Practice raising positive and negative numbers (integers only) to whole number powers. Watch out for mischievous negative signs that aren't really part of the base!
Practice comparing positive and negative numbers by thinking about their positions on the number line. Numbers to the right are greater than numbers to the left.
Practice plugging in values to evaluate real-world algebraic expressions. These are introductory problems, so the expressions aren't too complicated.
Practice determining whether or not two algebraic expressions are equivalent by manipulating the expressions. These problems require you to combine like terms and apply the distributive property.