Active Reading

[zerox117]

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How exactly do you guys go about reading actively when tackling these CARS passages? I know that this will improve comprehension vastly, but i'm not entirely sure how exactly to do it. If any of you can give some insight on this it would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

 

[Alkaidius]

Okay, so I can't guarantee that this'll work for you, but I went from a 36th percentile on my first MCAT to my current 82-97th preliminary in CARS by changing my technique (I used to just read the passages the way EK recommended). I realized that I got bored out of my skull and wound up zoning out without realizing it a lot, and I attributed it to being overwhelmed by the length of the passages. When I thought things like "Augh, i'm not even half-way done" that meant I immediately lost focus. So I decided to read the passages in bursts. Divide it mentally into paragraphs (small goals).

I would read the first paragraph, stop, and try to pick out the main idea of the passage when I did this. If it was there, great! If not, I noted what it could be and moved on. Eventually you should be accustomed to finding the authors tone and message. I found that by doing this after every paragraph, I started to connect the paragraphs by which ones helped the overall argument, which ones hindered it, etc. It also helped me remember where various details were more clearly in case the question targeted a specific part of the passage.

I also scribbled brief notes after every paragraph on my scratch paper, but I cannot recommend doing this. It is a time sink, and I only did it because I couldn't get into the habit of stopping to think after every paragraph without it. Overall, I must've spent about 10 minutes per passages (10 minutes/passage * 9 passages = 90 minutes) and barely finished. Of those 10 minutes I spent about 4-4.5 minutes reading it, so my method is highly frowned upon because most people on these forums recommend 7 minutes per passage. The best I can say is try various methods that increase your focus.

 

[zerox117]

Thank you! I will definitely try this out. I've been using the EK method also, and it works for me to an extent but there are just some passages that I just can't gather an overall tone or a main idea for that matter. So maybe these brief periods of stopping after 1-2 paragraphs to gather a point will help out with that. Also I really like the idea of that sort of mental passage map you inherently set up by determining what hinders and what helps the argument. Hope this works on the subjects that really bore me to death hahaha.

 

[panda16]

I used the Kaplan method of doing passage outlines, but then it started to get redundant for some CARS sections, especially those on the actual MCAT that were generally less dense than Kaplan FL's.

 

[basophilic]

Does anyone use

Okay, so I can't guarantee that this'll work for you, but I went from a 36th percentile on my first MCAT to my current 82-97th preliminary in CARS by changing my technique (I used to just read the passages the way EK recommended). I realized that I got bored out of my skull and wound up zoning out without realizing it a lot, and I attributed it to being overwhelmed by the length of the passages. When I thought things like "Augh, i'm not even half-way done" that meant I immediately lost focus. So I decided to read the passages in bursts. Divide it mentally into paragraphs (small goals).

I would read the first paragraph, stop, and try to pick out the main idea of the passage when I did this. If it was there, great! If not, I noted what it could be and moved on. Eventually you should be accustomed to finding the authors tone and message. I found that by doing this after every paragraph, I started to connect the paragraphs by which ones helped the overall argument, which ones hindered it, etc. It also helped me remember where various details were more clearly in case the question targeted a specific part of the passage.

I also scribbled brief notes after every paragraph on my scratch paper, but I cannot recommend doing this. It is a time sink, and I only did it because I couldn't get into the habit of stopping to think after every paragraph without it. Overall, I must've spent about 10 minutes per passages (10 minutes/passage * 9 passages = 90 minutes) and barely finished. Of those 10 minutes I spent about 4-4.5 minutes reading it, so my method is highly frowned upon because most people on these forums recommend 7 minutes per passage. The best I can say is try various methods that increase your focus.

In regards to your second paragraph, didn't you find this paragraph summarizing and synthesizing EXTREMELY time-consuming? How many minutes did you start with (in reading) and did you just improve it by practice?

 

[basophilic]

Also, do you guys use active reading for analyzing natural/social science passages? I've found writing down brief notes for each paragraph to be helpful in comprehending convoluted passages like those on Khan Academy.

 

[EverStriving]

I found that slowing down slightly while reading greatly improved my handling of CARS. Understanding the passages the first read through may take a little longer initially, but you make up all that time and then some by being able to answer the questions faster and with more confidence.

 

[Alkaidius]

In regards to your second paragraph, didn't you find this paragraph summarizing and synthesizing EXTREMELY time-consuming? How many minutes did you start with (in reading) and did you just improve it by practice?

Yes. It is, without a doubt, time consuming. In fact, had they not increased the length of this MCAT, I wouldn't even have suggested trying this. On average, the maximum length of time that you could spend per passage increased by 1-1.5 minutes. Which just so happened to be perfect for me, because I could never get over the 4-minute hump I had while reading with this method. I used this method on the previous MCAT, but I always wound up with only 30-ish seconds for the questions, not ideal, no? This way I at least had about 50 seconds, which is definitely doable.

That said, I am a naturally slow reader. I followed someone's advice like gospel for the first couple of months of my CARS practice, but reading passages in 3 minutes or less (and without the paragraph by paragraph analysis) I could NEVER get anything worthwhile from the passage. One day I decided to try the opposite end, reading slower, and had a slight point increase. Got the idea for the paragraph analysis reading, had another point increase. MCAT increased CARS length, had a massive point increase.

Also, do you guys use active reading for analyzing natural/social science passages? I've found writing down brief notes for each paragraph to be helpful in comprehending convoluted passages like those on Khan Academy.

Yeah, I basically used my CARS method for all the sections. On my first MCAT, I believed that if I could know all the facts, I would be able to answer any question almost as if it were a discreet. In theory, sound, but the problem with that is that I'm not some sort of genius lol. Too many questions made me scratch my head, and whenever I straight up got nothing out of the question I began to question my understanding of the material as a whole. You can't introduce doubt into the MCAT. There's enough on your plate already. On my second attempt I thought "why worry about having perfect understanding of the material when the key is in the passage 80% of the time"? I went with the passage-focused approach and never felt more confident. There's always at least a hint in the passage.

 

[El-Rami]

I would read the first paragraph, stop, and try to pick out the main idea of the passage when I did this. If it was there, great! If not, I noted what it could be and moved on. Eventually you should be accustomed to finding the authors tone and message. I found that by doing this after every paragraph, I started to connect the paragraphs by which ones helped the overall argument, which ones hindered it, etc. It also helped me remember where various details were more clearly in case the question targeted a specific part of the passage.

I don't use any company's recommended approach to reading passages, and this is what I basically do. I have not taken the MCAT, but I did score 94% on my CARS section on the AAMC FL. I've also scored 90+ percentile on verbal sections on standardized exams. Although you can't compare MCAT to ACT or whatever, I can tell you that it works. As long as you don't let yourself get bogged down, this is an effective strategy. You'll learn to skim over extraneous details you know is in there to slow you down while honing in on the important bits, which you highlight. The important bits are what you know could be asked about, such as statements that show author's tone, central thesis, opposing arguments, and evidence to back up said arguments. Highlighting helps me stay focused, but note-taking has always been pointless to me. Note-taking slows you down, and you should be highlighting the main ideas anyway. IMO scratch paper is only useful for science passages where you may want to draw free-body diagrams, punnet squares, and physiological processes.

Thinking about the paragraphs after you read them uses effortful processing, which is better than just reading the paragraphs and then thinking about what you read.

 

[Alkaidius]

Note-taking slows you down, and you should be highlighting the main ideas anyway.

I wholeheartedly agree, that's why I said I couldn't recommend doing that. I'm not particularly good at verbal. I got wrecked on the SATs, too, though I would probably do significantly better after discovering this little strategy. I never "took notes" I just scribbled random stuff while I thought about the main idea of the paragraph. Usually it was a nonsensical combination of words and most of the time it was also completely illegible. It's just that when I didn't write stuff down, I found that I gradually spent less and less time thinking about the paragraphs and reverted back into reading the passage from beginning to end. Writing was just my break pedal.

 

[zerox117]

I've noticed my retention increased substantially after thinking about each paragraph briefly after I read it. I've been trying to finish each passage around ~4 minutes which typically leaves me with 4 minutes to answer questions (Timing myself on an 8 min timer to increase overall efficiency) Do you feel that 8 minutes is fine for practicing passages given that the time is now 10 mins per passage or should I still be trying to hit 7 minutes total?

 

[Alkaidius]

I've noticed my retention increased substantially after thinking about each paragraph briefly after I read it. I've been trying to finish each passage around ~4 minutes which typically leaves me with 4 minutes to answer questions (Timing myself on an 8 min timer to increase overall efficiency) Do you feel that 8 minutes is fine for practicing passages given that the time is now 10 mins per passage or should I still be trying to hit 7 minutes total?

Awesomepossum. I'll tell you right away, that it's always best to assume that you'll be spending more time on average per passage on test day just because you'll be stressed out, and because you'll feel the weight of every question on your shoulders. I would say feel free to increase your pace as long as you're not seeing a decrease in score. I felt a giant gap in score between 8.5 minutes and 10 minutes (hence my CARS spike despite not changing my strategy) so I just went with taking longer per passage. But if you're getting about the same scores, absolutely, try for faster.

 

[zerox117]

Alkaidius you da man! My verbal has jumped from averaging 50-60% to 70-80% under an 8 minute timer. Thank you!!! I hope I can push a consistent 90% by September 3 (My MCAT date). 10 weeks of practice to go! Now my question to you is, was it because of stress that you were taking longer or were the passages actually longer? I hear the dimensions of those computer screens make passages seem much longer so I am really hoping that's whats causing it.

 

[Alkaidius]

Alkaidius you da man! My verbal has jumped from averaging 50-60% to 70-80% under an 8 minute timer. Thank you!!! I hope I can push a consistent 90% by September 3 (My MCAT date). 10 weeks of practice to go! Now my question to you is, was it because of stress that you were taking longer or were the passages actually longer? I hear the dimensions of those computer screens make passages seem much longer so I am really hoping that's whats causing it.

Glad it's working out for you! Personally, no I don't think they're actually longer. But I do feel that they're more dense. A lot of practice passages, especially those in EK 101 are a lot of fluff, and many of them are even fun to read. Those on the MCAT will have more meat in them to try and navigate through. Paragraphs will have multiple points...the author might go off on a tangent...you'll know it when you see it. My best advice for you at this point, is to just do what you're doing. But if you ever collide with those kind of passage, don't panic. Utilize the time you saved as a buffer. Had I been a faster reader, that's what I would've done. But, alas, I'm bad at this so I just stuck to 10 minutes per passage lol.

 

[GEToutLADYits6AM]

Awesomepossum. I'll tell you right away, that it's always best to assume that you'll be spending more time on average per passage on test day just because you'll be stressed out, and because you'll feel the weight of every question on your shoulders. I would say feel free to increase your pace as long as you're not seeing a decrease in score. I felt a giant gap in score between 8.5 minutes and 10 minutes (hence my CARS spike despite not changing my strategy) so I just went with taking longer per passage. But if you're getting about the same scores, absolutely, try for faster.

Your method is really good, I think with time I will hopefully able to articulate better ideas of what I read after each paragraph. Do you the same method in other sections also?

 

[Alkaidius]

Your method is really good, I think with time I will hopefully able to articulate better ideas of what I read after each paragraph. Do you the same method in other sections also?

Yeah, I treated the entire MCAT as a giant CARS section with some content sprinkled on it. The non-CARS passages didn't take nearly as long to read though, so I treated the graphs like paragraphs and devoted, for example, 20-30 seconds to look at them and tell myself what I got out of them (like the post paragraph analysis of CARS).

 

[GEToutLADYits6AM]

Yeah, I treated the entire MCAT as a giant CARS section with some content sprinkled on it. The non-CARS passages didn't take nearly as long to read though, so I treated the graphs like paragraphs and devoted, for example, 20-30 seconds to look at them and tell myself what I got out of them (like the post paragraph analysis of CARS).

Did you stop after every paragraph during biology/psychology and summarized points also?
Do you have tips on articulating what you read after the paragraph

 

[Alkaidius]

Did you stop after every paragraph during biology/psychology and summarized points also?
Do you have tips on articulating what you read after the paragraph

Yeah, but I was always faster on all the other sections because they generally had significantly shorter passages. I focused more on graphs, because they generally accomplished the exact same thing the text did.

If you do the paragraph-by-paragraph analysis, I would recommend starting off with a checklist of things to look for before moving on to the next paragraph. Initially, I just did it to reinforce the information, it helps with memorization without going out of your way to memorize it. Then I started searching for any sign of the author in them. Whether the opinion of the author in the current paragraph was consistent with the opinion in the preceding paragraphs (sometimes it's wishy washy. In those instances I searched for a word that was a clear black and white indicator and stuck to it). Eventually I started assuming that each paragraph had a purpose and got into the habit of categorizing paragraphs according to what they accomplish for the argument (helps with the pesky "why did the author say X" questions). Beyond that, you need to tailor your thinking to the unique passage.

 

[GEToutLADYits6AM]

Yeah, but I was always faster on all the other sections because they generally had significantly shorter passages. I focused more on graphs, because they generally accomplished the exact same thing the text did.

If you do the paragraph-by-paragraph analysis, I would recommend starting off with a checklist of things to look for before moving on to the next paragraph. Initially, I just did it to reinforce the information, it helps with memorization without going out of your way to memorize it. Then I started searching for any sign of the author in them. Whether the opinion of the author in the current paragraph was consistent with the opinion in the preceding paragraphs (sometimes it's wishy washy. In those instances I searched for a word that was a clear black and white indicator and stuck to it). Eventually I started assuming that each paragraph had a purpose and got into the habit of categorizing paragraphs according to what they accomplish for the argument (helps with the pesky "why did the author say X" questions). Beyond that, you need to tailor your thinking to the unique passage.

Do you mouth the words when you read? Some of these passages are difficult to understand.

 

[Alkaidius]

Do you mouth the words when you read? Some of these passages are difficult to understand.

LOL. I was worried that at any time a proctor would come and tell me I was being too loud. During practice, I was practically talking to myself. But considering I wasn't kicked out, I think I managed to keep it to a subtle whisper. Hard to tell with those muffs over your ears.

 

[lilian3]

LOL. I was worried that at any time a proctor would come and tell me I was being too loud. During practice, I was practically talking to myself. But considering I wasn't kicked out, I think I managed to keep it to a subtle whisper. Hard to tell with those muffs over your ears.

thank you, you are so helpful! I'm doing the AAMC question pack verbal passages and I am following you advice. I feel like i get the general points, but I still miss half of the questions. I'm really confused why one answer is better than the other. I'm consistently getting 35-36 out 53 :/

Solutions in the NextStep diagnostic test summarized every point for every paragraph. I really liked that. Any other test that does that? It helps to clarify that I am getting the same main ideas.

 

[Alkaidius]

thank you, you are so helpful! I'm doing the AAMC question pack verbal passages and I am following you advice. I feel like i get the general points, but I still miss half of the questions. I'm really confused why one answer is better than the other. I'm consistently getting 35-36 out 53 :/

Solutions in the NextStep diagnostic test summarized every point for every paragraph. I really liked that. Any other test that does that? It helps to clarify that I am getting the same main ideas.

Personally, I would highly recommend getting ExamKracker's 101 Passages if you haven't already. They're renown as the most representative passages in terms of style of passage and question to the actual CARS section. Try following their logic and see if you improve.