Ethan is missing questions he knows how to solve. Not because of a knowledge gap, but because of execution errors under pressure. He is selecting wrong answers on problems where his initial setup was correct.

Focus: Slow down on the final step of each problem. Ethan should verify his answer before moving on, especially on medium-difficulty questions where he feels confident.

Ethan is choosing answer choices that feel right rather than anchoring to specific lines in the passage. On inference questions, he is reading beyond what the text supports.

Focus: Practice citing the exact sentence that justifies each answer before selecting it. On questions that ask for evidence, eliminate any choice not directly supported by the passage.

Ethan is making sign errors when substituting into the second equation after solving the first. The error pattern is consistent: correct setup, wrong execution in the final substitution step.

Focus: After solving for one variable, write the substitution step explicitly on a separate line before plugging it in. This slows down the error before it happens.