This is a true story of a test I took at Southgate School around 1980 or thereabouts while in the 6th form, in a Further Maths class.

Mr Swain (a VERY good teacher) was conducting a class level mock for the Further Maths A level exam.

I was doing pretty well but one question looked like it was going to be a real pain, with many steps to get to the answer. As you know, you MUST show all your working to get the all marks.

This was a differential equation, I think a homogeneous 2nd order, with parts above each other, a tough one, but suddenly I noticed something.

This fitted a specific pattern which Mr Swain had taught us and could be solved in just 3 steps, I took that path and got the answer.

Later (and Mr Swain related this to the class), he was marking and following the mark scheme and thought to himself, oh dear, Theo has messed this one up.

But I got the right answer, then he too ALSO noticed I had used the more optimal, shorter solution path, which he had taught us, not the one in the answer sheet.

So he HAD to give me MORE marks for the answer process than the standard solution as my path was far more efficient.

Thus, I ended up with 105 percent !