Is it normal to lose marks in a maths exam if you got a question right bu didn't show workings?

Isn't maths about the method more so than the answer?

As that's what is said to develop your reasoning ability or whatever maths is meant to help with I hated maths... even at uni

I'd always manage to get more marks for my formula usage than my answers... they were usually wrong... wasn't great at the subject but got mostly Bs.

When she gets to do her GCSE (the new harder 9-1 version), there's no way she'll get the answers right without doing her workings line by line. Year 7/8 is very different as the questions are easy compared with the GCSE especially the higher level. No-one will be able to work out the volume and surface area of a cone in their head without doing it line-by-line.

Also, the new style of questions, such as Hannah's sweets which sent candidates into oblivion on social media a couple of years ago, where the question was not asking for answer, but to prove the answer - i.e. show the line-by-line workings.

There is also the issue of "cheating" by using modern calculators. For example, my son's school's approved calculator will solve a quadratic equation just by entering the equation into it. His teacher has made it perfectly clear that none of his class will get ANY marks in his tests etc if he doesn't see the line-by-line workings - that's no marks at all even if it's right! His instruction is for them to check their answer with the calculator once they've done it by hand.

Dd has to go over topics with lost points on My Maths which is great however it won't help to encourage her to write down workings

Can you ask the teacher to show her the mark scheme to prove that she has to show workings? To be honest I'm not sure what more encouragement is needed over and above the teacher saying you will lose marks if you don't show workings so you absolutely must do it (both in class and in the tests).

Yup. In my maths degree my director of studies told us 'don't worry about the 2s' (that you get when differentiating x^2 etc) as those were minor details compared with understanding the method.

OP. I struggled with this too at her age, but it is something she needs to get to grip with.

A level Applied Maths - we were never given the final answer when discussing in class - teacher wanted us to show him the method, our thinking...answers were the boring simple bit at the end - that's how he drilled it into us that writing the method down was the most important bit. And I really needed that discipline when applying Maths to my degree subject.

Yep normal had this in A level physics and maths.

She is not 'losing' marks for not showing her working. Writing the correct answer gets some of the marks, showing how you did it gets the rest so if you don't do that you won't get the marks.

Conversely it also means if you get stuck or make a mistake you can still get some marks.

Yes, this is normal at uni level too

Has always been the same for the last 40 years at least. My dd had it drummed into her at primary from year 2. She definitely would have lost marks on her KS 2 paper if she didn't show working outs.

Yes. Was the same in the 80's. Always had to show our workings.

Yeah it used to annoy me as they make you put all the workings down to show your thought process, that was 20 years ago so sounds like its the same rules

At higher levels of maths, the question will often give you the answer and ask you to prove it.

At school age, showing workings can be a good way to still get marks even if you get the answer wrong.

I can see someone's frustration though if the answer is correct, but they still need to provide working. Especially if the question is quite simple e.g. a half + a quarter. But that's school - lots of rules.

Absolutely, I've been marking exam papers all day. Half the marks for the working, and half for the answer.

The higher you go in maths and science the more you realise how important it is that others can follow what you're doing.

This

She does want to go into science- chemistry.

In that case the earlier she can adjust to showing every single step of her working the better.

Chemistry's great fun. Really good luck to her.

Not inferring superior maths intelligence just find it bizarre.

Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound as if you were saying that. It's a really common thing to hear-my child is so clever he doesn't need to show workings or he's so good he knows the answer without even knowing why. If you don't know why the answer is right you're just really god at guessing. It really irritates me.

Yes. My dad was a maths examiner. You got marks for correct working out even if answer was wrong, often a mark if the working was wrong but correct method.
So for a full mark it would have to show correct working out and correct answer

It was true when I was at school and it's still true now, I'm very surprised you're even querying this. The children are told again and again that they need to do this. On the plus side had she written her workings but got the wrong answer she could have potentially still been given marks because her workings may have been correct to a point. They aren't testing just the answer they are testing that the children are very clear how to get to the correct answer. That's surely the whole point of teaching them!

Yup, totally true. And in some exam questions even if they get the right answer, if there is no workings, they score Zero. They're usually indicated by an asterisk, to prevent guessing.

I used to mark A level physics exams, so similar. The exam board rule was that a bald correct answer got full marks, but a bald incorrect answer got zero. The reasoning was that the candidate couldn't have obtained the correct answer without knowing how, ifswim.
On the other hand, some questions - and I am sure this applies to maths too - state quite clearly "show your working". If this were the case then it would seem reasonable to lose marks for not doing so. And of course, if other pupils obtained the correct answer and did show their working then they probably deserve more marks.

once she leaves school no one will care about the workings out as long as the answer is correct

That's absolutely not true if she ends up anywhere near science.

Presumably the marks for the question are split up, so some are for the workings and the rest for the correct answer.

But losing a mark because you have done it in your head in a hurry and got it right seems harsh.

No, you have to show workings to prove you understand what you're doing and haven't just guessed the right answer. It's totally reasonable.

I wish people would stop thinking it's a sign of superior maths intelligence to not show workings. The higher you go in maths and science the more you realise how important it is that others can follow what you're doing. The earlier this starts in school the better.