The Berkeley Review - CARS Book

[Sneaky Sloth]

Hi Guys,

So I am studying for the MCAT right now obviously and I am currently using the The Berkeley Review (TBR) CARS book and I wanted to get some past user's experience with it.

I do about 9 passages a week to mock the section on test day. However, I am getting consistently wrecked on these sections getting only about 29-34 questions correct on 5 different tries. I am not sure what's going on, and it is really discouraging.

How have you guys done on the TBR CARS section and how did this compare to the actual MCAT CARS section? I know the CARS section can be very difficult for most students, but I didn't think it would be like this.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Optimist Prime]

TBR cars is trash I used TBR for every other section though. Use testing solutions 30 day guide which can be found on SDN along with TPR hyperlearning, the old ek verbal book, and AAMC material. I had to take the MCAT twice and using these resources, especially the 30 day guide, brought my score from 41%tile on my first take to a 93%tile on my second.

 

[Sneaky Sloth]

This book? (Amazon product)... I read online that the old book may be out of date and too easy for the new MCAT. Do you think that it aligns well?

 

[Optimist Prime]

This book? (Amazon product)... I read online that the old book may be out of date and too easy for the new MCAT. Do you think that it aligns well?

Ya that one. It definitely aligns well, and has the second most comparable logic to AAMC behind the TPR hyperlearning book.

 

[Medical Muse]

The TBR CARS book can be a bit all over the place in terms of difficulty. Some passages are loaded with easier comprehension questions while others have numerous inference questions. I'm still bothered by the passages that provide supplemental information in the answer explanations. The whole point of CARS is that all the information is in the passage. My recommendation is to use the book to practice your CARS skills on argumentative passages and don't worry about your score.

 

[deleted936470]

TBR verbal is great if you want to LOWER your CARS score.

 

[star-lily]

TBR cars is trash I used TBR for every other section though. Use testing solutions 30 day guide which can be found on SDN along with TPR hyperlearning, the old ek verbal book, and AAMC material. I had to take the MCAT twice and using these resources, especially the 30 day guide, brought my score from 41%tile on my first take to a 93%tile on my second.

What is your personal take on TBR P/S? It's very commonly not recommended, but I'm still interested in hearing.

 

[Optimist Prime]

What is your personal take on TBR P/S? It's very commonly not recommended, but I'm still interested in hearing.

Its not great. It covers most of the big concepts, but is very dense and still doesn't cover everything. It's ok to reference if you want to read a concept in more detail, but at the same time a youtube video on it would be just as helpful. KA 100 page doc, Premed95 anki deck, and Uworld questions are sufficient for a 130+ in P/S.

 

[Startingover123]

TBR cars is trash I used TBR for every other section though. Use testing solutions 30 day guide which can be found on SDN along with TPR hyperlearning, the old ek verbal book, and AAMC material. I had to take the MCAT twice and using these resources, especially the 30 day guide, brought my score from 41%tile on my first take to a 93%tile on my second.

Would you say testing solutions was the biggest reason for your jump? Does the thirty day guide give you a good foundation on what to look for in a passage?

 

[Optimist Prime]

Would you say testing solutions was the biggest reason for your jump? Does the thirty day guide give you a good foundation on what to look for in a passage?

Ya I believe testing solutions guide was the biggest reason. It helped me realize the type of passage/questions I was reading and the common traps that were associated with them.

 

[Sneaky Sloth]

Ya that one. It definitely aligns well, and has the second most comparable logic to AAMC behind the TPR hyperlearning book.

I started using this book and changing up approach to passages. Before I was just doing 9 passages in a timed setting right off the bat, which I learned is just diving into the deep end. Now I am doing 2-3 passages per day and timing myself.

I have seen my score improve a lot. I am average about 1.5 wrong per passage now. I think I just really need to slow down and take my time / focus on the passages.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Ya I believe testing solutions guide was the biggest reason. It helped me realize the type of passage/questions I was reading and the common traps that were associated with them.

I was fishing to see what the feeling was about TBR CARS and stumbled across this thread that brought up a great CARS resource by Testing Solutions.

What happened to Testing Solutions popularity? Their CARS program was all the rage and extremely helpful for so many people, and now you hardly hear about them? Many people have said the same great things as Optimist Prime did here about Testing Solutions, and given that CARS is basically the same thing year in and year out, it should work well today.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

TBR cars is trash I used TBR for every other section though. Use testing solutions 30 day guide which can be found on SDN along with TPR hyperlearning, the old ek verbal book, and AAMC material. I had to take the MCAT twice and using these resources, especially the 30 day guide, brought my score from 41%tile on my first take to a 93%tile on my second.

I think we did about the same percentage jump in CARS (my score was not as impressive as yours, but I'm still happy) and Testing Solutions was definitely a part of that jump. I'm glad they're getting some love.

Everything I've read in this thread by OP (Optimist Prime, not the opening poster) is so helpful and accurate.