Reflection on CARS

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CJhooper123

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Would like to preface this by saying - I'm not great at CARS but I really got after it trying to improve.
I scored a 122 my first MCAT and a 126 my second MCAT.
This post is for those who struggle big time at CARS and are trying to tack on an extra 3+ points.

CARS is a pain but absolutely beatable. Do every CARS question you can get your hands on. Some people recommend "reading passages only" w/out doing any questions - I would argue the contrary. Read all the passages you can and answer all of the questions you can. The MCAT isn't testing your reading ability by itself. It is testing your ability to read, comprehend, and apply that knowledge to questions.

Plan
I guess the plan kind of matter when you are planning on taking the MCAT. When I was 3-4 months out, I did at least 3 CARS passages daily. Some days I did 5 passages together while others days I did 3. In the course of your week, I recommend picking one day to do a CARS test (9 passages). When you sit down to do your daily CARS practice, really try to simulate test conditions. Time yourself and don't let yourself go over the time limit. Practice in a quiet environment.

Resources
Doing at least 3 CARS passages daily requires a lot of resources. Obviously, use the AAMC Q-packs. It is ok to re-do these. I went through the Q-packs like 4 or 5 times. I also purchased some additional texts which I felt were helpful. If you were to only purchase one additional CARS book for practice, I would recommend NS108. In my opinion, NS1o8 offers the most representative questions of the AAMC material. I also purchased the old and new EK verbal textbooks. The new EK book has fairly accurate passages but horrific questions/answers. The old EK book is better overall than the new EK book, but the passage and question lengths were shorter.

Strategy
This is unique for everyone and becomes apparent w/ more practice questions. For me, it was read the passage as carefully as possible. This took me ~4-5 minutes on average. You can't answer questions unless you understand the passage. It is true, the more difficult it is to understand the passage, the easier the questions are. You can't rely on this though - read the passage and understand it.
W/ regards to timing, roughly try to hit these goals.
Passage w/ 5 questions - 9:00
Passage w/ 6 questions - 10:00
Passage w/ 7 questions - 11:00
If you get behind these goals during a test, do not panic and keep pressing on. The MCAT I scored a 122 on, I finished all of the passages and questions. The MCAT I scored a 126 on, I didn't finish the final 3 questions.

Review
Probably the most important part of your CARS practice. Whether it be daily practice questions or full-length exams, you have to review! Once finished, go through each individual passage and determine how many you got correct or incorrect. It doesn't matter if you got 7/7 or 1/5 on a passage, they all need to be reviewed - I've gotten 7/7 on a passage and been completely lucky. It's more important to spend time reviewing your practice than doing more questions! Follow these steps to maximize your review session.
1. Reread the passage slowly (slower than your test pace)
2. Reread the questions slowly
3. Reread the answer options
4. Explain to yourself why you selected the answer your did
5. Explain to yourself why the answer you selected was correct or incorrect
6. If incorrect, write down what the reason was (e.g. selected answer using subjectivity, incorrect scope)

Major Keys
Keep subjectivity out - Doing well on CARS requires you to read/understand the passage. All the information is there. The moment you bring "your opinion" or "outside knowledge" into answering the question, your doing yourself a disservice. This was by far my biggest problem. Do not overthink!

Chill out - Seriously. The timing for the CARS sections is brutal. The main goal of the test is to make you panic. If you keep your cool and chillax, your going to be ok. Do not worry about timing - unless you are finishing w/ 5+ questions unanswered. This is how you fail at CARS. Just keep pressing ahead. Some passages are meant to take 13-14 minutes. Chances are, there will be a passage down the stretch that will take 5 minutes.

Practice - We talking about practice?? Despite being a fan of AI's game (not a fan of throwing chairs at people in bowling alleys), you gotta practice. Especially w/ CARS. Just because you read a ton doesn't mean your going to do well. I read daily for like an hour - guess what, I suck at CARS. Some people can pick-up the CARS skill w/out any practice (I despise you all), most of us gotta grind it out.

Hope this was helpful - let me know if you have any Q's

CJHooper123

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