No improvement in CARS

[burritobowl60]

I have been painstakingly preparing myself for this section of the MCAT to no avail. I have been doing 2 practice passages daily for about a month and a half and my score has not improved. I may be dyslexic or something because Im unable to recognize the theme/tone/rhetoric of what the author is trying to convey in these passages. I find that I am a slow reader and not have enough time in completing the 9 passages in each section. My test is in June 2 and Im already thinking about postponing the test date due to this difficult section. I desperately need some help. Thanks.

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[Southeast EK]

I understand that you are practicing the passages, but can I ask, did you START with a GUIDE on how to process the CARS section?
While it is 100% true that you HAVE to practice CARS in order to get faster, better, and score higher; if you do not have a foundation for how to work through the passages to start, and an understanding of where the exam is coming from, then all of the practice in the world will only get you so far.

(BTW...we have an awesome Reasoning Skills guide at Examkrackers...just sayin!)
Happy to talk with you further if you like!

 

[burritobowl60]

I have only been practicing the passages. I feel like I understand the passages for the most part but a lot of the times I miss those pesky little transition words such as however, but, although. It could be my short term memory because I often don't remember much after reading the previous paragraph when I am starting the next paragraph. I am seeing some improvement but it's a very gradual process. I'm scoring around the 6-7 range on the practice exams that I have taken and maybe a 5 once in a while.


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[burritobowl60]

Haven't really utilized any strategies either besides underlining/highliting important points. I miss a lot of beyond the text reasoning, implicit type, and strengthen/weaken questions.


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[Southeast EK]

I have only been practicing the passages. I feel like I understand the passages for the most part but a lot of the times I miss those pesky little transition words such as however, but, although. It could be my short term memory because I often don't remember much after reading the previous paragraph when I am starting the next paragraph. I am seeing some improvement but it's a very gradual process. I'm scoring around the 6-7 range on the practice exams that I have taken and maybe a 5 once in a while.


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So one thing to note would be that you mentioned you are scoring 6-7 and then 5 - this means you are working off OLD 2014 & prior MCAT practice Exams. In order to ensure that you are getting the proper prep you really need to be working off exams that have been prepared for the current MCAT & will be scored on a percentage as well as the 132 score per section.
I would absolutely suggest you pick up our study guide - check it out HERE . It is fairly cheap and will give you guidance on working through the passages - as well as some great up to date passage practice as well. Note - our books are far from "strategic". We are not going to try to teach you how to trick your way through the MCAT, but we are going to explain and help you understand how to tackle the passage as you read it so that you can ultimately get faster and stronger as you continue to work.

 

[Aspiring-Doctor]

I was that student that never knew why I was failing the CARS section when I would always walk out of the test feeling like I aced that section. I was that student that always thought CARS is something you cannot study for. I was also that student that took the test twice and got a 123 both times. The only thing I did differently when taking the test the third time around was that I practiced with more stringent time conditions and with many passages. I also took the passages and pasted them onto a microsoft doc and zoomed out to 120% and practice with this zoomed setting so that I can stimulate the real mcat testing situation. I did it!!! I finally broke the 123 barrier and got a 127. The reason why I am saying this is I was extremely depressed that my score was 123 for the longest time and taking the test a third time was a lot of pressure, but I still managed to improve so don't lose hope! A bit about me…I took the mcat at the end of sophomore year summer after 3 months of studying and got a 26. I took the new version of the mcat having studied for an additional 3 more months and got a 502 (26 again). The third time I took the test I got a 506 (29) and now I'm getting ready to apply! So don't lose hope or get overwhelmed by the # of posts with 510+ because statistics show that there is only 33% of the population getting that score and much lower percentages for scores that are 520+. Only people who do well post so don't let that bother you. Just keep practicing! Good luck future physicians!!!

 

[burritobowl60]

I was that student that never knew why I was failing the CARS section when I would always walk out of the test feeling like I aced that section. I was that student that always thought CARS is something you cannot study for. I was also that student that took the test twice and got a 123 both times. The only thing I did differently when taking the test the third time around was that I practiced with more stringent time conditions and with many passages. I also took the passages and pasted them onto a microsoft doc and zoomed out to 120% and practice with this zoomed setting so that I can stimulate the real mcat testing situation. I did it!!! I finally broke the 123 barrier and got a 127. The reason why I am saying this is I was extremely depressed that my score was 123 for the longest time and taking the test a third time was a lot of pressure, but I still managed to improve so don't lose hope! A bit about me…I took the mcat at the end of sophomore year summer after 3 months of studying and got a 26. I took the new version of the mcat having studied for an additional 3 more months and got a 502 (26 again). The third time I took the test I got a 506 (29) and now I'm getting ready to apply! So don't lose hope or get overwhelmed by the # of posts with 510+ because statistics show that there is only 33% of the population getting that score and much lower percentages for scores that are 520+. Only people who do well post so don't let that bother you. Just keep practicing! Good luck future physicians!!!

Did you utilize a strategy? I'm trying to find one that works for me but I can't unfortunately.


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[Aspiring-Doctor]

It's difficult to say that I used a strategy but instead I felt that I improved by more heavily relying on the MI of the passage and really spending the time to eliminate answer choices in questions.

I used a lot of strategies to study smarter tho….

Next step has some of the best passages so if you want to practice reading passages under timed conditions, this is the best resource. There language is as dense as the AAMC passages and they choose passages from AAMC's high yield CARS passages sources. But this is not the best resource! Why? the questions are really off and part of acing the CARS section is practicing with questions that allow you to use similar critical thinking as the AAMC tests! If I had to choose, I would do other resources because they help you try to figure out which sentences in the passage are loaded with transitional ideas and author's tone. I honestly believe practice is key ….but more importantly practice with the right material (ex. AAMC CARS section pack, AAMC practice tests, TPR-Hyperlearning, EK)

SWITCH UP THE MATERIAL ON A DAILY BASIS. You DON'T want to be redoing passages for the Nth time because lets face it, you aren't going to be exercising your cars skills. Never redo passages. You can just stick to AAMC material (in fact that might be the smartest thing to do because lol they are the BEST resource but if you run out then do a variety of different types of passages from different sources).

Also I would highly recommend working on accuracy first and then timing....there is no rule for timing ...as you practice you should have an intuition for how long you should spend on each passage based on difficulty ....do not preview passages and rank them (this will psych you out - just go in order and approach the test confidently) ...and always go fast on the first passage because if you go slow on the first you are screwing yourself over for the rest of the exam.

Last piece of advice- if you have any online resources ....Paste the passages onto a microsoft word doc and zoom to 120% <-- practice under these settings so that you can visually maintain the reading speed at larger fonts
hope this helps!

 

[burritobowl60]

It's difficult to say that I used a strategy but instead I felt that I improved by more heavily relying on the MI of the passage and really spending the time to eliminate answer choices in questions.

I used a lot of strategies to study smarter tho….

Next step has some of the best passages so if you want to practice reading passages under timed conditions, this is the best resource. There language is as dense as the AAMC passages and they choose passages from AAMC's high yield CARS passages sources. But this is not the best resource! Why? the questions are really off and part of acing the CARS section is practicing with questions that allow you to use similar critical thinking as the AAMC tests! If I had to choose, I would do other resources because they help you try to figure out which sentences in the passage are loaded with transitional ideas and author's tone. I honestly believe practice is key ….but more importantly practice with the right material (ex. AAMC CARS section pack, AAMC practice tests, TPR-Hyperlearning, EK)

SWITCH UP THE MATERIAL ON A DAILY BASIS. You DON'T want to be redoing passages for the Nth time because lets face it, you aren't going to be exercising your cars skills. Never redo passages. You can just stick to AAMC material (in fact that might be the smartest thing to do because lol they are the BEST resource but if you run out then do a variety of different types of passages from different sources).

Also I would highly recommend working on accuracy first and then timing....there is no rule for timing ...as you practice you should have an intuition for how long you should spend on each passage based on difficulty ....do not preview passages and rank them (this will psych you out - just go in order and approach the test confidently) ...and always go fast on the first passage because if you go slow on the first you are screwing yourself over for the rest of the exam.

Last piece of advice- if you have any online resources ....Paste the passages onto a microsoft word doc and zoom to 120% <-- practice under these settings so that you can visually maintain the reading speed at larger fonts
hope this helps!

So are you suggesting that I do verbal passages untimed initially and then work on my accuracy and then start timing myself.


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[Aspiring-Doctor]

Yes but I would take no more than 15-20 min untimed even when your aim is to improve accuracy and not timing.