When you raise a base to a power, you multiply the exponents.
e.g., = x^6
Let’s see how this works with the equation given in question 25.
This matches up with (A). If you worked through this problem and got one of the other answer choices,
think about what you may have done wrong. If you chose (B), you may have forgotten to distribute the
negative sign when you multiplied the −4. If you chose (C), you may have multiplied the exponents rather
than adding them together. If you chose (D), you may have multiplied the exponents and forgotten to
distribute the negative. If you chose (E), you may have forgotten that when you add or subtract like bases,
do nothing to the exponents.
Whatever the case may be, don’t sell these problems short. Even though they don’t take as long, they’re
worth just as much as the “harder” problems. Recall from the introduction how few questions you really
need to pull up your math score. Make sure you work carefully on all your Now and Later questions.
There is no partial credit on the ACT, so a careless error leaves you with an answer just as wrong as a
random guess.
Fixing a few careless math errors can improve your ACT Math score significantly by ensuring that
you get all the points on questions you know how to do.
Let’s take a look at the next question.
- 4 x^2 + 20x + 24 is equivalent to:
A. (4x + 4)(x + 6)
B. (4x − 4)(x − 6)
C. (4x + 24)(x − 1)
D. 2(2x − 4)(x − 3)
E. 2(2x + 4)(x + 3)
This one looks a lot like question 25, but the math is a good deal more difficult. In fact, even if you’re
pretty good at factoring quadratic equations, you might still find this one to be a bit of an issue. If you can
do the factoring quickly and accurately, great, but if not, help is on the way!
