College Algebra CLEP Prep Practice Exam 2026 – The All-in-One Resource for Exam Success!

One approach to solving this question is to factor the given polynomial. This can be done by looking for two numbers that multiply to give the constant term -48 and add to give the coefficient of the middle term 5. For the polynomial given, the numbers are -3 and 8. These numbers correspond to the options B and C respectively. However, only C (x + 8) is not a factor of the polynomial. Therefore, C is the correct answer. Options A (x - 4) and D (x + 9) are both factors of the polynomial since (-4)(12) = -48 and (-3)(-16) = 48. Hence, these options are incorrect.