you need to combine like-terms first. so combine -7x with -3x, and you'll get -10x +2=-8x-8. then to simplify this, add the 8 over to the 2. you'll have -10x+10=-8x. then add 10x to the -8x. you should get 10=2x. then just divide the 10 by 2 to get x by itself. so you answer should be x=5.