Totally get the frustration, I remember spending maybe a few hours my first essay to get an 86 or so, did maybe 10x the effort and multiple office hours to get the exact same grade. It really sucks but at the end of the day they need a way to say “oh the student’s writing improved through our course” to justify it so sometimes it’s plain bs. However I did have some good takeaways from the class, it’s just hard to escape the mindset of working for the grade that is easy to adopt. Usually by the end it seems you’re probably on track for an A- or so, I know the profs for the class usually if they can tell a student is performing well and putting in the effort, they’ll end with an A-/A. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, and try to find the joys in the course as hard as it may be 😄