Why your child loses marks in maths even when the answer is right
Correct final answer, low mark on the page? It's probably not a maths gap — it's a habit that's easy to fix once you know what markers are actually looking for.
Your child hands you a maths test. The final answer at the bottom of the page is correct — you check it twice. And yet the mark at the top says 6 out of 10, not 10 out of 10. No mistakes you can see, but marks missing all the same. If you've stared at a page like this feeling confused and a little frustrated on your child's behalf, you're not alone. It's one of the most common — and most misunderstood — sources of lost marks in South African maths classrooms.
The explanation almost always comes down to one thing: method marks. And once you understand how they work, you can help your child stop losing marks they've actually earned.
What are method marks, and why do they exist?
In CAPS maths, most exam and test questions aren't marked purely on the final answer. Teachers use a marking memorandum that awards marks for each correct step along the way — the method — not just the destination. A typical multi-step algebra or geometry question might carry four marks total, split as: one mark for setting up the correct equation, one for correctly substituting values, one for a correct intermediate calculation, and only the last mark for the final answer itself.
This exists for good reason. Two students can arrive at the same wrong answer, but the one who used the correct method and made a single small arithmetic slip is in a very different position, mathematically, from one who didn't understand the concept at all. Method marks let markers reward understanding, not just luck.
A student who skips straight to a correct final answer, without showing any working, can lose most of the marks on that question — even though their answer is right.
Why South African students lose marks here specifically
- Working done "in their head" or on scrap paper. The marker has no way to award method marks for steps they never see written down in the answer book.
- Skipping the specific step the memo wants. A student might jump straight from a word problem to a formula, without writing the equation they set up first — even though that's often worth its own mark.
- Long multi-step topics. In financial maths, trigonometry, or simultaneous equations, a single missing line of working can cost two or three marks even when everything else is correct.
- Treating working as optional. Many students see writing out steps as something only "weaker" students need to do, when it's actually a mark-earning strategy for everyone.
This isn't a maths ability problem. It's a habit problem — and habits are exactly the kind of thing that improves with the right kind of repeated practice.
How to help your child show their working
Start by looking at an actual marked test or past paper together, if you have one, and matching your child's working against the memorandum line by line. This makes the pattern concrete rather than abstract — your child can literally see the mark they lost and exactly where.
- Write every step, even "obvious" ones. If a formula is being used, write it out before substituting numbers. If an equation is being set up from a word problem, write the equation itself, not just the final calculation.
- Never do a step in your head that could be a mark on the page. This is the single biggest shift for most students — reframing working-out as something that earns marks, not just a personal aid.
- Practise under exam conditions occasionally, writing full solutions rather than just checking the final answer against a memo.
- Get comfortable with the format each topic expects — geometry proofs, trig identities, and financial maths formulas all have their own conventions for showing working.
The good news is that this is a very learnable skill. Unlike a genuine conceptual gap, showing full working is mostly about consistent practice and feedback — which is exactly where targeted, question-by-question practice makes a real difference. On Equals2, students work through preloaded questions across every CAPS grade and topic, and the app tracks exactly where marks are typically lost, so practice sessions can focus on the specific topics and question types where full working matters most, rather than generic revision. A coming feature will let students request extra questions on the exact topic they're currently being tested on in class, making it even easier to drill the working-out habit on the material that counts right now.
The bottom line
A correct final answer with a low mark isn't a sign your child doesn't understand the work — it's usually a sign they haven't yet built the habit of showing every step a marker needs to see. That's a fixable, practice-based problem, not a talent problem. Sit down with a recent test, walk through the memorandum together, and start treating "show your working" as a mark-earning strategy rather than an optional extra.