The surface area of a rectangular prism can be found by adding up the area of all six faces.
First, find the area of the top and bottom faces:
Top and bottom: 12 inches * 5 inches = 60 square inches each
Next, find the area of the front and back faces:
Front and back: 12 inches * 3 inches = 36 square inches each
Finally, find the area of the right and left faces:
Right and left: 5 inches * 3 inches = 15 square inches each
Now add up all the areas:
60 + 60 + 36 + 36 + 15 + 15 = 222 square inches
Therefore, the correct answer is:
222 square inches