer would 1789, if the majority of people chose 1776, then 1776 was the "right" answer and you got credit for your answer. If you chose 1789, you were "wrong" and didn't get credit.
    via u/phetish23
  • 08
    This forced you to make a decision: try to be factually accurate or try to figure out what the crowd was going to do and go with that. Neither guaranteed you a correct answer. 2
    via u/phetish23
  • 09
    The majority of the time, the majority of students would actually choose the factually correct answer. But if it was a common misconception, or the question was poorly worded, then that could lead to a situation where the "crowd" was wrong.
    via u/phetish23
  • 10
    But here's what drove me nuts... 1. I was not willing to make my grade dependent on whatever the other students thought might be the correct answer.
    via u/phetish23
  • 11
    2. My grade became dependent on conforming to what the crowd said was "true". I had no real control over my grade since the "wisdom" of the crowd could be anything.
    via u/phetish23
  • 12
    3. A class of 30 students was probably not a large enough crowd to give you a good example of the "wisdom of crowds".
    via u/phetish23
  • 13
    4. Learning the material was not the point. Conforming to the crowd was what got you a good grade.
    via u/phetish23
  • 14
    Cue Malicious Compliance... and rebellion. I figured out that if we all agreed to choose the same answer for every question then we could all guarantee ourselves a perfect score on the quiz. In reality, I only needed a plurality of people to go along with my plan. As long as I could muster enough "votes" for an answer, then we could control our destiny.
    via u/phetish23
  • 15
    It didn't matter if "A" was the correct answer or not. If we controlled the votes, we controlled our grades. And anyone who didn't go with us, they were going to fail regardless of if their answer was actually correct or not.
    via u/phetish23
  • 16
    I met everyone at the door to the classroom and explained the plan: "For every question, we are going to choose the first option. If it's multiple choice, it's option 'A'. If it's True/False, we are choosing 'true'. If we all agree to this, then we can all get perfect scores. If you decide to go against us, your answer will be wrong." 3
    via u/phetish23
  • 17
    The first class we did this, the professor figured out after a few questions that we were gaming the system. He had us redo the quiz and graded us on the factually correct answers.
    via u/phetish23
  • 18
    After the second class we did this, the professor changed the rules: There were 2 answers that would get you full points - the factually correct answer, and whatever answer the majority agreed upon.
    via u/phetish23
  • 19
    Results In the end, I was OK with this arrangement. I could study and give the correct answer without being penalized for not conforming to the crowd thinking, or if I made the same mistake as the majority of people then I still got credit for it and it was a good discussion point for the class.
    via u/phetish23
  • 20
    Yes, I got an A in the class. I'm not sure if the professor ever figured out who organized the rebellion... but I did end up working with him in grad school and we got along just fine.
    via u/phetish23
  • 21
    Afterward I always wondered... Did he do this to teach us about the power of grass roots organizing? It might not have been his intention, but he turned me into a leader even though I never wanted to be one. I organized a campaign to overthrow bad leadership and we created a new regime where truth and discourse were both valued. And we learned that a plurality of voters can determine the path forward even if they are not the majority.
    via u/phetish23
  • 22
    PS- this whole scheme was flawed and subject to the "Tyranny of the Majority". I'm not sure how he didn't see this... it seems pretty basic to me. 1 - Or maybe he was trying to teach us about game theory. I never did figure that out.
    via u/phetish23
  • 23
    2 - And let's be honest, if you knew the right answer, trying to figure out what the majority of people would do is a losing proposition. You knew the answer, so trying to figure out how the majority of people could get a question wrong forced you to think opposite to what got you to the correct answer in the first place.
    via u/phetish23
  • 24
    3 - Not 100% accurate but close enough. In a sense we were randomizing the correct answers, so anyone who wasn't going along with our plan could really only hope for 25-30% correct answers assuming that the the distribution of factual answers was random.
    via u/phetish23
  • 25
    madmartigan21. 50 min. ago That would have driven me up the wall. That's like taking what should be individual work and mixing in all the worst parts of group projects. Good for you for taking a stand and exploiting the system!
    via u/phetish23
  • 26
    JanB1 - 43 min. ago Okay, that was a really interesting read, thank you for that one! I wonder if this was really a experiment by the prof, because if it was, why force you to retake that first exam? And why adjust the rules afterwards?
    via u/phetish23
  • 27
    SavvySillybug. 25 min. ago That is a very confusing thing to do if you make grades depend on it. If it's a fun quiz for fun and science then yeah sure make the rules like that. But if it's for grades, you're just actively punishing people for learning the correct answers. Good compliance. Love this. But it baffles me that you had to do it to begin with.
    via u/phetish23
  • 28
    chocolate chip_kirsy. 16 min. ago I would have either asked him directly what his reasoning for this was, or dropped the class. Either way, I would have probably gone over his head to protest a class where this was being done.
    via u/phetish23
  • 29
    HockeyFan_32 - 22 min. ago You discovered the microcosm of politics in that class!
    via u/phetish23

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school students malicious compliance malicious-compliance-reddit loophole grades Professors test School of FAIL reddit thread Reddit college college student exams
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