Consolidate systems and inequalities, exponent rules and exponential models, and polynomial operations and factoring as one connected toolkit.
This term built a toolkit for messier, more realistic situations than term one's single straight lines: TWO conditions at once (systems, and now inequalities describing whole regions of acceptable answers), change that compounds instead of just adding (exponents and exponential models), and expressions built from many terms at once (polynomials, and factoring as the reverse move that unlocks them later).
Review by reaching for the right tool inside one real scenario, the way you will have to in practice - not by repeating each topic in isolation. A garden club's fundraiser touches every chapter: a system to find how many of two items were sold, an inequality to guarantee enough profit, an exponential model for a growing membership, and a polynomial expression for a plot's area that factors right back into its two side lengths.
Mastery looks like: They pick the correct tool for a mixed problem drawn from any of the term's three chapters and explain the choice in a sentence.
Common stumbles: Treating the three chapters as unrelated recipes instead of a connected toolkit; reaching for elimination or factoring by habit even when the problem calls for something else.