plugging in variables into expressions SAT question

Question

https://iblog.dearbornschools.org/chocoralgebra1/wp-content/uploads/sites/2153/2017/10/SAT-Practice1.pdf question 13 SAT test 1 math no calculator

For this question can we plug in numbers that are less than 3 for example 0 or 1 and then plug in numbers like 0 or 1 into the answer choices to see if the result matches with the original equation or does it have to be greater than 3 for the answer choices too. And if we can do what I just asked why? how come it doesn't really affect the answer because x is greater than 3 ? I'm asking this because a youtube video did the problem in this way but I thought that 4 needs to be plugged in for the original equation and answer choices too since x is greater than 3 to find the answer that matches. the youtube video link is right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1JGQ0mzcWA the question starts at 3:09.

Thank you!

Answer 1

The simple answer is that you can use any value of x. Using x = 0 reducing the number of calculations and that is important on a timed test.