Retaking MCAT, CARS Study Material?

[Seattle111]

Last Aug., I took the MCAT and got a 510 broken down as 130 C/P, 125 CARS, 128 B/B, 127 P/S. My CARS score was so off from my practice tests. I found that I did the best in my practice exams’ CARS section when I connected with the passage and unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the actual MCAT’s passages so I think that’s why my score was so low.

I’m retaking it April 23 and started studying again in the beginning of January. My goal is 520. I am reviewing my TBR books again and added TPR Bio and TPR psych/soc. From reading SDN, I am looking at getting EK CARS - there’s the 11th Ed. EK Reasoning Manual and EK’s 101 CARS passages - which one is better? I may also get TPR CARS but I don’t see the latest edition sold separately - where can I just buy the 3rd Ed of TOR CARS? Someone also suggested getting an LSAT study guide for passages.

1st time around, I followed the SDN 3 month study plan. I went through all TBR review books ~2+ times, and UWorld. Did q-banks and section banks of AMMC and UWorld for all subjects and briefly went through the 100 pg PS doc since I found out about it just a couple of weeks before the test. I took all AAMC FL’s and 3 Next Step FL’s last summer for my 1st MCAT prep.

Any suggestions for these last 2 months of studying based on my MCAT score and study materials? I haven’t taken any practice exams yet and feel I need to start taking them soon. Should I start taking one practice test per week or more? Any additional study materials and practice exam suggestions?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[goodtime]

Last Aug., I took the MCAT and got a 510 broken down as 130 C/P, 125 CARS, 128 B/B, 127 P/S. My CARS score was so off from my practice tests. I found that I did the best in my practice exams’ CARS section when I connected with the passage and unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the actual MCAT’s passages so I think that’s why my score was so low.

I’m retaking it April 23 and started studying again in the beginning of January. My goal is 520. I am reviewing my TBR books again and added TPR Bio and TPR psych/soc. From reading SDN, I am looking at getting EK CARS - there’s the 11th Ed. EK Reasoning Manual and EK’s 101 CARS passages - which one is better? I may also get TPR CARS but I don’t see the latest edition sold separately - where can I just buy the 3rd Ed of TOR CARS? Someone also suggested getting an LSAT study guide for passages.

1st time around, I followed the SDN 3 month study plan. I went through all TBR review books ~2+ times, and UWorld. Did q-banks and section banks of AMMC and UWorld for all subjects and briefly went through the 100 pg PS doc since I found out about it just a couple of weeks before the test. I took all AAMC FL’s and 3 Next Step FL’s last summer for my 1st MCAT prep.

Any suggestions for these last 2 months of studying based on my MCAT score and study materials? I haven’t taken any practice exams yet and feel I need to start taking them soon. Should I start taking one practice test per week or more? Any additional study materials and practice exam suggestions?

How long did it take you to get through all that the first time you took it?

 

[jhmmd]

Last Aug., I took the MCAT and got a 510 broken down as 130 C/P, 125 CARS, 128 B/B, 127 P/S. My CARS score was so off from my practice tests. I found that I did the best in my practice exams’ CARS section when I connected with the passage and unfortunately, I didn’t connect with the actual MCAT’s passages so I think that’s why my score was so low.

I’m retaking it April 23 and started studying again in the beginning of January. My goal is 520. I am reviewing my TBR books again and added TPR Bio and TPR psych/soc. From reading SDN, I am looking at getting EK CARS - there’s the 11th Ed. EK Reasoning Manual and EK’s 101 CARS passages - which one is better? I may also get TPR CARS but I don’t see the latest edition sold separately - where can I just buy the 3rd Ed of TOR CARS? Someone also suggested getting an LSAT study guide for passages.

1st time around, I followed the SDN 3 month study plan. I went through all TBR review books ~2+ times, and UWorld. Did q-banks and section banks of AMMC and UWorld for all subjects and briefly went through the 100 pg PS doc since I found out about it just a couple of weeks before the test. I took all AAMC FL’s and 3 Next Step FL’s last summer for my 1st MCAT prep.

Any suggestions for these last 2 months of studying based on my MCAT score and study materials? I haven’t taken any practice exams yet and feel I need to start taking them soon. Should I start taking one practice test per week or more? Any additional study materials and practice exam suggestions?

Practice exams are going to be key and I feel like this is where you could stand to improve the most. Standard advice is to take a practice test every week or two until the test and make sure that you are scoring in your desired range (with the official AAMC practice tests).

I found EK to be great but rather sparse compared to what I learned going through the pre-reqs. Meant to annotate EK as I went through the pre-reqs, but just ended up annotating it with Kaplan. In any case, make sure you have a VERY solid fundamental understanding of the details as no detail can be deemed too trivial for the MCAT (sucks I know, but that's the nature of the beast).