Got my essay back with comments and it looks like the woman hasn't even read it! She's criticised something I haven't even written and then she as said I don't explain something I patently have!

ARGH!

oh dear, poor you. i can see how frustrating that must be.

She really cannot have read it. She can't. She really, really can't. I've sent it to a friend and didn't tell them my view on it and she said "what the ****? has she even read it?!"

how bizzare, to not read it and then have the audacity to critise it.

Pass it on to your next supervisor.

Best thing to do is ask to have a meeting with her to discuss her comments/corrections of that piece of work. You can then say, I'm a little confused here (here, here, here, here and here) by what you meant as I haven't actually written that. ETC

Good luck

I've queried a piece of work before (mark was twenty marks lower than my next lowest mark!!) after my personal tutor mentioned it. It was marked up; tho' possibly not as a high as it would have been marked if not for idiot tutor....!

Oh dear! That is awful. If I were you I would ask her about it like H said. That's just no good at all!

Good luck

If there's specific comments like you suggest, she'll have read it. The sign that it hasn't been read are lots of random ticks and a generic 'good effort - try to develop your theoretical framework more' type comment! Oh and a mark you won't complain about...
I'd calm down before you go to see her and just ask for clarification - it may be one of those cases of miscommunication whereby both parties think they've made something clear and in fact it's not at all. Look on it as practice for the sometimes moronic comments you'll get on journal article submissions. I was told to put them away for at least a fortnight and only then look and decide what's reasonable, & what's not.

Hello. Sorry to be annoying, but I was always taught that if someone says that you haven't explained something, or haven't done it clearly, then by definition you haven't. If your reader doesn't understand it, then its not clear. Has she critised the thing that you didn't write maybe because she thought what you did write had that meaning?

I used to get really frustrated by this, but its true. Still, have a good ol' vent!

B.x

It's not that she says she hasn't understood it - it's that her comments are logically inconsistent with what is plainly on the paper in front of her. It's not just me that thinks so either. I sent the essay + comments to someone and didn't mention my view and their response was "has she even read this?"

I think you should make some corrections to anything you think is fair and the bits u dont have a meeting with her about, and just say you dont understand her feedback. She may have been in a hurry and it will give her a chance to read your work properly with u there. I know its not ideal b ut it might be a good option.