Best materials for CARS practice?

[ieatshrimp24]

I have EK 101 and the TPR Hyperlearning Verbal book. Used half of EK and all of TPRH when I studied for the old MCAT. Wondering what other materials are out there. Planning to study from mid-June to mid-September. Thanks!

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[ElectricNoogie]

I have EK 101 and the TPR Hyperlearning Verbal book. Used half of EK and all of TPRH when I studied for the old MCAT. Wondering what other materials are out there. Planning to study from mid-June to mid-September. Thanks!

Get your hand on ALL the AAMC material. Official guide (5 passages), Practice Test (9 passages) and the CARS Q packs (~ 42 passages). That will give you about 6 full sections worth of CARS right there. I would advise against using the EK 101 verbal book (as it was designed for the old MCAT) unless you make sure to not do the natural science passages. There are quite a few new CARS-specific practice resources out there.

HERE is a list of the current resources on Amazon (search MCAT Verbal)

You can also check out these discussions of people who have already taken the MCAT and get their feedback on CARS practice.

Good luck!

 

[mikil100]

Get your hand on ALL the AAMC material. Official guide (5 passages), Practice Test (10 passages) and the CARS Q packs (~ 42 passages). That will give you about 6 full sections worth of CARS right there. I would advise against using the EK 101 verbal book (as it was designed for the old MCAT) unless you make sure to not do the natural science passages. There are quite a few new CARS-specific practice resources out there.

HERE is a list of the current resources on Amazon (search MCAT Verbal)

You can also check out these discussions of people who have already taken the MCAT and get their feedback on CARS practice.

Good luck!

Just wondering, why do you think EK 101 should be avoided other than what you mentioned above? I know the timing isn't correct and it won't give you the "endurance race" feel of the real thing, but it is still a good source to practice reading comprehension skills needed for the real thing, no?

I have used up all of my VR sources other than some official AAMC stuff that I'm saving for later so EK 101 is all I have left

 

[ElectricNoogie]

Just wondering, why do you think EK 101 should be avoided other than what you mentioned above? I know the timing isn't correct and it won't give you the "endurance race" feel of the real thing, but it is still a good source to practice reading comprehension skills needed for the real thing, no?

I have used up all of my VR sources other than some official AAMC stuff that I'm saving for later so EK 101 is all I have left

I am sorry if my point wasn't clear. EK 101 is a decent verbal resource. Like many other verbal books there will be explanations you don't buy, or Qs that just don't make sense unless you just accept their reasoning. My point above was to recommend against using it unless you are clear on which portions are not longer worth doing (nat sci passages). If you have EK 101, use it, but do not do the nat sci passages. If you run out, there are several good CARS resources designed for the new MCAT (but tbh, CARS is the one section that has not changed much).

Good luck!

 

[justadream]

Just wondering, why do you think EK 101 should be avoided other than what you mentioned above? I know the timing isn't correct and it won't give you the "endurance race" feel of the real thing, but it is still a good source to practice reading comprehension skills needed for the real thing, no?

I have used up all of my VR sources other than some official AAMC stuff that I'm saving for later so EK 101 is all I have left

IMO, EK 101 is a waste of both time and money. The answers are so arbitrary and oftentimes I simply cannot buy their explanations. My scores ranged from like 6-13 on EK (with huge variations with each test) and I tried equally hard on all of them.

Compare this with TPR's verbal workbook and AAMC FLs where my scores were all within a 2-3 point range (and where I could actually see why I got some questions wrong).

All of this being said, I would recommend devoting <10% of your time to verbal prep (and the only reason I don't say 0% is so that you get used to working under time pressure). It's unlikely that your verbal score will improve significantly. And even if you are able to raise it by 1-2 points, you probably could have raised your scores in the other sections (e.g., the science sections) by more if you had devoted that time/energy there instead.

 

[PopeChaChaStix]

In 2 months I went from answering 40% of CARS questions correct to over 90%. I was scared to keep taking practices because I was sure it was a fluke that would end sometime...scored 85-100th % on real MCAT in April.

When I began, I decided I wouldn't study for CARS at all, just tell myself to be focused and try hard. After a couple 40%'s I was scared so I decided to try some tactics.
Tactic one: try to visualize the person before me telling me the story of the passage as I read it...if it was angry, picture an angry person, like Hitler...it made answering scope/theme questions easier...but did not improve my score much.

Second try: memorize "key words" like "therefor"/"as opposed to"/etc....helped a bit.

Third try: I finally gave up and read the first 3 chapters of the Kaplan books from 2010 for VR. I made myself put away my timer and do exactly as they say: one sentence for each paragraph, then topic/scope/purpose at the end of the passage. I had to repeatedly go back and read Kaplan's definition of T/S/P until I could do it on my own. It probably took me 30 min/passage for a couple of days.

Once I had this technique down, I tried again with the timer and began answering 75% correct...some kind of miracle.

I did one verbal passage every morning right when I woke up, timed, for about a month and attempted 4 passages in 30 min once a week otherwise. % correct stayed around 90%.

I don't get it. I don't care. It worked for me.

Also, I did any verbal sections I could get my hands on from any year.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

In 2 months I went from answering 40% of CARS questions correct to over 90%. I was scared to keep taking practices because I was sure it was a fluke that would end sometime...scored 85-100th % on real MCAT in April.

When I began, I decided I wouldn't study for CARS at all, just tell myself to be focused and try hard. After a couple 40%'s I was scared so I decided to try some tactics.
Tactic one: try to visualize the person before me telling me the story of the passage as I read it...if it was angry, picture an angry person, like Hitler...it made answering scope/theme questions easier...but did not improve my score much.

Second try: memorize "key words" like "therefor"/"as opposed to"/etc....helped a bit.

Third try: I finally gave up and read the first 3 chapters of the Kaplan books from 2010 for VR. I made myself put away my timer and do exactly as they say: one sentence for each paragraph, then topic/scope/purpose at the end of the passage. I had to repeatedly go back and read Kaplan's definition of T/S/P until I could do it on my own. It probably took me 30 min/passage for a couple of days.

Once I had this technique down, I tried again with the timer and began answering 75% correct...some kind of miracle.

I did one verbal passage every morning right when I woke up, timed, for about a month and attempted 4 passages in 30 min once a week otherwise. % correct stayed around 90%.

I don't get it. I don't care. It worked for me.

Also, I did any verbal sections I could get my hands on from any year.

I actually go to school with someone that had a similar experience with Kaplan verbal. He took the old MCAT after just a brief review of pre-reqs and a couple of AAMC practice tests and got a 6 on the verbal. He ended up taking the Kaplan course and "bought in" to their verbal method as he puts it and ended up scoring a 32 (10/11/11) back in jan. He said similar things about how it takes longer at first but you'll eventually get faster. He swears by it but I've been skeptical/stubborn about trying it after reading on here about how "Kaplan/passage mapping suck" lol. After hearing from someone else I may give it a try.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

IMO, EK 101 is a waste of both time and money. The answers are so arbitrary and oftentimes I simply cannot buy their explanations. My scores ranged from like 6-13 on EK (with huge variations with each test) and I tried equally hard on all of them.

Compare this with TPR's verbal workbook and AAMC FLs where my scores were all within a 2-3 point range (and where I could actually see why I got some questions wrong).

All of this being said, I would recommend devoting <10% of your time to verbal prep (and the only reason I don't say 0% is so that you get used to working under time pressure). It's unlikely that your verbal score will improve significantly. And even if you are able to raise it by 1-2 points, you probably could have raised your scores in the other sections (e.g., the science sections) by more if you had devoted that time/energy there instead.

I don't get this, I see a lot of people that see huge variations with EK 101 but all of my scores are very consistent. (something like 7,7,7, 8,9,8) I don't think theirs are representative anyways; it seems like almost every question they quote the passage in a question stem.

 

[piii]

I actually go to school with someone that had a similar experience with Kaplan verbal. He took the old MCAT after just a brief review of pre-reqs and a couple of AAMC practice tests and got a 6 on the verbal. He ended up taking the Kaplan course and "bought in" to their verbal method as he puts it and ended up scoring a 32 (10/11/11) back in jan. He said similar things about how it takes longer at first but you'll eventually get faster. He swears by it but I've been skeptical/stubborn about trying it after reading on here about how "Kaplan/passage mapping suck" lol. After hearing from someone else I may give it a try.

I'm by no means a verbal expert. But I've significantly improved by percentages in AAMC passages from 60% to 85% by watching the 4 cambridge learning center videos on youtube.

It encourages an in depth reading of the passage. You use analysis on rhetoric (relationship of sentences) to identify:

Topic sentence of each paragraph (usually first sentence) - Key idea of the paragraph. Every thing after will by used as support or to elaborate. Also can be the main point of the passage if this paragraph is the thesis paragraph.

Conclusion sentence - this is the significance of every thing stated between it and that first topic sentence of the paragraph.

These are the main points you remember on your first read through. While you read the paragraph, you also look for rhetorical cues, or indicators of importance. Here are some examples:
Pivotal words - but, and, therefore, etc...
Quotation marks - author is saying, pay attention to this - and it either is support for the topic sentence, a clarification/definition, or most importantly, irony - where the author means the opposite.
Semicolons and colons - the author uses this to indicate importance. He's saying, this is important and I'm going to say it twice in two different ways. Usually the most important thing is what comes after the semicolon/colon.

So you read the paragraphs, reflect on the key ideas (topic sentence) and significance of the paragraph (conclusion sentence) and you have mapped out the important cues of each paragraph but you don't really need to memorize them, just know where they are when you need to answer a question.

So how do you tell the meaning of these sentences? You use grammar analysis. Grammar is the relationship of words in a sentence. You basically find the main clause of that thesis/conclusion sentence, the NOUN VERB part of the sentence that doesn't rely on anything else to support it. You strip down the modifiers and you have the idea.

When you answer questions about the passage, you are asked to identify key ideas, reasons why author mentioned things, and inferences. This is actually pretty simple. You identify the location of the question reference within the passage and you use the thesis or conclusion sentence to associate the key idea or significance.

For inferences, you usually relate key idea and significances (PLURAL) together to draw a conclusion about why the author mentioned it. This also goes for questions the author asks in the text.

Now these things aren't always black and white, but with enough consistency and practice, it becomes second nature. This is what I've been noticing in my work with it, and as I understand this more and more, it saves me time answering questions.

 

[Sir.SavaLottaLife]

I'm by no means a verbal expert. But I've significantly improved by percentages in AAMC passages from 60% to 85% by watching the 4 cambridge learning center videos on youtube.

It encourages an in depth reading of the passage. You use analysis on rhetoric (relationship of sentences) to identify:

Topic sentence of each paragraph (usually first sentence) - Key idea of the paragraph. Every thing after will by used as support or to elaborate. Also can be the main point of the passage if this paragraph is the thesis paragraph.

Conclusion sentence - this is the significance of every thing stated between it and that first topic sentence of the paragraph.

These are the main points you remember on your first read through. While you read the paragraph, you also look for rhetorical cues, or indicators of importance. Here are some examples:
Pivotal words - but, and, therefore, etc...
Quotation marks - author is saying, pay attention to this - and it either is support for the topic sentence, a clarification/definition, or most importantly, irony - where the author means the opposite.
Semicolons and colons - the author uses this to indicate importance. He's saying, this is important and I'm going to say it twice in two different ways. Usually the most important thing is what comes after the semicolon/colon.

So you read the paragraphs, reflect on the key ideas (topic sentence) and significance of the paragraph (conclusion sentence) and you have mapped out the important cues of each paragraph but you don't really need to memorize them, just know where they are when you need to answer a question.

So how do you tell the meaning of these sentences? You use grammar analysis. Grammar is the relationship of words in a sentence. You basically find the main clause of that thesis/conclusion sentence, the NOUN VERB part of the sentence that doesn't rely on anything else to support it. You strip down the modifiers and you have the idea.

When you answer questions about the passage, you are asked to identify key ideas, reasons why author mentioned things, and inferences. This is actually pretty simple. You identify the location of the question reference within the passage and you use the thesis or conclusion sentence to associate the key idea or significance.

For inferences, you usually relate key idea and significances (PLURAL) together to draw a conclusion about why the author mentioned it. This also goes for questions the author asks in the text.

Now these things aren't always black and white, but with enough consistency and practice, it becomes second nature. This is what I've been noticing in my work with it, and as I understand this more and more, it saves me time answering questions.

I totally forgot about these and I need to watch them again. I watched them a few months ago and it helped me feel a lot more comfortable with passages for sure although I cant give valid numerical estimates as to how much it has helped me improve. Thanks

 

[PopeChaChaStix]

I actually go to school with someone that had a similar experience with Kaplan verbal. He took the old MCAT after just a brief review of pre-reqs and a couple of AAMC practice tests and got a 6 on the verbal. He ended up taking the Kaplan course and "bought in" to their verbal method as he puts it and ended up scoring a 32 (10/11/11) back in jan. He said similar things about how it takes longer at first but you'll eventually get faster. He swears by it but I've been skeptical/stubborn about trying it after reading on here about how "Kaplan/passage mapping suck" lol. After hearing from someone else I may give it a try.

I don't want to advocate for some of these money grubbers, and I particularly dislike Kaplan because their name pisses me off (just say it out loud! KAP-Lan...pff!!), but I am a lazy MF'r and it took me an hour to read their strategy, 2 days (or about 10 passages) to practice it, and then it changed my verbal forever. Good investment for me.

 

[squash_fan]

Get your hand on ALL the AAMC material. Official guide (5 passages), Practice Test (10 passages) and the CARS Q packs (~ 42 passages). That will give you about 6 full sections worth of CARS right there. I would advise against using the EK 101 verbal book (as it was designed for the old MCAT) unless you make sure to not do the natural science passages. There are quite a few new CARS-specific practice resources out there.

HERE is a list of the current resources on Amazon (search MCAT Verbal)

You can also check out these discussions of people who have already taken the MCAT and get their feedback on CARS practice.

Good luck!

Where do you access the Official guide (5 passages), and the Practice Test (10 passages)? Thanks!

 

[ElectricNoogie]

Where do you access the Official guide (5 passages), and the Practice Test (10 passages)? Thanks!

The AAMC materials can be purchased here

Good Luck!

 

[Jack Westin]

There is no question about it, use the AAMC CARS question packs! Some of the passages in the packs are older- not necessarily representative of CARS but it's still great practice and better than any other CARS material currently available. I would suggest doing about two a day and then reviewing each one well. You will notice that some of them are really dense. You will notice that for denser passages, the questions are relatively straight forward. Don't be intimidated by such passages. If anything, these are the easy passages that most students panic on.

 

[Dr.MightyDuck]

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