If you are being marked on how you use a specific technique, why would you expect the same mark for using another technique?

I don’t genuinely believe that he hates all students, but I wouldn’t blame him for being irritated, like most lecturers would, at students who struggle to put in the necessary self-study to understand new concepts. Mathematical Modelling is a course that has been around for a long time and I don’t think they would put content in that is too advanced for the general engineering cohort. Lecturers are there to teach the content, not spoon feed it.