In reverse order:
Student B, along with two others at her table is doing "test corrections" by copying the work from the answer key / explanation. I walked by and looked at one problem which ended included this set of steps (among others)
y = -3/5 + -b
…
b = 2/5
I said "Look at that one again. Look at the first line. Look at the signs."
She shrugged, muttered something about originally thinking there was a negative sign but then they decided that was just a stray mark on the paper, changed the first line to
y = -3/5 + b
and otherwise ignored me.
Student A, in contrast, asked for help with the same problem ("I'm not sure how to set this one up. I've looked at the answer key but I don't know how to get that answer given the problem.")
We worked it through and got the correct answer, (b is -2/5).
I came by a little later and asked "How's it going?"
He replied: "I realized something. If you understand how to do these, they're pretty easy and you can do all of them and get an A or a B. If you don't understand how to do them, you'll get an F."
Yep.
vlbrown-mzydt 
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