Scored FL CARS

[remedy23]

How did you guys feel about the scored FL CARS?

I found it a bit difficult with not only dense passages, but also answer choices that were hard to distinguish between.

How did the real AAMC compare? Most people say it's in between the difficulty of the sample FL (easy) and the scored FL (hard).

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[premedkid1994]

How did you guys feel about the scored FL CARS?

I found it a bit difficult with not only dense passages, but also answer choices that were hard to distinguish between.

How did the real AAMC compare? Most people say it's in between the difficulty of the sample FL (easy) and the scored FL (hard).

I believe most people have said their real mcat CARS was the same level of difficulty as the scored fl CARS

 

[sleepyhead22]

Mine was about the same as or harder than the scored FL CARS. Passages were boring and dense and even the questions/answers were long and hard to choose between 2. Also practice for a couple of days with the font larger on your computer than you normally have it. The large font made every passage feel long.

 

[beOncogene]

I thought the CARS on mine was not as hard as the scored. I remember when I took the scored, I had no clue what I was reading on CARS and had to make a bunch of guesses (got a 127- don't know how). On the real one, it was an easier read for me, but it was much longer though. I did run out of time on the real with about 10 minutes to finish the last 2 passages. So the difficulty of CARS, to me anyway, really depend on the kinds of passages that you get. I am sure you have noticed by now after taking practice tests that you tend to do well on certain types of passages. So on test day, it also also depends on luck. I guess I was lucky that I didn't get passages similar to the scored or I would have voided it.

 

[MareNostrummm]

The real MCAT is slightly more difficult than scored CARS due to longer passages (8-9 paragraphs). If you did poorly on the scored CARS (you felt like some of the passage authors took you on a wild trip) expect to do very similarly (within 2 points) on your MCAT. I would recommend delaying your test and getting a tutor if you aren't hitting 127-128+ on the scored CARS.

Sample FL CARS is not representative at all. It seems like the AAMC just grabbed a bunch of easy passages and threw them together haphazardly to form the sample FL CARS, whereas the scored FL actually has designated difficult/easy passages (the photography one...)

 

[DocPanda]

So most people score about the same as the scored FL for CARS? I got a 70% on the scored which translated to 125. It's a bummer but I worked hard to even get my CARS up to 70% even though it's not that great. Never been good with CARS.

 

[MareNostrummm]

So most people score about the same as the scored FL for CARS? I got a 70% on the scored which translated to 125. It's a bummer but I worked hard to even get my CARS up to 70% even though it's not that great. Never been good with CARS.

The majority of people score within 2 points. You can look at the user reported data (sampling bias but whatever, people still scored similarly)

 

[DocPanda]

The majority of people score within 2 points. You can look at the user reported data (sampling bias but whatever, people still scored similarly)

That's not reassuring. I know I can easily drop 2-3 pts depending on the test day condition and the passages I get.

 

[southernpremed2]

^ I feel the same way. I feel like I could score around my average or below depending on the types of passages I have and if I can focus well throughout the entire section.

 

[remedy23]

^ feel the same way

I was doing better in the question packs, and then to get hit with a 124 on the scored, which is the same score I got on my MCAT last year, is a little discouraging

The month of waiting is going to be awful

 

[southernpremed2]

I'm not even sure what I'm going to score on the scored FL yet, lol...but what's really helped me improve my CARS scores was going back and seeing the types of questions I missed and why I missed them. I was missing mainly author's opinion questions, but once I was able to get that down, I improved on those questions. Also I learned I tend to miss questions when I don't think through all the answer choices.

 

[DocPanda]

I'm not even sure what I'm going to score on the scored FL yet, lol...but what's really helped me improve my CARS scores was going back and seeing the types of questions I missed and why I missed them. I was missing mainly author's opinion questions, but once I was able to get that down, I improved on those questions. Also I learned I tend to miss questions when I don't think through all the answer choices.

Let us know if you improved on the scored. To me, scored CARS was about the same level as qpack 1 but the passages felt longer. I've been doing my passage practice under timed condition so I actually had time left over on the scored.

 

[southernpremed2]

I'm hoping to score a 125. I'd honestly be relieved to score a 125 lol. But I do understand the concern that you could score within 2 points of that score. Also, is a 125 a 9 or 8 on the old MCAT scale? I've been scoring 126 on NS and I got 126 and 127 on GS CARs tests. I took all the EK tests and found those CARS sections to be pretty difficult, but I scored around 68% on Ek 1 an 2 but that was back in middle of May. I didn't do as well on Ek 3 and EK 4 but those weren't much lower than EK 1 and 2.

 

[DocPanda]

I'm hoping to score a 125. I'd honestly be relieved to score a 125 lol. But I do understand the concern that you could score within 2 points of that score. Also, is a 125 a 9 or 8 on the old MCAT scale? I've been scoring 126 on NS and I got 126 and 127 on GS CARs tests. I took all the EK tests and found those CARS sections to be pretty difficult, but I scored around 68% on Ek 1 an 2 but that was back in middle of May. I didn't do as well on Ek 3 and EK 4 but those weren't much lower than EK 1 and 2.

I think 125 is about 8 on the old scale. I usually do really bad on NS CARS because I don't really put too much energy into those. I think their CARS is not good or representative..some of the questions they ask, I'm just like this does not sound very AAMC. I think there was a question once that asked what would be the title of the passage and that was the only passage that they didn't have the reference at the end for lol

 

[southernpremed2]

Yeah I didn't really like NS CARs. Did you use any other CARs material that seemed closer to the AAMC? I've almost finished the EK 101 book and I've really liked that

 

[DocPanda]

None of the test prep companies are really representative of AAMC. I actually felt that the more I got used to doing other test prep's materials, the worse I did on AAMC passages so I stopped. EK is probably the closest but even their questions are not that great. So I've been just redoing the qpacks, but doing what you're doing with really understanding the author's main point and stuff like that.

 

[southernpremed2]

edited

 

[DocPanda]

I didn't find some of the CARS packs to be too difficult, as long as you understood the main idea and checked back to the passage to confirm

CARS pack 1 was difficult for me..especially the first half. Pack 2 was fairly reasonable and not very difficult.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I think 125 is about 8 on the old scale. I usually do really bad on NS CARS because I don't really put too much energy into those. I think their CARS is not good or representative..some of the questions they ask, I'm just like this does not sound very AAMC. I think there was a question once that asked what would be the title of the passage and that was the only passage that they didn't have the reference at the end for lol

123 (37th percentile) is the exact same percentage as the old 7VR.
124 is closer to an 8 while 125 is closer to a 9 now.

https://students-residents.aamc.org/advisors/article/percentile-ranks-for-the-mcat-exam/

 

[DocPanda]

123 (37th percentile) is the exact same percentage as the old 7VR.
124 is closer to an 8 while 125 is closer to a 9 now.

https://students-residents.aamc.org/advisors/article/percentile-ranks-for-the-mcat-exam/

I'll take a 9. I read that some schools require you to have 125 in every section so I guess now they want equivalent to 9's..I remember 8 was the cut off line for the old test.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I'll take a 9. I read that some schools require you to have 125 in every section so I guess now they want equivalent to 9's..I remember 8 was the cut off line for the old test.

125 seems like a better cutoff (nice number), but is realistically the 62nd percentile instead of being near 50% like you would expect.

 

[southernpremed2]

edited

 

[DocPanda]

Oh wow. I kept thinking a 124 was a 7. Good to know. Yeah I think the median now is a 125. I know a few of the schools I'm applying to screen out for anything below an 8 equivalent so I guess a 123.

You gotta be careful on that. I was looking at some schools and I remember reading that they want no score below 125. I think 125 is actually the cut off..they don't really do the old school/new school conversion it seems.

 

[premedkid1994]

You gotta be careful on that. I was looking at some schools and I remember reading that they want no score below 125. I think 125 is actually the cut off..they don't really do the old school/new school conversion it seems.

schools have yet to update their cutoffs with the new percentiles that AAMC released I believe.
before 50 percentile was 125 when AAMC first released scores.. They recently changed their percentiles and I think 125 is now 55-60 percentile. So schools will probably take that into consideration in the near future. I am pretty sure every school goes off percentile, not score.

 

[MareNostrummm]

You gotta be careful on that. I was looking at some schools and I remember reading that they want no score below 125. I think 125 is actually the cut off..they don't really do the old school/new school conversion it seems.

Georgetown is the only university I've seen that states anything <125 is non-competitive

https://som.georgetown.edu/prospectivestudents/degrees/md/guide

 

[MareNostrummm]

schools have yet to update their cutoffs with the new percentiles that AAMC released I believe.
before 50 percentile was 125 when AAMC first released scores.. They recently changed their percentiles and I think 125 is now 55-60 percentile. So schools will probably take that into consideration in the near future. I am pretty sure every school goes off percentile, not score.

I hope so, its easier for schools to just flat out say "nothing below 125" but the percentiles are much more accurate.

 

[salemstein]

Srsly, CARS is a bunch of BS. Sometimes they try so hard to trick you it makes me laugh. I did notice, however, on the real MCAT they broke their rule of 600 words per passage and maybe had a few with 650-700 words. Some had less than 600 words for sure, so it balances out.

 

[southernpremed2]

Yeah, I did remember reading hat 125 is top of the curve so that would be competitive...

 

[southernpremed2]

edited