LOL! (or should that be cry out loud?) I have the same experience almost daily. "Will this be in the exam?"
This is a blatant generalisation, but it seems to me that no-one wants to *learn* anymore, they simply want to maximise their mark, and they want you to tell them how - heaven forbid you send them packing to the library for some self-directed learning (that's not how you get good teaching evaluations).
God knows what they think is going to happen when they get a paid job: "Right Simpson. Our big client has a real tricky problem here, and we need to solve it. Not to worry though, they know the answer, and if you hound them enough they'll tell you what it is."....
James.