SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A nursing student says her final exam for her master’s degree received a failing grade after Sacramento State graders used the wrong scoring sheet to judge her answers.

Bernadette Simi said she asked to see her test results after getting the surprising news that she had failed her final paper, and discovered that her graders had used a scoring sheet for the wrong test.

Bernadette had taken a business proposal test, but her graders had scored it according to a problem-solving proposal test.

“It’s comparing apples to oranges. It’s almost as if you’re taking a math exam and it was graded on a spelling criteria,” Bernadette said.

Sacramento State Health and Human Services Dean Dr. Fred Baldini said none of the business proposal exams were graded with score sheets that were titled as such, but added that the grading was still correct.

“It makes no difference which sheet they use, because they’re identical,” Baldini said.

Simi said she has filed an appeal with the school, adding that the proposal that was marked as inadequate by Sac State has already been chosen by her current employer, a major hospital, to implement across the region.

Dr. Baldini did not say whether this particular case would lead to any change of grading policy at his school.

Sacramento State is reviewing Simi’s case.