Are puzzles too black and white?

I've had a couple of times now when I find a pretty good winning move, but it's not the move the puzzle wanted. For example, I find a mate in three but the "solution" was a mate in two. It seems to me that a mate in three is good enough in live play, so why should I be docked points for being good enough for real life? As a beginner I'm not sharp enough to calculate all the exchanges every time, but I'd like to get a few points for a pretty good continuation, or at least not be so severely docked.

Or, as today's "pickles" comic strip said: "No misfortune is so bad that whining about it won't make it worse." There. I did my newbie whining for the day. haha

They are black and white. Sorry. You have to look for a move then look for a better one. The trick is to ignore the clock and instead aim to get them right first time. This usually means going down a few rabbit holes.

Yeah, you're right, darn it! I get so frustrated when I can force a win of a bishop but the puzzle wanted me to force the win of a rook. Sure, it's not perfect, but it's not bad either.

Puzzle #1116308 for example. The correct answer was mate in one. (1...Qxg2#) I admit, I missed it, but my answer was mate in two. (1...Bxh3+ 2. Kh1 Qxg2#) A wasted move, but still good enough to win for a beginner like me.

Your puzzle rating might take a dive but you are finding good moves and visualising so it all helps.

You speak the truth. But my ego sure takes a hit. hehehe

Still looking for a Chess puzzle that says "Grey to move"

For beginners: I think it's important to try to find the best move in the puzzle.  But if you find a good move, I think that's okay too.  Why?  Good moves are decent moves too.

If a beginner always plays good and okay moves in a game, that beginner has played a decent game.  A grandmaster will almost always find the best moves.    

I find the puzzles frustrating as well. I just deleted the chess.com app from my phone because I was doing puzzles without being fully concentrated and just sinking my score. You get a meagre 5-8 points for a right answer but a wrong answer, even if you get the first 3 or 4 moves of the sequence correct will absolutely sink you by 10-15 points. I've also played through the "suggested" sequences in the analysis and I have to say that the "correct" sequences don't always seem to yield any kind of advantage in the long run. It seems you sometimes have to assume that the computer/AI will make an absolutely idiotic move in the "correct" puzzle sequences. 

https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/1116308

No, that’s not a mate in two, ...Bxh3 isn’t check, so he certainly doesn’t have to move the king, he can simply defend the mate with (let’s say Bg3) leaving black a pawn down, with multiple pieces under attack, and a bad position. 

OOPS! You're right. My only excuse is that I'm a newbie. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

That would be nice.  Yeah, I'm a beginner too, so I'm not great at seeing the best moves or sometimes I get them out of sequence.  It's definitely a good way to train though.