I Call Shenanigans

Just to give you a fair warning, this is going to be a post in which I'm bitching about how something is unfair. In my defense, I think it really IS unfair. However, if you don't care, then move along.

I got my math exam back today. I was expecting a pretty good grade; there were 8 problems, and I figured I'd gotten 7 of them right, and a good bit of the last. I think it's pretty clear from the title that a good grade is not what I received.

Lets look at the one that I figured I didn't get completely. It was a substitution problem, and I knew I didn't have it all done. But I got the first part of it. And that was validated, because the grade wrote "close" by the part I had. Then gave me a 0/3. Nothing, at all, for being close. This is coming after the professor said that she was making it not multiple choice, so that she could give partial credit.

So yes, 0/3. And that leads to the other big problem, which is that the problems were all out of 2 or 3 points, so even if I did something tiny wrong at the end, I'd lose either 33 or 66% of that problem. Number 1, I went through all 8 steps correctly, on the 9th and final step, I forgot a t. Clearly correct in each step above. Because of the error in the last line, I got a 50% on that problem. Next one, there were 6 parts. Find 3 points, and then classify. I found all 3, classified one correctly, and flipped the other two classifications when I wrote them down. From my markings on the graph, it's easy to tell I understood but wrote them down wrong. Even so, and taking away full credit for both ones I flipped, I got 4 of the 6 parts right, so should get 2/3 points, right? Nope, I got 1 point, because each of the parts I got wrong was half a point, and they both rounded up. One problem seven, there were 5 answers to classify true or false, I got 4 of the 5 right. But it was only worth 2 points, so I got 50% on that one. And with the last problem, it was a story problem. I detailed out the drawing, translated it into an equation, a correct one. There was one step at the end which she didn't specify that was needed, which was to replace W with Winitial - 3 gal/min. I Put in W instead of 50 gal, (as it was on the in class review) because I knew it would change. But, she wanted that extra step. And so by not doing that last step, after doing everything correctly, I got a 50% on that one.

All the problems added together were 20 points. Had they each been worth 5 times more, 100 points, and I could lose points percentage wize, I'd have given myself an 80. Because we could only lose points in chucks of 5%, I got a 12/20, or a 60%. I call shenanigans, and I'm considering dropping the class. Right now it will be an incomplete (equivalent to a widthdraw), which won't impact my GPA. I can try to take it again next semester, or possibly over the summer online. This isn't material I will be using for my career, so I couldn't care less if I understand it, I just need the grade. The problem is that even with understanding it, this professor is going to fail me.