Don't trust the textbook

When most people get 90% for an exam, they're usually pretty satisfied - mass celebration, beers all round, that sort of thing.

When I received a mark of 90% for my 'Valuations & Financial Analysis' exam last week, I was disappointed. VFA is the one subject this term that I personally think is dead easy - a bunch of mathematical formulae which can be applied to various financial decision making situations. Having finished the mid-term exam twenty minutes early, I was pretty certain that I'd aced this one.

Alas, when it was returned with a mark of 36 out of 40, I couldn't understand my professor's reasoning for taking away those four marks. After a half hour discussion with my professor this morning, I'm still not happy (despite the fact that he's now bumped my marked up to 37). The problem centres around the fact that I answered one of the questions in the exam using an approach from our official textbook that my professor happens to have an issue with. Thus, despite the fact that my application of that approach is perfect, he's refusing to give me full marks because it's not the way he would have answered the question.

The moral of the story - question your professors in class, but when it comes to exams, put your own ideals aside, as do it their way.

Update (18.07.2002): My VFA professor approached me after class today and told me he'd had a change of heart. New score: 38 out of 40 (95%), which was my original target mark for the exam ;-)