PLUGGING IN
When you look at topic breakdown for the ACT, what is it about “Pre-algebra” that sounds so much easier
than “Intermediate” or even “Elementary Algebra”? Well, for one thing, with Algebra inevitably come
variables. You probably remember first hearing about these things in sixth or seventh grade and thinking
to yourself how much easier life was when math was just plain numbers.
Here’s the good news. Many of the algebra problems on the ACT, even the most complex, can be solved
with what we like to call Plugging In. What Plugging In enables you to do is to solve difficult variable
problems using basic arithmetic.
First, you’ll need to identify whether you can Plug In.
Plug It In
A content-based approach
to math questions isn’t
always necessary!
Simply “Plug In” to find the
correct answer.
Plug In when
- there are variables in the answer choices
- there are variables in the question
- the question is dealing with fractions, percents, or other relational numbers
Here’s How to Crack It
Plugging In works with both Word Problems and Plug and Chug questions. Question 43 may look like it
requires a “content-based” approach, but let’s see how much easier it is if we Plug In.
First, let’s Plug In a number for the variable. The best numbers to Plug In are usually small and easy to
deal with: numbers such as 2, 5, and 10. Let’s try 2 in this problem. If x = 2,
