What is your thought process when reading CARS passages and questions? Step by step process

[Wildestdreams25]

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[SahilMehtaMD]

The key to reading CARS passages is to make sure you are extracting meaning from everything that you read. So after you read each sentence, each paragraph, each passage, stop and think to yourself: "What did I just read?" Obviously, the more seamless and automatic this process is, the better -- you don't want to be pausing for minutes at a time to think about the passage. Still, you want to be verifying in some way that you understood what you read.

I find that this is a big differentiator between high CARS scorers and low CARS scorers. High CARS scorers read for understanding. Low CARS scorers just read. The term "reading" itself is sort of ambiguous. The sort reading we do all the time (think email, text messages, social media) is probably more accurately described as "skimming" and certainly won't suffice for CARS. Here's what I tell students: "Just because you looked at the words doesn't mean you understood the passage." You have to read to understand. This may sound obvious, but it is actually a profound, difficult practice. So much of the reading we do today is skimming that it can take a lot of mental willpower to shift into that higher "reading gear".

In terms of questions, one of the keys to tackling these is to identify exactly what you have to do answer the question. This boils down to three options: (1) go back to the passage before reading the answer choices, (2) go back to the passage after reading the answer choices, or (3) answer the question directly, without consulting the passage.

Every single time you answer a CARS question, you're doing one of these three things. And which option you choose depends on the question. If the question asks about a specific word or sentence from the passage, option (1) is probably your best bet. For questions such as "Which of the following passage statements is not supported by evidence?", option (2) is usually your best bet. And for general questions about the passage's overall tone or idea, (3) can be appropriate. The first thing you should do after you read a question is decide which of these three options to implement. That will put you on track to identify the relevant passsage info and answer the question correctly and efficiently.

Hope that gives you things to think about. All the best,
Sahil

 

[Wildestdreams25]

The key to reading CARS passages is to make sure you are extracting meaning from everything that you read. So after you read each sentence, each paragraph, each passage, stop and think to yourself: "What did I just read?" Obviously, the more seamless and automatic this process is, the better -- you don't want to be pausing for minutes at a time to think about the passage. Still, you want to be verifying in some way that you understood what you read.

I find that this is a big differentiator between high CARS scorers and low CARS scorers. High CARS scorers read for understanding. Low CARS scorers just read. The term "reading" itself is sort of ambiguous. The sort reading we do all the time (think email, text messages, social media) is probably more accurately described as "skimming" and certainly won't suffice for CARS. Here's what I tell students: "Just because you looked at the words doesn't mean you understood the passage." You have to read to understand. This may sound obvious, but it is actually a profound, difficult practice. So much of the reading we do today is skimming that it can take a lot of mental willpower to shift into that higher "reading gear".

In terms of questions, one of the keys to tackling these is to identify exactly what you have to do answer the question. This boils down to three options: (1) go back to the passage before reading the answer choices, (2) go back to the passage after reading the answer choices, or (3) answer the question directly, without consulting the passage.

Every single time you answer a CARS question, you're doing one of these three things. And which option you choose depends on the question. If the question asks about a specific word or sentence from the passage, option (1) is probably your best bet. For questions such as "Which of the following passage statements is not supported by evidence?", option (2) is usually your best bet. And for general questions about the passage's overall tone or idea, (3) can be appropriate. The first thing you should do after you read a question is decide which of these three options to implement. That will put you on track to identify the relevant passsage info and answer the question correctly and efficiently.

Hope that gives you things to think about. All the best,
Sahil

Thank you so much! So many CARS tips circulating around are very generic and don't really explain the inner mechanism of a good reader's mind vs a non-reader's. This makes it super clear. Do you think 1 month of intense practice (5 passages with intense reflection and focus) will help? I understand practice will help me eventually, but do you have any more suggestions on how to review these CARS passages? How do you detect a pattern?

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

I goy a 130 on CARS and this is what I wrote on a similar post:

CARS (really the whole MCAT) is a mind game. When you open a CARS passage does your brain go "fjkadkdjfskalsdjf THIS IS SOOO HARD AND I'M SCARED?" If so, you gotta break that thought pattern. You have to stop the emotional fear response and turn on the thinking side of your brian. My phrase I repeated to myself was "think with a cool head." When you read a passage you can (and should) be careful, cautious, and defensive, but you cannot be afraid. You should also be confident and find just a little edge of cockiness of "I am smarter than this passage."

Another strategy I found helpful was to read passages with a focus on the perspective each character has. Most CARS passages boil down to what six art historians think of a sculpture. If you have a basic understanding that historian A thinks the sculpture represents the downfall of communism, historian B thinks the sculpture is garbage, historian C thinks about the sculpture from the neoclassical perspective which means xyz, historian D thinks the sculpture represents the artist's futile quest for love, and so on, you will be able to easily answer most of the questions, even the obnoxious "which of the following, if true, would most likely contradict historian C" types of questions.

And finally, ABSOLUTELY take humanities classes that will make you read dense texts and write 25 page papers. These classes are difficult but can be incredibly rewarding and enriching. Let yourself fall in love with a certain type of history, anthropology, international relations, whatever. If you are able to read and write well, it will be the gift that keeps on giving for the entirety of your academic career and beyond.

DISCLAIMER: I am a native English speaker and have always been comfortable with reading and English literature. While that worked in my favor, I still did a lot of CARS practice and that was key to my success.