Teacher gives student 90% for their intricate graph art, student is baffled by not receiving a perfect grade

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JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Apr 14, 2026 9:00 PM EDT

Remember when grades used to drive you insane?

As a student, grades feel like everything. It feels like your one chance to prove that you're worthy… or something. They can also feel cruelly arbitrary sometimes. You grow up being told that grades are everything. They are your ticket to your future, so you'd better start worrying about them. We're told that they determine success in our lives, and that we should do all that we can to get them as high as possible. But then you grow up and realize that grades aren't everything. Far from it. Your grades stop mattering almost as soon as you enter adulthood. It's all about how you can implement your education in a practical setting. No one cares if you were in Honors Chem in the 10th grade. But that doesn't stop you from being stressed about them for the time being. Sometimes you put your all into something and come up empty. This is never a good feeling. You want to feel like your effort is going to pay off, no matter what. We're told that if we put our whole selves into something, it will yield good results. This is generally a good rule of thumb. You get out of something what you're willing to put in. But sometimes life is unfair, and we're not properly rewarded for the good work that we do. This is especially true sometimes in school, when the grading system can be more arbitrary than we'd want it to be. 

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  • Maybe you had that one teacher who you just couldn't win over, no matter how hard you tried, and it showed up in your grades. You couldn't help but feel that they had it out for you. That's what one student was experiencing here after they put an insane amount of work into their math assignment. Math doesn't usually require so much artistic skill, but this assignment did, and one student understood that. Keep scrolling to read what commenters had to say about this whole fiasco.

  • My teacher gave me a 90 for my Desmos art...

    220 -10 -5 0 5
    via BadBacon177
  • Our assignment was to make a picture with Desmos. She said we could copy existing Desmos art as long as we make it ourselves. That's what I did: overlayed a photo and copied the art. It took hours, a nearly 500 equations, and I got a 90 because "It did not have enough color"...
    via BadBacon177
  • BadBacon177 OP Edit because I can't edit the post: this was in a math class, not an art class.
    via BadBacon177

  • Commenters gave their takes on this story.

    Competitive_Tes... Some teachers just don't like giving 100%. 90 is sometimes their limit
    via Competitive_Test6697
  • KateKoffing Was there a prescribed amount of color required of you? An art grade is to be based on demonstration of technique, not on the teacher's aesthetic opinion.
    via KateKoffing
  • AirlineFast990 Art does not need colors to be complete. Art teachers make mistakes all the time in grading. This was an error. Move on in confidence.
    via AirlineFast990
  • SchmeatiestOne I grade you 100/100. Thats pretty dumb though, if you cant make a comprehensive rubric in a math class you shouldnt be making your own assignments
    via SchmeatiestOne
  • ShoddyClimate6... How do you write equations for the curve segments? I could see this being extremely useful for modeling certain processes. Are they regression fits to a list of values or something?
    via ShoddyClimate6265
  • InsiDoubtSide I had an assignment where the professor's note was "absolutely stunning! Great work! Would not change a thing!" And I got a 99% Like what???
    via InsiDoubtSide
  • SirCharlito44 Can you talk to the teacher about it and point out that color wasn't part of the rubric so therefore you should get a higher grade?
    via SirCharlito44
  • Organic-Increas... I'd give you lower than that for not centering the bulb on that line. So close.
    via Organic-Increase-401
  • DarkElfBard Was it specified to have a certain amount of color? Can you add more and turn it in? As a math teacher, they may have wanted you to know how to make multiple colors in rgb format.
    via DarkElfBard
  • Prestigious_Wra... What a dumb project. Extremely infuriating assignment, mildly infuriating grade.
    via Prestigious_Wrap932
  • Yeahsoboutthat I'm mostly annoyed that the lightbulb isn't centered up. with the 0, lol. All I can say is that if there was a rubric that mentioned color (because adding multiple ones would be a
    via Yeahsoboutthat
  • skill to practice?), it's a fair point. Otherwise, giving gut feelings grades for creativity/artistic impression is a tough thing for math teacher to try to do to kids. If there wasn't a rubric mentioning use of color, I think you can protest your grade.
    via Yeahsoboutthat
  • ilikeswisscheese1 I love it. The desmos subreddit will appreciate it too (had to redo this comment because i linked the sub before ()
    via ilikeswisscheese1
  • NefariousnessNo... i once got a 90 in a multiple choice quiz. I got everything right, she marked some of the answers wrong becuase she didnt wanna give 100.
    via NefariousnessNo700
  • dark3nvy I had a teacher that gave 90% on attendance even though I was never late or absent. She said that getting 100% os very difficult... like b i have perfect attendance what. Brought it up with the principal and she was forced to give 100% and then later suspended
    via dark3nvy
  • b4con_pancakes I used to have a teacher that never gave a full 100% or a 10 to ANYONE because "There's always room for improvement"
    via b4con_pancakes
  • becomingarobot There will be a point where you realize that marks are made up, approximations of success, and it is rather your own mastery of the material and satisfaction in learning that matters. This is as true for math as it is for art.
    via becomingarobot

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