HELP! CARS tutoring?

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So I've always been a bit weak in verbal (score ranges from 8-9). I'm looking for some CARS tutoring, but am not sure which path to take 😕 TPR private tutoring costs around $300/hr, which is really expensive…so much that I'm not sure if that's worth it?! People talk about Jack Westin a lot on SDN too, but I can't help but be a little skeptical because I've never heard of him. Has anyone taken him before? Is he legit? Otherwise, does anyone else know of good tutoring companies for verbal?!
 
So I've always been a bit weak in verbal (score ranges from 8-9). I'm looking for some CARS tutoring, but am not sure which path to take 😕 TPR private tutoring costs around $300/hr, which is really expensive…so much that I'm not sure if that's worth it?! People talk about Jack Westin a lot on SDN too, but I can't help but be a little skeptical because I've never heard of him. Has anyone taken him before? Is he legit? Otherwise, does anyone else know of good tutoring companies for verbal?!
I didn't use Jack for my own MCAT studying, as I didn't run into him until afterwards, but I did sit through a couple of sessions out of curiosity. He did a good job of distilling the questions to their simplest essence. A lot of what he said mirrored the thought processes that I finally clicked onto during my last few weeks of VR practice, for whatever that's worth (VR was my weakest section, but I managed to pull a 12 on the real deal). If time is a consistent problem for you in VR, or if you find yourself second-guessing your answers a lot, I'd give it a shot.
 
I didn't use Jack for my own MCAT studying, as I didn't run into him until afterwards, but I did sit through a couple of sessions out of curiosity. He did a good job of distilling the questions to their simplest essence. A lot of what he said mirrored the thought processes that I finally clicked onto during my last few weeks of VR practice, for whatever that's worth (VR was my weakest section, but I managed to pull a 12 on the real deal). If time is a consistent problem for you in VR, or if you find yourself second-guessing your answers a lot, I'd give it a shot.

I see…I understand that he's an amazing tutor for the old MCAT verbal, but do you think he is a good choice for the new CARS section (considering it's different and no one has done it before)? I suspect the Q's and style vary from the old verbal...
 
I see…I understand that he's an amazing tutor for the old MCAT verbal, but do you think he is a good choice for the new CARS section (considering it's different and no one has done it before)? I suspect the Q's and style vary from the old verbal...
Honestly, they can call it whatever they like...as far as I'm concerned it's all just semantics. Fwiw, the spiel from Jack seems to be 'I am a CARS tutor showing you how to apply that technique to VR' so make of that what you will.

At any rate, given that no 2015 exam scores are back, I don't think anyone is going to be able to concretely/satisfactorily answer this question :shrug:
 
Honestly, they can call it whatever they like...as far as I'm concerned it's all just semantics. Fwiw, the spiel from Jack seems to be 'I am a CARS tutor showing you how to apply that technique to VR' so make of that what you will.

At any rate, given that no 2015 exam scores are back, I don't think anyone is going to be able to concretely/satisfactorily answer this question :shrug:

Yeah, it's a difficult time…Are you saying that you took Jack's classes after you wrote your MCAT? Did you pay for the sessions you took?
 
Yeah, it's a difficult time…Are you saying that you took Jack's classes after you wrote your MCAT? Did you pay for the sessions you took?
No, I didn't take them. I did not pay, and actually have no idea what the costs are. I sat in on a free session out of curiosity.
 
No, I didn't take them. I did not pay, and actually have no idea what the costs are. I sat in on a free session out of curiosity.

I see…but you did use his technique (or something similar to it) during the last 2 weeks before your mcat? Did it help you?
 
I can tutor you. Verbal/cars is a specialty of mine. Pm me for more details.
 
I see…but you did use his technique (or something similar to it) during the last 2 weeks before your mcat? Did it help you?
A few weeks before my MCAT, I finally 'clicked' on verbal. I had been scoring completely erratically, from 6s to 11s. After I got into my groove, I took the AAMC Verbal SA, then my 5 FLs. I got 95% on the SA and 12, 13, 12, 14, 14 on my FLs. I got a 12 on the real deal.

I am fairly active on these forums, and after a few threads where we were both contributing MCAT advice, Jack offered to let me sit in on a session or so to see his method. I did so, and found that a lot of the strategies that he espouses were things that I had started doing, albeit less explicitly, during my last few weeks. I thought it was a good strategy, slightly different from my own, but better suited to those who do not read as quickly as I do than mine would be. I thought that he did a good job of making open and explicit some successful thought processes which typically are 'under the hood', so to speak, and thus difficult to actively improve.

I am being blunt about the fact that I have no direct MCAT improvement story involving Jack. I didn't need him, so to speak, though I may have benefited anyway had I run into him before my exam. If you want those stories, go look through his threads, there are tons of them.
I don't care whether you use him or not; I've got no skin in the game. I don't know him personally, you personally, make any money, etc. A question was asked and I have a perspective on it, so I answered. For the person above (not the one I quoted) who is quasi-ordering me to give them more details...there aren't any more, and if there were, too bad. It's a forum, you don't get an auto-ticket into everyone's head. If you don't like what I'm saying, feel free to ignore it.
 
"Quasi ordering you to give details" ? i called you out for your lie
 
"Quasi ordering you to give details" ? i called you out for your lie
I didn't lie? What are you talking about? Seriously, the two posts you quoted even use near-identical wording.
 
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I highly recommend Jack. You can attend his trial session to see if he is the correct tutor for you.
 
I also highly recommend Jack. I contacted him about 6 weeks before my MCAT when I was feeling lost in verbal. He gave me strategy, confidence, and direction, and I was pleased when I went from scoring below 10s to scoring a 12 on the real thing.
 
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