[analog31]

When I was an adjunct (EE and Math), it was widely known amongst all of the teachers, that the student evaluation scores were primarily a measure of what grades the students expected. And I had to ask myself: If I were a student again, why would I adopt any other strategy?

[lazyant]

I don't remember if it was a formal study but somebody has asked students at the beginning of the course what grade they _think_ they'll get and at the end it fit very well. Basically all students try to make a particular grade with the least effort, since that's what they are incentivized to do.

[analog31]

Indeed, since the evaluations are handed out before the final grades are tabulated, they can only be based on expected grades. But expected grades are still a better performance metric than a coin toss.