It's the inability to follow verbal instructions that is really killing me. I gave an exam recently, and to help the students succeed, I showed them the instructions (but not the prompts) in advance. They were also included on the slides I uploaded to our LMS. I also told them they would need a blue book, showed them pictures of blue books, listed 5 places to buy them (they are $0.40 at the on-campus bookstore), and explained the purpose of using them.

On exam day, from a student who was 10 minutes late, who was in class the day I explained all of this: "What's a blue book?"

Another student, who has been present in every class: "Why didn't you tell us we would need to know which readings said what on the exam?"

Me: "I did tell you! Multiple times throughout the semester! I also showed you the exam instructions, which said the same thing! It is also on the LMS!"

My current attitude about it is just stoicism. I will help them as much as I can, but if they literally ignore the words that come out of my mouth, that is not my fault or my problem.