In GRE - Is testing values an overrated strategy to solve QCQ questions?, I explained the limitations of the QC strategy of testing values. In this article, we’ll examine an underrated strategy that just may become your favorite go-to approach when solving QC questions.

To set the stage, try answering this question:




We’ll solve this question using Matching Operations. That is, what we do one quantity, we do to the other quantity.

Since \(x > 2\), we know that \(x^2 > 4\), which means \(x^2 – 4\) must be positive. So, we can safely multiply both quantities by \((x^2 – 4)\) to get:




Expand Quantity B to get:



Subtract \(x^3\) from both quantities to get:




Add \(x^2\) to both quantities to get:




Add \(4^x\) to both quantities to get:



Add 6 to both quantities to get:



Divide both quantities by 5 to get:




Since we’re told \(x > 2\), the correct answer is A.

The main/only drawback with this strategy is that you need to be careful when dividing and multiplying variables that may or may not be negative.