Which CARS should I be practicing?

[Sharoo]

Hey everyone! So I am trying to self study at the moment, I have taken the TPR course, and I am trying to take the shortened exam by Sept. 28th I have taken 1 AAMC Offical FL, and one TPR FL. Currently, as I am self-studying, I have been doing TPR CARS, and I have found that I do much, much worse (Around 35-50% on average) compared to when I use Khan Academy. I don't like Kaplan's Q-Bank as from my experience it does not allow you to go back on questions that you have done previously, and in some cases, it has given me questions I know I won't have on the exam (i.e: questions that LITERALLY had more than 1 right answer, and you had to select all true answers). I have the following questions

1) Is TPR really representative of what the official AAMC CARS section will be like? Is it much harder, should I be doing it?

2) Is Khan Academy CARS up to the standard (In terms of passage/question difficulty) compared to the AAMC?

3) I was hoping you could rank the following in terms of which one is the best to use (Aside from Official AAMC) to prepare for the CARS portion of the exam, and will give me the most accurate representation of both my score, and what I need to work on:

- Kaplan: MCAT Prep - Courses & Test Prep
- Princeton Review: MCAT Test Prep | MCAT Prep Course | The Princeton Review
- Khan Academy: MCAT | Test prep | Khan Academy
- Exam Krackers: Examkrackers – MCAT Prep Classes, Books, and Practice Tests
- U-World: MCAT Practice Test | 1,900+ Practice Questions | UWorld Grad School
- Blueprint Prep (Previously called "Next Step): MCAT Practice Questions | Blueprint Prep

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[JimKimSlim]

1) I wish I could help, but I never used TPR materials so cannot comment on that one.
2) I found KA CARS problems fairly decent, although it's not as good as the AAMC CARS Qpacks. I think their passage difficulty is spot-on, but their problems aren't exceptionally good.
3) Of the resources listed, I only used Kaplan and Khan Academy. KA is much better than Kaplan, and I've heard U-World has decent passages but cannot attest. However, I would like to share my experience that none of my third party resources felt the same as AAMC materials. I only used third party resources to practice timing rather than understanding their logic. For instance, when I took Altius FL's, I would average around 125 (122-128), but I got a 128 on AAMC FL's and the actual test.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

This will be personal preference and others might disagree, but for me:

UWorld > KA = EK > NS > Kaplan

I don't have much experience with TPR, so I can't speak for it.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Icebird]

EK I thought was the most authentic to the actual AAMC passages and question types.

 

[Sharoo]

1) I wish I could help, but I never used TPR materials so cannot comment on that one.
2) I found KA CARS problems fairly decent, although it's not as good as the AAMC CARS Qpacks. I think their passage difficulty is spot-on, but their problems aren't exceptionally good.
3) Of the resources listed, I only used Kaplan and Khan Academy. KA is much better than Kaplan, and I've heard U-World has decent passages but cannot attest. However, I would like to share my experience that none of my third party resources felt the same as AAMC materials. I only used third party resources to practice timing rather than understanding their logic. For instance, when I took Altius FL's, I would average around 125 (122-128), but I got a 128 on AAMC FL's and the actual test.

Thank you for the thorough feedback! I appreciate it

 

[Sharoo]

This will be personal preference and others might disagree, but for me:

UWorld > KA = EK > NS > Kaplan

I don't have much experience with TPR, so I can't speak for it.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

Cool, thank you for ranking them

 

[Sharoo]

EK I thought was the most authentic to the actual AAMC passages and question types.

Thank you my friend, I have heard that too, I am trying to get the most feedback I can, thanks!

 

[hall1ms1b]

Thanks for asking this question Sharoo. Anyone know where I can get the standalone TPR cars 3rd edition? Website doesn't have it, only sells the full set. Amazon has 2nd edition (2016) only. I already checked craigslist and offerup.

 

[para528]

EK I thought was the most authentic to the actual AAMC passages and question types.

Are you referring to the new EK (for new mcat) or old EK (EK verbal)?