It's only a waste of time when you get the correct answer.

Which is the point I was at. If I consistently got it wrong, then I would obviously need to step back and do things in more long form.

But if I'm clearly able to consistently get it right and just toss the answer out in 2 seconds, then the "work" is obviously unnecessary as I am showing mastery of the equation and concept. Which makes the "removing 50% of your grade for not putting an illegible left hand scrubbed mess on the paper" lack any principle behind it.

Which feeds into the bigger point of "intentionally gimping gifted kids into a schema meant for the drooling retards in their class" that plagues all education.

It's only a waste of time when you get the correct answer.

Which is the point I was at. If I consistently got it wrong, then I would obviously need to step back and do things in more long form.

But if I'm clearly able to consistently get it right and just toss the answer out in 2 seconds, then the "work" is obviously unnecessary as I am showing mastery of the equation and concept.

Which makes the "removing 50% of your grade for not putting an illegible left hand scrubbed mess on the paper" lack any principle behind it.