That method seems abit too drawn out, you might save a few lines of working but in the end when you have a thousand of these little methods to try remember by the time you can think of an appropriate one you couldve probably finished it using the long way (not to mention the time it may require to check if the method will work so you dont get a dead end). So it doesnt seem much easier in exam conditions unless your good at that sort of thing (which i guess you should be)