Re: It's a waste of time...
praguepride--I don't know if it's any comfort, but here is a story from my distant past (high school).
In my junior year, we took US history, and our tests came every week and consisted of 30 multiple choice questions and your choice of answering 1 long essay (2 pages) out of 5 question choices or 2 short essays (1 page each) out of a different set of 5 questions.
So, as the school year progressed, it became increasingly obvious that our teacher was not actually reading the essays. We would turn in the scantron sheets with our 30 questions first, then write the essays, and he'd leave the room, run the machine and then start putting everyone's initials and number correct on the board. Several of my classmates really started pushing the envelope--writing things like "if you read this I'll buy you a Coke" or writing out lyrics to songs, and so forth. I kept on writing real essay answers figuring that it was possible he was sampling an essay here or there, or would get time to read them all.
Well, of course, we had a test right before a long weekend, and he did get time to read all the essays. I was the only one in the class who got my full points for the essays. Writing real essay answers (as if I expected them to be read) kept me sharp enough to write good answers when it did count.