Give an example of a time when you did something you thought was really good only to find out it was not what your teacher wanted? How could this have been avoided?

There has been quite a few times where I've worked really hard on something only to find out it wasn't what my teacher wanted. One time I remember quite well was when I was a freshmen in World History. My teacher gave us a project and I didn't understand it too well, but I still attempted to do it. The due date approacehed and it was time to hand in the project. My teacher graded the project and it wasn't a good grade at all; I had received my first D. This could've been well avoided if I had just asked my teacher for help.