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Will reading articles in Cell or Nature help me for CARS??
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I would recommend reading a lot of different things - it’s been a hot sec since I took CARS, but I actually think humanities type readings are more important than Cell or Nature articles. Reading journal articles is a good thing for improving your scientific literacy though.
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Is there anything you recommend specifically?
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I strongly agree that Humanities readings are more important for CARS specifically.
How long do you have until your test date? That could help us tailor our suggestions. 🙂
If you have plenty of time and aren't actively studying for the MCAT yet, The Atlantic is really good for this. It was what was recommended in the original, pre-2015 SN2ed study plan. I started doing that many years ago. I don't know for sure because I didn't have a baseline, but I feel it made me more comfortable with CARS passages and contributed to me doing well on that section.
You can read some articles per month there without a subscription to give it a try.
I also tried the free stuff from Jack Westin. You have to pay to check your work on the questions. I didn't do that mostly because I was on a very limited budget. I subscribed to Jack Westin's free email list to have one CARS passage per day sent to my email account. I read one a day while I was checking my email in the mornings to get used to reading for themes in passages that are representative of what I'd see on CARS.
Do you have any interest in humanities subjects like history, philosophy, psychology/sociology, etc? If so, get some books from the library on that and read them! It'll be good for your ability to figure out what words mean from context.
I recommend JW as well, except I didn't pay and I was still able to answer the daily free questions and check my responses.
It's an easy 10 minutes per day. It's not very representative of AAMC, imo. Nothing really is, though. I just thought it was good practice for speed and timing.
I don't think you'll get any help from reading any specific subject. Nothing will truly prepare you for good ol' AAMC logic other than the official prep materials.
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How were you able to check your answers? I remember answering the questions but recall hitting a paywall when I would press the button at the end to see if I was right or wrong.
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Not really. I'd recommend news articles like NYT or WaPo, especially the opinions section
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Reading scientific literature will help you for the other 3 sections because the MCAT involves a lot of scientific experiments. CARS passages rarely talk about science and medicine.
I recommend reading sample passages that mirror (to a degree) the CARS passages. These passages are often 450-600 words, involve a thesis/argument, are articles written by people who have a high degree of knowledge about the topic of discussion. I don't know about other prep companies, but I know Altius Test Prep gives 2 CARS workbooks as well as handouts to help you know what to look for when reading the passages. No, I am not endorsing Altius. As a former student, I do find their CARS workbook to be quite similar to actual CARS passages, but you don't have to use Altius. If you find another company that has quality passages, feel free to use them. These workbooks don't have questions, just the passages. I don't know how far along you are in your prerequisites, but I would argument it is better to start reading these passages sooner, but don't go overboard obviously. If you are a year or two out from studying for the MCAT, buy a workbook that has passages only (no questions) and read one or two passages a week. Doing so will help build your reading comprehension and the speed of your comprehension. If you find a super convoluted passage (which you will come across), read it over and over again until you understand what thoroughly. You will take a long time at the beginning, but this is why I say keep it to one or two passages a week, so it is manageable. This will help you build momentum for understanding CARS and answering the questions. It's like learning to ride a bike, you don't learn it instantly. Take your time and don't try to read tons of passages a day thinking it'll speed up the development of your reading comprehension skills because it won't. Skills, like memory, take time to consolidate. Spamming it won't speed up the process and will hurt your academic performance and other commitments.
I recommend reading sample passages that mirror (to a degree) the CARS passages. These passages are often 450-600 words, involve a thesis/argument, are articles written by people who have a high degree of knowledge about the topic of discussion. I don't know about other prep companies, but I know Altius Test Prep gives 2 CARS workbooks as well as handouts to help you know what to look for when reading the passages. No, I am not endorsing Altius. As a former student, I do find their CARS workbook to be quite similar to actual CARS passages, but you don't have to use Altius. If you find another company that has quality passages, feel free to use them. These workbooks don't have questions, just the passages. I don't know how far along you are in your prerequisites, but I would argument it is better to start reading these passages sooner, but don't go overboard obviously. If you are a year or two out from studying for the MCAT, buy a workbook that has passages only (no questions) and read one or two passages a week. Doing so will help build your reading comprehension and the speed of your comprehension. If you find a super convoluted passage (which you will come across), read it over and over again until you understand what thoroughly. You will take a long time at the beginning, but this is why I say keep it to one or two passages a week, so it is manageable. This will help you build momentum for understanding CARS and answering the questions. It's like learning to ride a bike, you don't learn it instantly. Take your time and don't try to read tons of passages a day thinking it'll speed up the development of your reading comprehension skills because it won't. Skills, like memory, take time to consolidate. Spamming it won't speed up the process and will hurt your academic performance and other commitments.
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If you're still in undergrad, I'll also add that taking some readings-heavy humanities courses could be helpful (and broaden your horizons!) They'll get you used to reading different types of passages and looking for meaning in them. If you can, ask other students about the types of readings in the course or look at a syllabus - something where you read a lot of shorter readings by different authors will be more helpful than a class where you spend the whole semester on one or two longer books.
Plus I firmly believe that my liberal arts coursework did more to prepare me for how to be a compassionate (future) physician & advocate for my patients than any biology course ever did so y'all should take humanities classes anyway
Plus I firmly believe that my liberal arts coursework did more to prepare me for how to be a compassionate (future) physician & advocate for my patients than any biology course ever did so y'all should take humanities classes anyway
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It’s basically just like SAT verbal without analogies or fill in the blank. There are probably more real practice tests available for the SAT than the MCAT if you run out of tests.
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Hi there! There are many things that will help you with CARS, and you should definitely take your time preparing for this section of the MCAT, which can be tricky for sure. Besides practicing with passages that are similar to the real deal, reading articles is always a good idea because you want to extend your practice to other, similar written materials, as this will allow you to get additional growth in your critical thinking and reasoning skills. Remember that CARS is not a reading comprehension test, and so critical thinking and reasoning need to be developed if you want to do well. Consider reading classic literature, journal articles, and other readily available texts like The New Yorker, The Economist, The New York Times, Humanities and Social Science Journal Articles, or even literary classics like Ernest Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, or Margaret Atwood. Most importantly, the strategy that you implement when reading these materials should be appropriate as well. For every article you read, get in the habit of highlighting key phrases as you go or note where key evidence is presented to support the author’s main point. Also, note down the main point of each paragraph and passage as a whole, as this will help you understand information better. Most importantly, you should do active reading, which means not just reading but trying to explain the material in your own words or teach the topic to someone. The most important thing is that you do consistent practice. It’s not an easy road, but you can definitely be successful at this if you read diverse and challenging materials and have a strategy to tackle every CARS question. Hope this helps! Best of luck!
