Augustine did say this. He did not say something else. Exams will generally be graded on the basis of whether they reflect a basic understanding of the content of the texts studied, a student's capacity to compare similar or evolving ideas and themes between texts, and only after this, will a student's capacity to independently analyze and evaluate the ideas be examined. It should be students' goal to demonstrate an understanding of the text or texts in context before they tell the instructor what they think about them. The instructor may know what the student is supposedly trying to say, but if what is actually written would be confusing to someone else who was not in the class, or is misleading and can be read in ways that are false, points will be deducted.
Many students lose points on examinations because they memorize gibberish.
If there is confusion concerning a text, if vocabulary is unfamiliar, the student should talk to the professor or to classmates. The contents of the discipline of theology may not be scientifically verifiable, but they are inwardly coherent. Any student struggling to find coherence should seek help.