In a school election, 680 students voted for one of two candidates for president. If the winner received 120 more votes than the loser, how many votes did the winner receive?

Answer 1

SAT does not allow the luxury of writring out equations. You need to be able to think:

2x + 120 = 680

2x = 560

x = 280

x + 120 = 400

Answer 2

Let's take L (loser) and W (winner).

From the question we got

W=L+120

L+W=680

If we add side by side

W+L+W=L+120+680

Subtract L from each sides

2W=800

W=400