Unit Conversion using the table method to stay organized

unit conversion questions can be some of the most frustrating on the sat there are so many numbers and it's hard to know where to start and how to stay organized I'm going to show you the easiest way to answer these questions using two different examples if this is your first time watching this video focus on the first example on the left if you've seen this video before watch the second example on the right my instructions will work for both questions at the same time the best way to handle unit conversion questions is with the table method start by making two columns by drawing line down the middle of your workspace now go find pair of linked units in the question they will almost certainly be in the same sentence and they will probably be at least one number attached it doesn't matter which pair of units you choose but you have to write down both the numbers and the units right one of the numbers in its unit on the left side or the other number and unit on the right side now go find another pair of units try to find pair that includes one of the units that you just wrote in the table when you add the new pair to the table make sure that any matching units are on opposite sides when unit appears in both columns we can cross it out keep the numbers cross out the units we're going to keep finding pairs to add to our table until every unit is crossed out there are few twists that you might encounter along the way if pair of units only has one number then it's probably the case that the missing number is one words like each and per tell us to include the number one with our unit for example 30 miles per hour is 30 miles per one hour also the question itself will be missing number because that's the number we're trying to find we can use to represent the missing piece in our table just remember that will still be attached to unit finally you sometimes need to use common conversion rates to finish the job mostly involving time like 60 minutes an hour or seven days in week just make sure that you're always balancing the units in the table one on the left one on the right cross them out when all the units are gone we know that it's time for the math multiply down each column of the table write the two answers below one of them will include an and that's okay because somehow we've created an equation so put an equal sign between the two columns solve for by dividing both sides by the number attached to it that's it that's our answer if you get stuck focus on the units that are remaining in your table there'll be big clue about what else to add in but if you feel like you messed up my advice is to act like kid who's losing in board game flip the table erase everything and start over you probably wrote unit on the same side of the table but just switching the numbers might not save you unless it's the very last step more likely you've got few numbers in the wrong places so starting over completely is safer and faster practice the table method and unit conversion questions will become much easier