Cars 2.0

[deleted853480]

Is it true that the p/s section is now more like a cars 2.0? How important are the definitions for this section?

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[Dochopeful13]

Is it true that the p/s section is now more like a cars 2.0? How important are the definitions for this section?

@Cornfed101

 

[Cornfed101]

I didn't feel like that was true. The AAMC is definitely interested in your ability to analyze passages though. You need to be able to do that for all 4 sections. If you know your definitions and can differentiate between very similar ones (confirmation bias vs belief bias type stuff) you should be golden. That was my highest subscore at 130 and it was harder than all the FLs, but not different in style.

 

[deleted853480]

I didn't feel like that was true. The AAMC is definitely interested in your ability to analyze passages though. You need to be able to do that for all 4 sections. If you know your definitions and can differentiate between very similar ones (confirmation bias vs belief bias type stuff) you should be golden. That was my highest subscore at 130 and it was harder than all the FLs, but not different in style.

How many practice p/s passages did you do? I’ve done all of uworld, khan academy and most of aamc thus far. I’m working through ns but don’t like it.

 

[Dochopeful13]

How many practice p/s passages did you do? I’ve done all of uworld, khan academy and most of aamc thus far. I’m working through ns but don’t like it.

Do you consider NS P/S similar to AAMC style?

 

[deleted853480]

Not at all.

 

[Dochopeful13]

Not at all.

More difficult? I didn’t do that great with NS passages. Which surprised me because psych stuff is my strong point. I haven’t tried aamc yet though.

 

[Cornfed101]

How many practice p/s passages did you do? I’ve done all of uworld, khan academy and most of aamc thus far. I’m working through ns but don’t like it.

I did most of UWorld, AAMC, and went through the 86 page KA doc. NS is alright. I don't remember it being super far off. I definitely thought UWorld was the best. Their explanations are second to none, really helped me nail down the differences between similar terms.

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

I've been hearing that it was CARS 2.0 from since I was studying for the exam over 1.5 years ago and people still come out of the exam present day and say it wasn't much different than the practice exams. Best thing you can do is memorize all of the terms and theories and do as many practice problems as possible so you can see how the terms get applied. I hope that helps and if you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask!!

 

[Dochopeful13]

I've been hearing that it was CARS 2.0 from since I was studying for the exam over 1.5 years ago and people still come out of the exam present day and say it wasn't much different than the actual exam. Best thing you can do is memorize all of the terms and theories and do as many practice problems as possible so you can see how the terms get applied. I hope that helps and if you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask!!

I bought your science Q book. I haven’t started using it yet but do you think the psych/Soc questions will really help with this section since it is mostly memorization?

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Are you referring to the book with the discrete questions? If so, I think that's extremely helpful for P/S and C/P as well, since you'll get to use all of the equations and apply them very directly. That book will definitely help with solidifying terms, but also make sure to do ample passage practice as well.

 

[deleted936470]

It isn’t CARS 2.0 if ~80% of the questions ask for rote recall of a definition or theory. I disagree with the popular sentiment in here, but on second thought I wouldn’t be surprised at large variations between test versions. Anyway, you cannot go wrong with Khan Academy and Anki and I know several other users with similar scores who’d recommend the same.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I'm not sure how much is fair to share here, but I would say that half of my passage could have been accurately described as CARS 2.0. KA and the 300 page doc were extremely helpful for about half of the test. The other half definitely felt like CARS writers doing P/S passages, particularly the one that had more of a sociology component.

 

[deleted853480]

I'm not sure how much is fair to share here, but I would say that half of my passage could have been accurately described as CARS 2.0. KA and the 300 page doc were extremely helpful for about half of the test. The other half definitely felt like CARS writers doing P/S passages, particularly the one that had more of a sociology component.

Would you say it’s is like cars were you have to know 1000 terms?

 

[Cornfed101]

Let’s just say this. When I improved in CARS my score improved in every section. All the other sections are “CARS 2.0” because the AAMC likes passage analysis. Just learn how to digest passages. It will help with the whole test

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Would you say it’s is like cars were you have to know 1000 terms?

You could definitely get everything you needed from the passage in terms of vocabulary, but the questions were more than just recall of terminology. Like cornfed says, you have to process the passages to be able to apply the information.

 

[deleted936470]

You could definitely get everything you needed from the passage in terms of vocabulary, but the questions were more than just recall of terminology. Like cornfed says, you have to process the passages to be able to apply the information.

This is not true. Also, nobody claims that you can ignore the passages and still answer the questions. You have to understand the context, sure, but the questions primarily test rote recall. For instance, if you don't know what a fixed interval schedule is, the passage is NOT going to explain it to you.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

This is not true. Also, nobody claims that you can ignore the passages and still answer the questions. You have to understand the context, sure, but the questions primarily test rote recall. For instance, if you don't know what a fixed interval schedule is, the passage is NOT going to explain it to you.

Thinking back on it, you're right. I had so much of the terminology crunched into my brain that I was fine on the memorization questions and never consulted the passage. I guess what I mean is that for the CARS 2.0 passages on my exam, there were terms I had never seen before in studying that were straight from the passage. I'd say that two thirds of my exam was rote memorization and that the 300-page doc did the trick and one third were CARS 2.0 where you needed to extract information from the passage. This wasn't just terminology, but interpreting what was going on with the subject in the passage.