Guest, here are some easy identities for simplifying quadratics.
First, if a quadratic is in the form a^2 - b^2, then the form of the factored equation would be (a+b)(a-b). This is called the difference of squares.
Second, if in the normal quadratic form of ax ^2 + bx + c, then one must find a number that adds up to b, and multiplies to c. If a is a coefficient of a > 1, then one must find a number that adds to b and multiplies to ac.
Hope this helps!
BasicMaths