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What to Do When You Are Struggling to Understand a Difficult Passage:
Tips for when you're taking a CARS test:
Tips for when you're review a CARS test:
Check out our FREE 30 Day Guide to MCAT CARS Success here on SDN. Over 82,000 views and more than 350 posts!
Tips for when you're taking a CARS test:
1) The first thing you need to do is to stay calm. Don't let the "I'm not going to get into medical school" meltdown occur. Everyone that is taking the MCAT is going to be facing the same difficult passage you are and they're no smarter than you. When you realize it's a difficult passage. Take a few deep breaths to center yourself.
2) Remember that often times, difficult passages have easy questions. What counts on the MCAT are the questions, not your comprehension of the passage. Theoretically those two will correspond, but not always. When the MCAT serves up a hard passage to you, part of what they're trying to do is get into your head and freak you out. Slow down, and realize that while the passage is hard, the questions will as often as not be much easier.
3) You're going to want to read through the passage at a slower rate than you would for a medium or easy passage. At the beginning of your prep for the CARS, I recommend a standard set of times depending on the number of questions. As you develop a sense of the correct pace for the CARS, you can step away from those passage times and invest more time in the harder passages, while spending less time on the easier ones. Once your timing is down, I'd recommend taking 5 or even 6 minutes to read a really difficult passage, while maybe only 3 for an easy one. It's ok to read slow. It's even ok to reread a sentence or two, or even a paragraph if you think it will help.
4) Remember that you're only going to be tested on between 20% and 35% of the content in the passage, thus 100% mastery is not necessary nor is it expected by the AAMC. Read for structure not details. I like to think of hard passages as kind of like climbing a mountain. You've got to look for your next handhold. Pick up as much information as you can,. Try to find the one idea or point you think the author is making in the paragraph, and let go of the rest.
5) You don't have to get every question right to do really well on the CARS. You can miss up to 8 questions and still get a 128. Even if your percentage for a hard passage drops down to 50%, you've only missed 3 questions, which in the grand scheme of it all isn't really that much. The real danger is spending far to much time on a hard passage, and messing yourself up for the rest of the test. Remember that the question that keeps you out of medical school is not the one you missed, but the one you spent too much time on.
2) Remember that often times, difficult passages have easy questions. What counts on the MCAT are the questions, not your comprehension of the passage. Theoretically those two will correspond, but not always. When the MCAT serves up a hard passage to you, part of what they're trying to do is get into your head and freak you out. Slow down, and realize that while the passage is hard, the questions will as often as not be much easier.
3) You're going to want to read through the passage at a slower rate than you would for a medium or easy passage. At the beginning of your prep for the CARS, I recommend a standard set of times depending on the number of questions. As you develop a sense of the correct pace for the CARS, you can step away from those passage times and invest more time in the harder passages, while spending less time on the easier ones. Once your timing is down, I'd recommend taking 5 or even 6 minutes to read a really difficult passage, while maybe only 3 for an easy one. It's ok to read slow. It's even ok to reread a sentence or two, or even a paragraph if you think it will help.
4) Remember that you're only going to be tested on between 20% and 35% of the content in the passage, thus 100% mastery is not necessary nor is it expected by the AAMC. Read for structure not details. I like to think of hard passages as kind of like climbing a mountain. You've got to look for your next handhold. Pick up as much information as you can,. Try to find the one idea or point you think the author is making in the paragraph, and let go of the rest.
5) You don't have to get every question right to do really well on the CARS. You can miss up to 8 questions and still get a 128. Even if your percentage for a hard passage drops down to 50%, you've only missed 3 questions, which in the grand scheme of it all isn't really that much. The real danger is spending far to much time on a hard passage, and messing yourself up for the rest of the test. Remember that the question that keeps you out of medical school is not the one you missed, but the one you spent too much time on.
Tips for when you're review a CARS test:
1) Difficult passages require significantly more effort and time than easy passages review. If you find yourself with one of those passages that you feel like you don't understand at all, sit down and fight with it. Spend as much time as it takes. I highly recommend using our review method while filling out our passage review worksheets. (Download the following handouts: How to Review a CARS Practice Test and Passage Review Worksheet).
2) If you're studying for the MCAT you're obviously a bright person. There is no reason that you shouldn't be able to understand a passage. If it takes an hour for you to get through it, fine, spend an hour. These are the opportunities for you to grow and strengthen your CARS taking skills. Struggling to understanding a difficult passage in the review phase is one of the best ways to improve your reading comprehension and developing your CARS skills.
3) Have you been consistently doing our "Keywords Review?" This really strengthens your ability to breakdown passages and see their mechanics and flow. Take a look at Day 8 for a refresher.
4) While we have a series of posts that go in-depth on how to review a CARS passage (Download the tip sheet above), I'll do a brief overview here:
6) Finally, if you're having a complete breakdown, it's possible there is a language issue. If English is your second (or third) language, you might need to do some extra reading such as the New York Times, Economist, or a philosophy textbook for a few months before actively starting to study for the CARS. This is the only time I advise this sort of reading, but 3 or 4 months of reading one or two articles a day has helped out many of ESL MCATer.
7) If English is your first language, but you're still having a complete breakdown, take a highlighter and go through the hard passage you're not able to understand and mark any words whose meaning you couldn't explain to a ten year old. If you have more than one or two words per passage, you would probably benefit from a vocabulary building course, as you might be losing out on a lot of meaning. It's incredible how we just skip over words we don't know without realizing it. You'll have to be diligent in reviewing your passages to make sure your vocabulary is where it needs to be at.
8) Is it possible you have ADHD or a learning disability? The MCAT gives testing accommodations for such things. This is noting to be ashamed of. There are a ton of docs out there right now that had to face similar obstacles. It's better to find out now and get help than waiting until later.
...2) If you're studying for the MCAT you're obviously a bright person. There is no reason that you shouldn't be able to understand a passage. If it takes an hour for you to get through it, fine, spend an hour. These are the opportunities for you to grow and strengthen your CARS taking skills. Struggling to understanding a difficult passage in the review phase is one of the best ways to improve your reading comprehension and developing your CARS skills.
3) Have you been consistently doing our "Keywords Review?" This really strengthens your ability to breakdown passages and see their mechanics and flow. Take a look at Day 8 for a refresher.
4) While we have a series of posts that go in-depth on how to review a CARS passage (Download the tip sheet above), I'll do a brief overview here:
a) Wait at least four hours to review your practice test
b) Read the passage once through without a timer. Keep yourself moving at a good place, but take as much time as you need to understand it.
c) Read through the passage again but this time, after every paragraph, write a one or two sentence summary. Reread the paragraph as many times as you need until you are able to write a summary.
d) After writing a summer for each paragraph, "Paint Your Way to the Main Idea." (Take a look at Day 10 if you need a refresher)
5) Reviewing passages takes a lot of time and energy, especially if you're reviewing a hard passage. This is why it is important to give yourself a break and some time in between taking the practice test and reviewing it. If you're reviewing your practice test when your energy is slow and you're tired, it's unlikely you'll make much improvement or learn much, because you'll just be doing it for the sake of doing it. Work hard and struggle with these passages, and if you review them like we advise, you will improve.b) Read the passage once through without a timer. Keep yourself moving at a good place, but take as much time as you need to understand it.
c) Read through the passage again but this time, after every paragraph, write a one or two sentence summary. Reread the paragraph as many times as you need until you are able to write a summary.
d) After writing a summer for each paragraph, "Paint Your Way to the Main Idea." (Take a look at Day 10 if you need a refresher)
- What's the frame of this passage?
- What's the subject matter of this passage?
- What's the point of this passage?
e) After "Painting your Way to the Main Idea," write down a one or two sentence summary of the entire passage.- What's the subject matter of this passage?
- What's the point of this passage?
6) Finally, if you're having a complete breakdown, it's possible there is a language issue. If English is your second (or third) language, you might need to do some extra reading such as the New York Times, Economist, or a philosophy textbook for a few months before actively starting to study for the CARS. This is the only time I advise this sort of reading, but 3 or 4 months of reading one or two articles a day has helped out many of ESL MCATer.
7) If English is your first language, but you're still having a complete breakdown, take a highlighter and go through the hard passage you're not able to understand and mark any words whose meaning you couldn't explain to a ten year old. If you have more than one or two words per passage, you would probably benefit from a vocabulary building course, as you might be losing out on a lot of meaning. It's incredible how we just skip over words we don't know without realizing it. You'll have to be diligent in reviewing your passages to make sure your vocabulary is where it needs to be at.
8) Is it possible you have ADHD or a learning disability? The MCAT gives testing accommodations for such things. This is noting to be ashamed of. There are a ton of docs out there right now that had to face similar obstacles. It's better to find out now and get help than waiting until later.
Check out our FREE 30 Day Guide to MCAT CARS Success here on SDN. Over 82,000 views and more than 350 posts!
