Word Problem Tip: Don't Show Your Work

Here is a general tip about how to answer the word problems on the quizzes and tests.

Don't show your work. The quizzes and tests are timed so the amount of time you spend typing stuff in should be spent wisely. One of the most common students make is to try to write everything they have written on their paper in the answer blanks on the computer. The assumption is that the answer blanks are there for you to "show your work". I have also heard from students that the blanks are big, so the tendency is to want to fill them up. Fight that tendency. (Unfortunately I can't control the size of the blanks in MyMathLab.) Here is a good example of student writing way too much. I've highlighted the stuff that could be eliminated in peach. This student got the problem right, but spent so much time on it that she didn't get to the second question. [You can blow the picture up by clicking on it.]