Common Mistakes in Factoring

1. Picking the Wrong Factors: More than 30% of students choose factors that don’t correctly multiply to $c$ or add up to $b$.

2. Forgetting About $a$: About 25% of students forget to think about $a$ when it’s not equal to 1. This can lead to choosing the wrong pairs of numbers.

3. Hurrying Through Calculations: Almost 40% of mistakes happen because students rush their math work.

4. Not Double-Checking: Around 50% of wrong factorizations are never checked again, which leads to making the same mistakes over and over.

Always remember to multiply your factors to make sure they’re correct!