Re-Studying CARS

[GrayArea]

Hi

I am retaking the MCAT in Jan. I really need to do better on CARS this time around. However, I have used up a good portion of the study material on CARS while studying for the first take.

Do you guys think it is still beneficial using CARS material that I have already read to study? I do not really remember the answers the answers since it has been a few months, but I also do not want to inflate my scores. If I am doing good in that material, I want it to be because I really am improving and not because I have seen the material before. What do you guys think?

I have used passages from the PR Workbook and the older version of EK 101 Passages. Also AAMC material of course.

Any other CARS material I can use that I have not?

Does anyone know if the new EK 101 passages consist of brand new passages?

I know, a lot of questions haha. Would really appreciate the insight!

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[Alkaidius]

I, personally, don't think it'd be terrible to re-use it at least as a warmup. I re-used 101. Studying for CARS is less building a muscle and more finding the method to tackling the passage that works best for you. It's not content memorization. I would also recommend the book with Princeton Review's passages. It's a little more brutal and less similar to EK but does the job.

 

[theonlytycrane]

In order of usefulness of new material:

NS 101 verbal
KA passages (crappy, but free)
old AAMC verbal (a lot of repeated stuff from the q-packs)

You can also just do verbal from practice tests once you feel good about your approach. If you want to redo your stuff, you can mix in old stuff with new material. Or practice with the old stuff until you feel good about your approach. Just be wary of only doing old stuff for months on end without trying out new material. Definitely redo the AAMC q-packs, though. And time everything.

 

[PharmtoMD]

In order of usefulness of new material:

NS 101 verbal
KA passages (crappy, but free)
old AAMC verbal (a lot of repeated stuff from the q-packs)

You can also just do verbal from practice tests once you feel good about your approach. If you want to redo your stuff, you can mix in old stuff with new material. Or practice with the old stuff until you feel good about your approach. Just be wary of only doing old stuff for months on end without trying out new material. Definitely redo the AAMC q-packs, though. And time everything.

I'm about to start using the NS 101 verbal book. What should be my time limit if I'm doing 3,6, or 9 passages at a time?

 

[theonlytycrane]

I'm about to start using the NS 101 verbal book. What should be my time limit if I'm doing 3,6, or 9 passages at a time?

Go with:

5 questions : 9 minutes
6 questions : 10 minutes
7 questions : 11 minutes

Do a quick peak ahead and figure out how many questions you're looking at for what you want to do and sum the total based on the times above.

 

[Alkaidius]

I would start untimed until I was consistently hitting 75+% correct. No point in worrying about speed if you don't have your technique down~