That’s a good general idea: include, in the directions, the consequence should the directions not be followed.
I think I’d do it like this:
These 5 questions can earn you 60 points. You only need to answer 3. If you answer 3 questions, each correct answer earns 20 points. If you answer 4 questions, each correct answer earns 15 points. If you answer 5 questions, each correct answer earns 12 points.
But that is much more work for the person grading the exams (sorting + math), and it encourages the students to answer five, not three, as the penalty for missing one of three is 20 points, but the penalty for missing one of five is only 12 points.
[rant/] And they can’t even spell my name right! Which is in full on every single one of the lectures! [/rant]
Consequences for failure to follow directions being included in the directions is an excellent idea.
It’s not in an instructional setting, but I’m currently dealing with one 20-year-old who can’t or won’t follow directions. Currently, I’m trying to drive the point home by repetition: keep doing the job until you get it right. In his case, the job is laying a 10-foot square of paving blocks so that they’re both square and even. In the case of a class? I might be tempted to make a similar point with an academic assignment, early in the semester.
Very shortly after handing out the syllabus, give a bullshit assignment - maybe one of those timed tests with 25 questions, with the instructions to read through the entire test first, with the last question being “sign your name at the top, turn the otherwise-blank page over, and sit quietly until the time is up.” “Grade” the assignment quickly - walk around, look at the paper, accept it if it’s correct. If it’s wrong, say “try again,” and refuse to accept it. Take 10% off the grade each time it’s wrong. Make that a small portion of the overall grade - like a homework assignment vs. a test, or however you grade, but it still counts. Sure, it’s an entire class period maybe, but you won’t have to repeat yourself for the entire semester. Perhaps your method will make you notorious around campus, and you won’t have to spend an entire session in coming years.
It could work!
I’m a “but why?”, but let me add another one from the last time I went to school, as an adult, paying-my-own-way student:
“You have to do things this way because [wrong assumption]”.
For example, one which we got from all but one of the teachers (thanks, Raquel) “you have to do things this way because none of you has any professional experience at all”… in a class in which over 20% of the students had at least two years (and, in one case, three decades) of professional experience. If you’re making a set of rules for “people without experience”, make a different set for those who have it, ok? OR, don’t tell people that the reason they have to do things this way is their “lack of experience” when some of them do have experience!
If the person giving me instructions is dumb enough to make an assumption that’s clearly and evidently wrong and to base their instructions on it, my instantaneous deduction is that their instructions are worth less than used toilet paper (this last one can be composted).
They don’t follow instructions because few people in their lives have had the heart to not shield them from the consequences of failing to do so. They assume that if an instruction is important, someone will hit them over the head with it until it sinks in, not just type it on a piece of paper or post it on a website. Generally, there IS a lot of unnecessary text that just repeats things you already know, plus we all subconsciously try to tune out advertising, so have become accustomed to ignoring a lot of stuff that is trying to get our attention.
Overconfidence is another part of the problem. Although I am good at following directions, I generally skim them once, then read the first in detail, follow it, check back to confirm, read the next, etc., because I don’t trust that I will remember it properly and am fully aware that I may have spaced out somewhere along the way. A lot of people think looking at directions is a sign that they are not smart enough to figure out what to do without them, so glance at them once or not at all, screw up, and - this is key - somehow do not mentally file this as a failure on their part which could easily be prevented next time, instead blaming the direction-writer, unfair circumstances, a learning disability (which can certainly make things more difficult, but is a reason to search for successful strategies, not to dismiss even the possibility of success), or forgetting the incident entirely.
People who are “not good at following directions” could see this as a reason to read the directions more carefully, recheck them, ask others to confirm for them that they have understood them correctly, rewrite the directions for themselves in their own words, etc., but they are not motivated to do so, because being spoon-fed is easier.
I would strongly recommend it.
It doesn’t sound like your problems are with badly written instructions; so you have to consider next, are they poorly organized, or poorly formatted?
Those jokes about instructions that say in footnotes, in 4 pt. font, “Sign your name and leave”? They are both.
As a professional, I give written instructions five minutes, tops. If I cannot find the information by using the table of contents or by scanning the document, I complain. (But I work in an industry in which inadequate instructions are a violation of regulations, most of which are poorly organized.)
People don’t read. That’s why they push when it clearly says “PULL” and stand there dumbfounded at an “Out Of Order” sign.
You are teaching adults, make it clear to them that you will be treating them as adults and you will not be holding their hands. If the directions include “read the test to the end before you start answering questions” and they don’t? Fail. If you write “Answer only THREE of the FIVE questions” and they don’t? Fail.
Survival of the fittest. If they can’t follow simple directions, they need to GTFO.