{HELP!!} Not Improving in CARS. What do I do?

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JohnWall69

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HELP!!!

I've been working on CARS practically everyday doing about 3-5 passages each day all timed for 10 minutes. After each passage I review the answers, correct and incorrect, but especially the incorrect ones. I'm using TPRH Verbal 2011 and EK101, almost finished both of them soon and will move on to more practice using AAMC CARS QPacks. About 2 weeks ago I was getting 0-2 questions wrong per passage from TPRH and EK101 with the occasional hard passage (every 7 passages or so) I may get 3-4 wrong. I've been doing FLs and getting 60-70% in CARS which I think fluctuates quite a bit. I really want to break the 75%+ mark. {If I'm missing anything so that I can get a more thorough response let me know~!}

I have about a month and a bit until I write in September. What should I do to improve my score? T__T

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HELP!!!

I've been working on CARS practically everyday doing about 3-5 passages each day all timed for 10 minutes. After each passage I review the answers, correct and incorrect, but especially the incorrect ones. I'm using TPRH Verbal 2011 and EK101, almost finished both of them soon and will move on to more practice using AAMC CARS QPacks. About 2 weeks ago I was getting 0-2 questions wrong per passage from TPRH and EK101 with the occasional hard passage (every 7 passages or so) I may get 3-4 wrong. I've been doing FLs and getting 60-70% in CARS which I think fluctuates quite a bit. I really want to break the 75%+ mark. {If I'm missing anything so that I can get a more thorough response let me know~!}

I have about a month and a bit until I write in September. What should I do to improve my score? T__T
One thing I did was make an excel spreadsheet and tracked every single CARS passage I did, what KIND of question each was, and which I got wrong. I started noticing a pattern that I was only getting a certain type of question wrong, so I focused a lot on changing my specific technique. That could be a good place to start!
 
One thing I did was make an excel spreadsheet and tracked every single CARS passage I did, what KIND of question each was, and which I got wrong. I started noticing a pattern that I was only getting a certain type of question wrong, so I focused a lot on changing my specific technique. That could be a good place to start!

Brilliant! How do you classify the types of questions that you were getting wrong? For example are they broad like 'inference' questions or more specific like 'main idea of the passage' or 'what weaken's the author's argument'?

What and how did you change in your technique? I'm always going back to same sort of habits and don't really know what else to try that is different :(
 
Brilliant! How do you classify the types of questions that you were getting wrong? For example are they broad like 'inference' questions or more specific like 'main idea of the passage' or 'what weaken's the author's argument'?

What and how did you change in your technique? I'm always going back to same sort of habits and don't really know what else to try that is different :(
Let me dig up my old TPR CARS guide and I will get back to you in a little!
 
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Ok so the types of questions TPR says are used in CARS are:

Specific
-Retrieval
-Inference

General
-Main Idea/Purpose
-Tone/Attitude

Reasoning
-Structure
-Evaluate

Application
-Strengthen
-Weaken
-New Information
-Analogy

"Specific questions ask you for the answer that is best supported by a particular part of the author's argument. General questions ask you what is true of the passage as a whole. Reasoning questions ask you to describe some aspect of the logical structure of the argument. Application questions require you to apply new information to the passage."

I would first start figuring out which you have the toughest time with, and go from there. TPR also recommends ranking each of your passages in a practice test as "Now, Later, and Killer". Killer's are the hardest. Do all of the Now and Later's, so you have a better chance of getting more questions right in the allotted time. Then, use whatever time is left to dedicate to your killers.

While verbal reasoning has always come easier to me than other things, I used this exact kind of strategy when attacking my CARS passages. I did pretty well (128), so I hope it can help guide you!
 
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This is basically what I did for every single CARS passage I did. Even just seeing it right in front of me made me more aware. Once you figure out your "worst" type of question, I can help you further.

 
Ok so the types of questions TPR says are used in CARS are:

Specific
-Retrieval
-Inference

General
-Main Idea/Purpose
-Tone/Attitude

Reasoning
-Structure
-Evaluate

Application
-Strengthen
-Weaken
-New Information
-Analogy

"Specific questions ask you for the answer that is best supported by a particular part of the author's argument. General questions ask you what is true of the passage as a whole. Reasoning questions ask you to describe some aspect of the logical structure of the argument. Application questions require you to apply new information to the passage."

I would first start figuring out which you have the toughest time with, and go from there. TPR also recommends ranking each of your passages in a practice test as "Now, Later, and Killer". Killer's are the hardest. Do all of the Now and Later's, so you have a better chance of getting more questions right in the allotted time. Then, use whatever time is left to dedicate to your killers.

While verbal reasoning has always come easier to me than other things, I used this exact kind of strategy when attacking my CARS passages. I did pretty well (128), so I hope it can help guide you!

Thanks for taking the time to dig that up and giving a comprehensive reply!!! I've always approached my passages in a practice test sequentially (following EK's CARS strategy), but I notice that near the end I am either running low on time or finding it hard to concentrate because of the "killer" passages.

How do you identify a killer passage though? I don't want to read the passage, realize it's hard, waste the time reading it and then having to come back to re-read it again.
 
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Thanks for taking the time to dig that up and giving a comprehensive reply!!! I've always approached my passages in a practice test sequentially (following EK's CARS strategy), but I notice that near the end I am either running low on time or finding it hard to concentrate because of the "killer" passages.

How do you identify a killer passage though? I don't want to read the passage, realize it's hard, waste the time reading it and then having to come back to re-read it again.
You only use this first paragraph to determine this. DO NOT read the whole thing if you think it's a killer.
 
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Anybody know how to increase stamina for CARS? I find myself doing well for the first half of the CARS section, but seriously running out of gas near the end... Should I be doing 9 pages in a row timed from now on?
 
Endurance can be worked on outside of doing CARS passages. Increase your study blocks everyday gradually until you can reach 1H40M blocks without a break in concentration. When you're doing CARS passages never think of how many passages or how many questions you have left. Take every CARS section passage by passage or question by question.
 
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anyone else have tips or advice?? would love to hear any additional advice from the SDN community :>
 
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