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If you’re going to make strict rules, you probably want to make sure there aren’t any loopholes.

One college student had a professor who graded formatting just as seriously as the actual writing.

After the professor said anyone who followed his instructions exactly would get full credit, the student decided to take him at his word.

He found a few gaps in the rules and used them to make his next paper look completely ridiculous without technically breaking anything.

Then, when the professor took points off, the student challenged him in front of the class and got the points back.

Read on to see how it all played out.

My professor said follow the formatting rules exactly or lose points, so I did

This was sophomore year, some gen ed English class I only took because I needed the credit. My professor, I will just call him Dr. H, was known across the whole department for being insane about formatting.

Not the normal MLA or APA stuff. He had his own extra rules stapled onto the syllabus on top of that. Font, margins, spacing, where the page numbers had to go, all graded completely separate from the actual writing.

About three weeks into the semester, someone asked what happens if you do not follow the formatting rules exactly. He said, word for word, because I wrote it down out of spite, that if you follow his instructions exactly as written, you get full formatting credit, no exceptions, no partial credit for close enough.

Cool. Noted.

He went all in on the formatting.

So that weekend, I actually read the formatting section of the syllabus line by line instead of skimming it like everyone else did. Two things jumped out.

First, it said the title needs to be centered. It never said what the title had to say, just that it had to be centered. Second, it said your name needs to appear in the header. It never said how many times.

For the next essay, my title was just the word “Essay,” centered, huge font because there was no size limit listed either. My header had my name in it eleven separate times because technically, that still satisfies “your name needs to appear in the header.”

I also put page numbers on every single page, including a blank works cited page that had nothing on it except the number seven.

When he got it back, points had been docked.

Turned it in feeling pretty proud of myself, honestly.

Got it back, and he had docked me formatting points with a note that just said, “Unprofessional presentation.”

Next class, I raised my hand and asked him to point to the specific rule I had broken. He couldn’t, because I hadn’t broken a single one. I had just followed them further than anyone expected anyone to.

The professor was so annoyed that he closed every loophole.

Then I brought up his own quote from a few weeks earlier, in front of the whole room.

He was obviously annoyed but couldn’t argue with his own words without looking ridiculous in front of 40 people, so I got the points back.

By the next essay, the formatting section of the syllabus had basically doubled in length, and every loophole I used was individually closed.

10/10 would exploit a poorly written rule again.

Wow. Now, that’s how you commit to the bit.

Let’s check out if the folks over at Reddit have ever done anything similar.

This reader is not impressed with professors like that.

Yep, rent-free!

Here’s someone who feels sorry for the professor.

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There’s no doubt.

He really walked right into this one.

The professor was taking the formatting rules way too seriously, but the student definitely took it to another level.

The big question is why waste so much time trying to prove a point when you could have just done the assignment and moved on?

Sure, he got his points back, but it still feels like a lot of effort for something that really wasn’t that serious.