When Chemists Attack

By now, you’ve probably seen this example of student “reasoning” on the internet somewhere.

I don’t believe that one was actual student work. Clever and amusing, but not real.

Real examples of bizarre student work look more like what you’re about to see. This is one student’s “scratch work” – for which he presumably intends to obtain some sort of partial credit. This is all of his scratch work from the entire test.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone of grading. How many points do you think this student’s effort is worth? (You can probably guess how good this student’s actual answers were.)

Just so you know, I didn’t mistakenly give a chemistry lab exam to a second grader. I do teach only adults in my classes.

And no, there were no questions that related to butterflies, dogs, or pigs.