I fail to see a simple way to answer this.
As such, this is my long winded approach:
Using the multinomial theorem,
$(x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_m)^n = \sum_{k_1+k_2+\cdots+k_m=n} {n \choose k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m} \prod_{1\le t\le m}x_{t}^{k_{t}},$
we have the specific parameters $m=3$, $n=7$, $x_1=x^2$, $x_2=x$, and $x_3=-5$.
Via the theorem,
$(x^2+x-5)^7=\sum_{k_1+k_2+k_3=7} {7 \choose k_1, k_2, k_3}\prod_{1 \le t \le 3}x_{t}^{k_t}=\sum_{k_1+k_2+k_3=7} {7 \choose k_1, k_2, k_3}x^{2k_1}x^{k_2}(-5)^{k_3}.$
The coefficient of the $x^3$ term is the summation of the multinomial coefficient multiplied by the $(-5)^{k_3}$ factor evaluated at all the solutions of the equation $2k_1+k_2=3$ where $0\le k_1\le 7$ and $0 \le k_2 \le 7$.
Those values are $(k_1,k_2)=\{(1,1),(0,3)\}.$ Given that $k_1+k_2+k_3=7$, $k_3$ are respectively $5$ and $4$.
Hence, the coefficient of the $x^3$ is ${7 \choose 1,1,5}(-5)^{5}+{7 \choose 0,3,4}(-5)^4.$
Given that the definition of the multinomial coefficient is ${n \choose k_1,k_2,\ldots ,k_m}=\frac{n!}{k_1!k_2!\cdots k_m!},$ $ \begin{align} {7 \choose 1,1,5}(-5)^{5}+{7 \choose 0,3,4}(-5)^4&=\frac{7!(-5)^5}{1!1!5!}+\frac{7!(-5)^4}{0!3!4!}\\ &=7\cdot 6(-5)^5+\frac{7\cdot 6\cdot 5(-5)^4}{3!}\\ &=-109375 \end{align}$
This could be atrociously wrong. Either way, I am desperate for a much simpler process. This is ridiculous to do in a timed testing environment without the formulas given.
I would like to see a very simple but also very general way of arriving at the correct answer (preferably without college methods, but I am open to any methods).
What says you, Math.SE?