1. Eliminate Answer Choices

One of the way you can quickly solve a math question is by eliminating answer choices. Even though you don’t actually solve the question, you can see some of the answers are obviously wrong. By doing this, you can get the answer much easier and faster. Try to eliminate wrong answers until you get the correct one.

Example 1.

The width of a rectangle is 4 inches greater than the length. The area of the rectangle is 60 square inches. Which of the following could be the dimensions of the rectangle?

(a) 5, 12
(b) 7, 11
(c) 6, 10
(d) 5, 9
(e) 8, 12

Solution.

You can produce an equation to solve the answer. However, it is much faster to solve the answer by just plugging in and eliminate answer choices.

(a) 5 x 12 = 60, but 12 - 5 = 7. The width is not 4 inches greater than the length.
(b) 11 - 7 = 4, but 11 x 7 = 77. The area is not 60.
(c) 10 - 6 = 4, 10 x 6 = 60. This is the correct answer.
(d) 9 - 5 = 4, but 9 x 5 = 45. The area is not 60.
(e) 12 - 8 = 4, but 12 x 8 = 96. The area is not 60.

Once you find the right answer you can stop, but I showed you all. If you are not sure you can try them all. By eliminating answer choices you can save much more time than just solving them by producing equations.

Tags: math tips, Mathematics Section, SAT tips