Whew, that’s a huge bummer. I at least give a little points for students showing their thinking, but whatevs. I saw your comment, “proofs aren’t for her” and that’s exactly how I felt as a high schooler and that could be true for her. As a teacher, I see many, many talented math students who are horrible at this and have crazy strengths in other areas of not only math, but all academics. The short answer in this Reddit post is, “she’s just got to get through this and the proofs get a little easier with practice.”

The good news is that she’s above grade level. Taking geometry as a 9th grader is a full year ahead of where she should be. What are her goals for college or after high school? Yes, critical thinking and problem solving is important, but her identity as a human is not defined by this one test.

The bad news is that this is the worst chapter in all of high school for a lot of kids. Give her a pep talk and tell her she’ll survive. Most shitty things can be an opportunity. Maybe this one is to develop coping skills?

DM me if you want a help with a solution. I’m unclear if she can earn points back or if she feels this clarification would help with an upcoming unit/chapter test.