Scanning Passages

[RocuROMANium]

How are you guys scanning CARS and science passages during a practice exam? For science passages do you skim the passage first and then answer the questions or do you look at the questions right away? I ask because some questions are answerable without the passage. I’m trying to increase my speed during the exam. What about CARS?

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[Blueprint Med School]

Everybody will be different- do practice with both methods and decide for yourself. Personally, I would try to answer the questions in C/P and B/B before reading the passage. For CARS and P/S, I always read the passage first.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Startingover123]

Everybody will be different- do practice with both methods and decide for yourself. Personally, I would try to answer the questions in C/P and B/B before reading the passage. For CARS and P/S, I always read the passage first.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

Isn’t B/B mostly passage critical thinking these days?

 

[Medical Muse]

Either way is fine, but you have to practice doing it in order to save time. For CARS, I used to scan the questions only when I started reading the first paragraph and was completely lost. The key idea is to quickly identify the comprehension questions and avoid the reading within the text and reading beyond the text questions. There's no point in looking at those questions because they often add new information that you won't find in the passage.

Whatever you decide, practice it repeatedly so you can see when it works/when it breaks down and adjust accordingly.

 

[RocuROMANium]

How about skipping entire CARS passages and coming back to them when at first they aren’t making sense to you? Is this also subjective?

 

[Medical Muse]

How about skipping entire CARS passages and coming back to them when at first they aren’t making sense to you? Is this also subjective?

If I start reading a passage and don't understand it, I move on to the next passage. Something obviously didn't click (usually because I wasn't paying close attention). So, I'll go through and do the rest of the passages, and when I come back to the skipped passage, I'll look at the questions first. The technique has worked really well for me, but some people don't like it because they feel like it wastes time. Try it and see if it improves your score and timing.