Math

My girls had a unit math test last week.  One of my girls did awful on the problem solving part of the test which is graded separately from the multiple choice part. 
They had to answer 5 questions about a pile of oranges.  
 The paper showed pile 1 had  one orange
pile 2 had 3 oranges 1+2+3
pile 3 had 6 oranges 1 + 2+ 3 =6
 
They had to draw pile 4, she thought that the pattern was 1+2+3+6=12
All the questions built on the pattern, so once she had the pattern incorrect every other question was automatically wrong.   I remember in math classes from school getting some credit if you mess up on the first step but totally understood how to solve everything else.  
 
 

 

I didn't even look at the attachment and my first thought was "common core". 
 
I would talk to the teacher.  She worked hard at trying to solve all the problems based.  In college calculus you got partial credit for the work you show even if the end results was not correct.  Heck even in the Engineering classes my husband took he would get partial credit for problems even if the end answer was not correct.  Its why you always show your work.

 

Honestly after really reading the entire paper I would let it go unless its part of her actual grade.  I would just follow up with your daughter/teacher to see if she is understanding the concept in the classroom and has shown proficiency in her school work/homework.
 
Our state didn't publish or even count last years common core assessments because they were all so awful.

 

In this case, she really didn't get it, since she was wrong in how she figured the pattern, so all answers following would be wrong.  If she had gotten the picture wrong, but the table correct, she would have gotten credit.  But because she missed the pattern, all else couldn't be correct unless she had a lucky guess.  That is why there is a rubric.
 
Partial credit is usually given in something like calculus or algebra to save you from careless errors, like dropping a negative, or making a simple operations mistake.  In this case, she missed the pattern, showing that she didn't really get what was being asked.  I would work with her on patterns to help her get them easier.

 

All of the questions are asking the same thing in different ways, ie to explain and extend the pattern.  If the student understands the pattern but makes a drawing or counting error in Q1 its still possible to catch the error and show understanding in Q2, Q3, Q4 and to wrap it up in Q5.  Four opportunities to check that the answer is correct, four opportunities to demonstrate the answer in different ways.  If she based all the answers on Q1 then she's not showing how to do the problem different ways, just how to repeat the same mistake in different ways. 
 
I'd go over the problem and show her the pattern (how each pile increases by one row with one extra orange in that row), make a few similar patterns (increase by two oranges in the next row, decrease by an orange, etc), then drop the subject.  It's one test in fourth grade.  Thousands of kids don't even do the fourth grade and go on to have successful, productive lives are careers.  She will too.