Back when I was an engineering student, there was a legend about an old civil engineering professor who had a unique grading system. His tests consisted of four questions, each graded all-or-nothing. If you answered four of the four correctly, it was an A, 3 was a B, 2 was a C, 1 was a D, and none correct was an F. One student asked him, after a disappointing result, why partial credit wasn't awarded. The professor stated, "If you build a bridge, and it falls down, no partial credit".
One of my profs had a single-beam balance for grading. At the far left (the light end) it started out with 'd' and worked up to 'a' about 2/3 the way. anything heavier than the 'a' was an 'f'.
I was lucky na d had all PE profs who were military veterans. We had no TA's. All my profs also hosted ASCE keggers at their houses.