Is doing the AAMC CARS qPacks for the second time a bad idea?

[Kirchhoff]

I used to be awful at CARS, I got 121 last time in March, I've been doing Uearth Cars for the last two months (a couple of passages every day & I got 77% overall). I haven't look at the CARS Q pack 1 &2 since March and right now I'm doing very well on them. Although I don't remember the questions and answers, I worry that I'm not actually doing well & I'm biased to the answers. Has anybody done badly on them for the second time or after some time without practice?

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[zorcandpals]

Did you do all of the CARS material before? Maybe try taking an AAMC practice you havent done yet. Although if you are getting 77% on Uworld you should be doing pretty well on the AAMC.

 

[Kirchhoff]

Did you do all of the CARS material before? Maybe try taking an AAMC practice you havent done yet. Although if you are getting 77% on Uworld you should be doing pretty well on the AAMC.

Thanks for your reply. I have done all the AAMC practices before. There is a new product call AAMC CARS Diagnostic tool with 28 passages, except for a few passages, they are harder than anything that I've seen before. I was pretty confident with result till I was crushed with Diagnostic tool.

 

[Lawpy]

Thanks for your reply. I have done all the AAMC practices before. There is a new product call AAMC CARS Diagnostic tool with 28 passages, except for a few passages, they are harder than anything that I've seen before. I was pretty confident with result till I was crushed with Diagnostic tool.

How is the Diagnostic tool hard?

 

[Kirchhoff]

How is the Diagnostic tool hard?

Are you implying that it's not hard or are you asking how difficult it was?

In my opinion, the second half of it was harder than Uworld, Qpack1 and Qpack2.

 

[Lawpy]

Are you implying that it's not hard or are you asking how difficult it was?

In my opinion, the second half of it was harder than Uworld, Qpack1 and Qpack2.

I'm wondering what made it hard for you compared to QPacks/UWorld

 

[Kirchhoff]

I'm wondering what made it hard for you compared to QPacks/UWorld

I time myself when I practice questions, and I usually run out of time for Diagnostic Tool passages, also the reasoning is not similar to qpacks and sometimes it's very vague. But again, my main issue is the time I spend to understand the passage. Up to now, I'm getting 74% and I'm freaking outtttt!!!

 

[Lawpy]

I time myself when I practice questions, and I usually run out of time for Diagnostic Tool passages, also the reasoning is not similar to qpacks and sometimes it's very vague. But again, my main issue is the time I spend to understand the passage. Up to now, I'm getting 74% and I'm freaking outtttt!!!

Ok so it's a timing issue. Are you referring to AAMC reasoning for their explanations? Because their explanations usually sucks.

Timing issue can be improved.

Please see: MCAT - Testing Solutions' 30 Day Guide to MCAT CARS Success

Also 74% is ok. But because the problem is timing, the idea is to read efficiently and nail down the main idea. You don't need to read every single word. Read for the author's point. The thread above gives a lot of good tips.

You can do this

 

[zorcandpals]

Thanks for your reply. I have done all the AAMC practices before. There is a new product call AAMC CARS Diagnostic tool with 28 passages, except for a few passages, they are harder than anything that I've seen before. I was pretty confident with result till I was crushed with Diagnostic tool.

I time myself when I practice questions, and I usually run out of time for Diagnostic Tool passages, also the reasoning is not similar to qpacks and sometimes it's very vague. But again, my main issue is the time I spend to understand the passage. Up to now, I'm getting 74% and I'm freaking outtttt!!!

IIRC ~75% is roughly a 126-127 so you've still come along way from 121. It might not be your goal score yet but don't freak out just yet. Make sure you do your best to squeeze every bit of knowledge out of what you're doing and keep track of what you're missing and see if you notice something. Are you missing a lot of reasoning beyond the text questions or within the text or basic recall , etc questions and then plan from there.

 

[Kirchhoff]

IIRC ~75% is roughly a 126-127 so you've still come along way from 121. It might not be your goal score yet but don't freak out just yet. Make sure you do your best to squeeze every bit of knowledge out of what you're doing and keep track of what you're missing and see if you notice something. Are you missing a lot of reasoning beyond the text questions or within the text or basic recall , etc questions and then plan from there.

Thanks,
BTW 75% on the Diagnostic tool is 126-127 or on the qpack? Since the diagnostic tool just come out in October I don't think that we can relate an actual score to it, but if you are talking about qpacks I've got 90% on them

 

[zorcandpals]

Thanks,
BTW 75% on the Diagnostic tool is 126-127 or on the qpack? Since the diagnostic tool just come out in October I don't think that we can relate an actual score to it, but if you are talking about qpacks I've got 90% on them

I just looked at a test conversion spreadsheet; ~40 q right out of 53 is ~75% and it said 127. Ofc its not an exact science but if the diagnostic tool is like the section banks than a 75% is fantastic and if its like the qpack it might be a few points lower.

 

[Kirchhoff]

I just looked at a test conversion spreadsheet; ~40 q right out of 53 is ~75% and it said 127. Ofc its not an exact science but if the diagnostic tool is like the section banks than a 75% is fantastic and if its like the qpack it might be a few points lower.

thanks 💚💚

 

[Blueprint Med School]

If you have no other practice, then it would be better than nothing to do the QPacks again, but do them solely for practice and recognize that whatever score you receive will be heavily inflated.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Ok so it's a timing issue. Are you referring to AAMC reasoning for their explanations? Because their explanations usually sucks.

Timing issue can be improved.

Please see: MCAT - Testing Solutions' 30 Day Guide to MCAT CARS Success

Also 74% is ok. But because the problem is timing, the idea is to read efficiently and nail down the main idea. You don't need to read every single word. Read for the author's point. The thread above gives a lot of good tips.

You can do this

Pretty much everything posted by Lawpy is wonderful, and this brings the link for Testing Solutions to the front, where people needing CARS help can read about it.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I used to be awful at CARS, I got 121 last time in March, I've been doing Uearth Cars for the last two months (a couple of passages every day & I got 77% overall). I haven't look at the CARS Q pack 1 &2 since March and right now I'm doing very well on them. Although I don't remember the questions and answers, I worry that I'm not actually doing well & I'm biased to the answers. Has anybody done badly on them for the second time or after some time without practice?

Doing all of their materials, CARS and sciences, is definitely worth doing two times. No other resource is as good, especially for CARS. The tone in AAMC is different than everything you can study.