Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

188 • M ATH

C. General Strategies ..............................................................................................................204 1. Use the Figures (Items #13–16) ...................................................204–205 2. Use the Answer Choices (Item #17) ..................................................... 205 a) Answer Choices Are Arranged in Order b) Wrong Choices Correspond to Conceptual Errors 3. Pay Special Attention to “Signal” Words (Items #18–21) ............................................................................................ 205 4. Answer the Question Being Asked (Items #22–26) ....................... 206 5. Carefully Consider “Cannot Be Determined” (Item #27) ............... 206 D. Time-Saving Shortcuts and Power Strategies ...............................................................207 1. Time-Saving Test Prep Shortcuts

2. Test-the-Test (Items #28–29) ................................................................ 207 3. Plug-and-Chug (Item #30) ...................................................................... 207 4. Eliminate-and-Guess (Item #31) ............................................................ 207

III. LESSON 1 | NUMBER AND QUANTITY .............................................................208 A. Basic Arithmetic Strategies ...............................................................................................208

1. Just Do It (Items #1–2) ............................................................................. 208 2. Look for Shortcuts (Items #3–11) .................................................208–209 3. Bridge the Gap (Items #12–13) .............................................................. 209

B. Properties of Numbers (Items #14–19) .............................................................................. 210 C. Scientific Notation (Items #20–21) ..................................................................................... 211 D. Complex Numbers (Items #22–23) .................................................................................... 211 E. Matrices and Vectors (Items #24–26) ................................................................................212 F. Rates and Proportions (Items #27–34) .....................................................................212–213 G. Percentages (Items #35–41) ................................................................................................214 H. Arithmetic Strategy: “Test-the-Test” (Items #42–46) ......................................................215 IV. LESSON 2 | ALGEBRA AND FUNCTIONS ........................................................ 216 A. Manipulating Algebraic Expressions ................................................................................216

1. Basic Algebraic Manipulations (Items #1–2) ....................................... 216 2. Evaluating Expressions (Items #3–7) ................................................... 216 3. Manipulating Expressions Involving Exponents (Items #8–9) .................................................................................................217 4. Factoring Expressions (Items #10–12) ...................................................217 5. Logarithmic Expressions (Items #13–14) ...............................................217

B. Evaluating Sequences (Items #15–18) ................................................................................218 C. Solving Algebraic Equations or Inequalities with One Variable ..................................219

1. Simple Equations (Item #19) ................................................................... 219 2. Simple Inequalities (Item #20) ............................................................... 219 3. Equations Involving Rational Expressions (Items #21–23) ............................................................................................ 219 4. Inequalities Involving Rational Expressions (Item #24) ................... 219