The question is not a failure of curiosity, it is an accurate reading of the incentives. Students are being assessed, time is limited, and asking what counts is rational behaviour in a system that rewards the tested and ignores the rest. The question describes the design rather than the student.

If it irritates you, look at what your assessment actually rewards. Where you can, examine the things you want people to care about. And if you are the student, it is worth spending a small, deliberate portion of your time on what will not be tested, since nothing else will make you.