Failing for missing semi colon seems harsh, but in reality, when students are told to run their code before handing it in, a missing semi colon tells you exactly that the students didn't run the code. If a student fails to meet simple basic requirements, they cannot expect some leeway.

That said, in a test when hand writing code it should only be pseudo code. Expecting learners to write syntax correct code by hand is stupid.

    > why not let students be creative with their comments, even if its redundant to you.

Because I have to read every comment, decide if it's relevant or not, and delete it if it isn't. "End of line comments" on every single line is not helping anyone - "using for loop to iterate over the array" is bloody useless, because it's right there in the code. Keep in mind this is CS students at least 2 years in.