Did anyone else do this in 9th grade?

I just finished my freshman year of highschool in May. In my English cl I had to right a 10 page paper typed 12pt. have bibliography pages, right information down on notecards and if everything was absolutely perfect you'd make an 80% meaning no grammar errors nothing! Also we weren't allowed to pick our countries our teacher picked them for us which wasn't fair. I got Norway and then my friend got Egypt so my friend didn't have to do nearly as much work as me. I worked 7hrs. everyday for a month I don't think I ever saw the sun during that time. I ended up writing pretty much a book my paper was HUMIVE I made like 5 different Norwegian foods and spraypainted a flag. I get scared just thinking about it! My sister in college said she's never done that much and she got a full scholarship to college and is in the honors program. Did anyone do this much work for one paper in 9th grade?