Yes. Having been there, and done that, I would agree that it should count. My teacher disagreed.

So, by your logic, any student who doesn't conform to the specific, approved processes and methodology is therefore wrong, is that it?

Tell me, do you value the perspectives of others, or are you concrete in the surety that yours is always the infallible way? Is everyone who does something differently from the way you do it, wrong?

What do you hope to gain in your escalation of commitment? Or is lecturing me its own reward?

Having gone forward from high school to undergrad, to half a dozen graduate schools, I do think I'm at least somewhat privy to the methodologies of academia- in fact, I even studied process design at MIT, among other things. What I find most, is that rigid thinking is more susceptible to Group Think than allowing room for alternative paths to a desired outcome.

Does that make me right, and you wrong? Or vice versa? No, probably not in either case. But it certainly doesn't make you right in an absolute sense, which is the sentiment you seem to be pushing.