Free Riding for Exam Review

Last night my friend sent me a text asking me to clarify the exam review procedures for a class she is in. Dave (the professor) gives the class three options for what they will do for the class before the exam. All options depend on how many people Slack him a question the day before the review class. The first option is when 9 or less people send in a question. In this case the 9 (or fewer) respondents get an immediate A on the exam and therefore do not have to take it. As for everyone else, he assumes that the material is too easy and will then create a harder exam. If exactly 10 people send him questions then those 10 people will get the exam exemption and in class they will review those topics sent in, the exam remains at the same difficulty as originally planned. And the third option is if more than 10 people send questions. All questions are then entertained in class, no exam exemptions are given, and the exam is at the original difficulty.

The class has 321 students, therefore these procedures produce a massive free-rider problem when it comes to exam review. On a typical lecture day only about half the class shows up for lecture. Therefore if only 3% of the class cares enough to send in a question, the rest of the class benefits with an easier test and a review session, especially those who do not show up to lecture regularly. Dave could minimize the free-riding by either not holding the review lecture or meeting individually with students in office hours, which may become too time consuming if a lot of people ask questions.