A word problem is not a wall of text to be stared at until an answer appears. It is a sentence written in English that can be rewritten, a few words at a time, in algebra. Name the unknown, translate one phrase, then the next, and the equation assembles itself. Pick a problem and step through it — the phrase being translated lights up in the sentence, in the picture, and in the dictionary all at once.
A picture of the sentence
The translator’s dictionary
The one that bites. “Seven less than x” is x − 7, not 7 − x. The phrase says the small piece first but the algebra writes it last. Problem 2 shows exactly what that mistake costs.