SAT Strategy #2: Minimize Your Work
There is always a fairly quick way through the problems. If you find you are doing lots of calculations, then you are most likely on the wrong approach. Be sure to use Strategy #1 above to find the correct approach.
Oftentimes you can find the correct answer in the multiple choice sections by doing just enough work to pick out the correct response.
Examples:
If you only need to find the slope through rearranging an equation, and you are going to put the equation into slope-intercept form (y=mx+b), then do just enough rearranging to find the slope (m), and don’t worry about what the y-intercept (b) is.
For systems of two equations, there are two unknowns that can be found. But almost always the question will only ask for one of them, so don’t spend time finding the one that the problem is not interested in.
If you are multiplying two long polynomials together, often you can find the correct choice by just multiplying the leading coefficients, without completing the entire multiplication.