He's a hard grader.

If the one he loved so much is a C-, what grades did the others get?

Some lecturers have this silly idea that no-one deserves an A, because no-one is perfect. It isn't motivating, rather frustrating. During my undergrad studies I had a lecturer give a rather easy assignment at the end (just a few pages review on one article). Afterwards he gave everyone a B or less - because "you cannot get an A for something so easy". As it was an elective class and I applied for financial aid (which in our university depended on your average grade), him being an asshole would have very nearly cost me a lot of money.

Then at the very least the OP should have gotten a B/B-

Maybe his grade was the best comparative to everyone else's grade.

he's a tough grader

7, I've never seen an example of making someone's goals unachievable motivate them. This sounds more like the teacher that wouldn't give an a to a paper written about physics by Einstein, and those teachers usually give the top of the class either C's or low B's.

You have yet to meet my crazy drama teacher, first thing she said to us was "if you think you can get an A* in drama, forget it because you can't. The best students are A but most of you will be B"

I didn't C that pun coming...

C, look what you did!Now, we'll bring Cing so many C puns.

Your profile picture goes perfect with your comment!

GIVING YOUR STUDENTS A C-! SOCIAL EXPERIMENT! GONE SEXUAL! GONE WRONG!