Seriously?

In Massachusetts our school teach with an eye towards the MCAS exam which is similar to the Iowa Basic Skills and the equivalent in any other state. One of the things required on the MCAS exam is that you have to show how you reached an answer in math. And I don't mean 2+2=4. They have to explain and show why 2+2=4 and/or how you know 2+2=4. And saying that you just know that 2+2=4 doesn't count.

On one of her assignments Hannah had to answer the following question:

After picking cherries Sally and Jake were hungry. Sally ate 11 cherries and Jake ate 17 cherries. How many cherries did they eat?

Here is how Hannah answered the question based on the MCAS guidelines:

I know that 11-1=10
I know that 17-7=10
I know that 10+10=20
I know that 7+1=8
I know that 20+8=28

Now doesn't that seem like a lot of useless steps to you? As opposed to saying 1+7=8, 1+1=2, put the two together and you've got 28. Maybe it's just me. Math certainly isn't my field of expertise. But here's the kicker....she showed the first 5 steps but then forgot to recap her thought process by saying that since those 5 steps are true then 11+17=28 and therefore she got marked down as "below the standard" because the directions said "Write an equation."

Seriously?