what kind of course for mcat cars section

by Bertha Erdman 3 min read

The passages that you’ll encounter in the MCAT CARS section are based on humanities and social sciences. The passages cover fields such as literature, the arts, philosophy, religion, economics, history, political science, and more.

An online, self-paced, and structured course to master MCAT passage reasoning ability, comprehension, and test-taking skills (emphasis on CARS). All critical thinking skills acquired through the course are transferable to the three science sections of the MCAT.

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How to prepare for the cars section of the MCAT?

Since there’s nothing you need to memorize for the CARS section of the MCAT, practicing answering the passages is the best way to prepare. You need to build your critical thinking and reading comprehension with extensive practice and skill building. Don’t neglect readying yourself for this important piece of the MCAT.

What are the different types of MCAT cars questions?

The questions on the MCAT CARS section fall into three broad categories based on the level of reasoning required, and the level of difficulty that is required for each category. The AAMC has defined these skills as: 1) Foundations of Comprehension (30% of questions) 2) Reasoning Within the Text (30% of questions)

What is your review of the MCAT mastery cars course?

The MCAT Mastery CARS prep course was awesome, I struggled with CARS throughout my prep until I was able to watch someone else reason through the passages. I adapted their strategies and modified them to fit my style and ended up scoring 90th+ percentile in CARS! The MCAT Mastery CARS course was the best decision I made about my MCAT prep.

How long is the MCAT cars section?

In this guide, we will outline the different components of the MCAT CARS section and the main strategies that can help you ace it. The MCAT CARS section is 90 minutes and contains 53 multiple choice questions, making it 5 minutes and 6 questions shorter than each of the other 3 sections on the exam.

How long does it take to study for the MCAT?

What is the hardest section of the MCAT?

How to prepare for the cars section?

What is the Cars section?

Why do students struggle with the cars section?

How to improve your MCAT?

Can you conquer the cars section of the MCAT?

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About this website

How do I study for the MCAT section of my car?

Prepare by reading, doing practice passages, and even practicing vocabulary words to give your comprehension skills a boost. DO read for pleasure to prepare for the CARS section. One of the best ways to prepare for this section is to practice reading.

What subjects are on the MCAT CARS?

The passages that you'll encounter in the MCAT CARS section are based on humanities and social sciences. The passages cover fields such as literature, the arts, philosophy, religion, economics, history, political science, and more.

How long is Jack Westin CARS course?

This online course can be completed in a minimum of 4 weeks or spaced throughout 12 weeks (3 months). We want to see our hard-working students grow and succeed. As long as you work hard, we will do everything we can to ensure that you understand CARS.

Is 126 on CARS MCAT good?

In the Science sections with 59 questions, you can usually get: 5 wrong answers (92% accuracy) and score 130-131 (top 5%) 10 wrong answers (83% accuracy) and score 129-130 (top 10%) 15 wrong answers (75% accuracy) and score 126-128 (126 = top 50%, 127-128 = top 25%)

What classes should I take before the MCAT?

We recommend completing the following courses before attempting the MCAT exam:General Chemistry I and II.Organic Chemistry I and II.Physics I and II.Cell Biology.Molecular Biology.Biochemistry.Human Anatomy.Introduction to Human Physiology.More items...

Is calculus on the MCAT?

Any math that is on the MCAT is fundamental: just arithmetic, algebra, and trigonometry. There is absolutely no calculus on the MCAT. Math-based problems will appear mostly in the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems section.

Is the Jack Westin MCAT course worth it?

So, is Jack Westin CARS worth it? It's great to help you prepare for the MCAT and improve your reading comprehension. But not all of it is considered an accurate representation of the exams' actual CARS questions. Instead, Jack Westin is best used to help you gain confidence and speed in your reading.

Do you have to pay for Jack Westin?

Students pay $145 at the time of enrollment and then pay $145 weekly every week for 9 weeks until tuition is paid in full. These charges are done automatically every week. Students receive an email receipt for every successful installment payment.

Should I retake a 508 MCAT?

508-510 are all fine, and if you don't get accepted with a score in that range, it's not because of your MCAT score. Anything that's 510 and above will help you. This is going to discourage a lot of people because they may only be getting a 504 or 505.

What is the hardest MCAT section?

The Most Difficult MCAT Test Section Many students report that the most difficult section is CARS, and the average scores reported by AAMC back that up. The lowest average section scores overall and for matriculants are in CARS.

Is 519 a good MCAT score?

To get an excellent MCAT score means to score in the overall 90th percentile, which currently means a score of 515 or greater. Anything above the score of 517 is considered as outstanding.

How many sections are there in the MCAT?

The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) is broken up into 4 sections, each worth 132 for a total perfect MCAT score of 528.

What do you need to know to take the cars section?

In order to do well on the CARS section, you need to be able to quickly comprehend, analyze, and evaluate what you read. This part of the test was developed to measure your analytical and reasoning skills, which are key to success in medical school.

How to prepare for a car?

The most important thing you can do to prepare is regularly read CARS passages and answer practice questions. You should familiarize yourself with the format of CARS questions as soon as possible. Build a study schedule and routine around reading practice passages daily.

What are the questions in the Foundations of Comprehension section?

The questions in the Foundations of Comprehension section test your understanding of the basic components of the text in the passage. What point or thesis is the author trying to prove? Whose perspective are they writing from? What is being implied but not explicitly stated? Read between the lines. You need to consider the author’s choice of words, rhetorical devices, and tone to infer the meaning or intent of the passage.

What are the three categories of critical analysis?

The three categories are Foundations of Comprehension, Reasoning Within the Text, and Reasoning Beyond the Text.

Is reading a passage on the MCAT timed?

The test is timed, which means you only have so much time to read a large passage, assess it, and answer questions about it correctly. The faster you can read and retain the passage, the more time you will have to answer the questions.

Do you need to memorize cars?

The CARS section doesn’t require any prior memorization —it tests your ability to comprehend and analyze information in the moment. To prepare yourself, you need to build and hone the skills you will be tested on, which requires lots of practice.

How long does it take to study for the MCAT?

If you’re looking for MCAT study resources more broadly, our online MCAT course at Magoosh now has over 700 practice questions and over 300 lessons! Sign up for 6 months, 12 months, or begin with a 1-week trial. You can use Kat’s 2-month study plan as a guide to the course.

What is the hardest section of the MCAT?

Of all the sections on the MCAT, the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) is most difficult for a lot of students. There’s something about the ambiguous MCAT CARS passages, the hard to decipher verbal reasoning questions, the seemingly too short time frame that causes test-takers a lot of grief. Prospective medical students have a natural affinity for the hard sciences, which makes the MCAT CARS a different kind of beast.

How to prepare for the cars section?

Prepare by reading, doing practice passages, and even practicing vocabulary words to give your comprehension skills a boost. DO read for pleasure to prepare for the CARS section. One of the best ways to prepare for this section is to practice reading.

What is the Cars section?

According to the AAMC, this section is designed to “test your comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills by asking you to critically analyze information provided in passages”. You don’t need to take any special courses nor do you need any outside knowledge to do well on this section because everything you need will be contained in the passage. The content of this section encompasses both the social sciences and the humanities and is basically just a test on how well you can think critically about what you’ve read and how well you can reason, both within a passage, and beyond it.

Why do students struggle with the cars section?

The reason so many students struggle with this section is because it requires a certain level of intuition that is uncomfortable for the typical pre-med who enjoys facts and formulas. Unfortunately, the CARS section is not something that you can cram for, but you must prepare for it over time.

How to improve your MCAT?

Become a better reader. The best way to do this is to read more. Everything from books to magazines is good material to build up you stamina. Remember that the CARS section will not contain passages pertaining to the natural sciences. So burying your nose in volumes of pharmacology won’t result in vast improvements to your critical analysis skills for the MCAT. Read things that are thought provoking and that will challenge you to form an opinion.

Can you conquer the cars section of the MCAT?

The good news is that with the right MCAT CARS strategy and lots of practice you can conquer the CARS section just as well as the other sections of this exam. Overall, the MCAT CARS may seem like a beast at first, but by following these tips it’s totally possible to improve your score and do well.

What is the second module of Cars?

In the second module, we’re diving deep into CARS passage reading and analysis . If you don’t go through the passage in the most efficient, most strategic way, you’re going to have a really difficult time making it through the questions. This module is all about how you read the paragraphs, how you pace yourself, what you look for, how to understand the author, how to find the main idea, and how you come out knowing exactly what you need to know to answer the questions - nothing more, nothing less.

How many premeds did the Cars team work with?

They've collectively worked 1-on-1 with over 200 premeds, coaching each one of them on how to apply MCAT and CARS strategies to improve their scores. They know exactly how to teach you to think through CARS like a 130+ CARS scorer.

Is AAMC practice valuable?

If you've been in the MCAT Mastery community for a while, by now you know how valuable the AAMC practice resources are. But what good is knowing how valuable they are if you don't use them right? It took us a while before we discovered that top scorers leveraged different AAMC material at different stages of their MCAT prep. Plus some are less valuable than others - not all AAMC material are created equal.

Do premeds have to study for the MCAT?

Most premeds don't realize that each section of the MCAT requires a different approach (and sometimes different resources). They find something that works in C/P, and apply it to B/B or CARS and don't see the same results. This leads to endless frustrations and confusions of how to study for the MCAT.

Is MCAT Mastery Cars good?

The MCAT Mastery CARS prep course was awesome, I struggled with CARS throughout my prep until I was able to watch someone else reason through the passages. I adapted their strategies and modified them to fit my style and ended up scoring 90th+ percentile in CARS!

Is the MCAT a skill based test?

The MCAT is a skill based test and skills can be improved through practice. Skills can't be studied. That is exactly why we created this course. If you understand how to think through this section like a top scorer, you'll know how to think through other sections like a top scorer.

Is the MCAT a retaker?

More than half MCAT test takers are usually retakers. They're frustrated, they're feeling more pressure, more anxiety, and more fear this time around. If this is you, we completely get it and we want to help.

How many questions are there in the MCAT cars section?

The MCAT CARS section is 90 minutes and contains 53 multiple choice questions, making it 5 minutes and 6 questions shorter than each of the other 3 sections on the exam. It also contains 9 passages, so there is an average of 5-6 questions per passage. This means that you should average no more than 10 minutes per passage, including the questions.

What is the AAMC car answer key?

Every AAMC CARS answer key refers to a piece of text to justify a correct answer choice. Therefore, for this strategy, before you pick an answer, you must find and highlight text that supports your choice.

What do test takers need to know?

Test takers must be able to read a passage on any subject, quickly synthesize and interpret the key information, and answer the corresponding questions. Importantly, you think differently from other people because you are a unique student, so there is no one universal CARS strategy that will work for every person.

Why is it important to practice the cars section?

Furthermore, practicing the CARS section without time restrictions can help you identify which types of problems take you longer to answer, which can quickly highlight your strengths and weaknesses. With this method, you can use any of the other strategies outlined in this guide (except Strategy #3 of course) to come to the best answer without time restrictions.

What is 50% of the AAMC?

According to the test writers at the AAMC, 50% of passage content covers the Humanities, which can include subjects like Architecture, Art, Dance, Ethics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Popular Culture, Religion, and Theater.

How many strategies can you use to approach each car passage?

This section will outline seven useful strategies that you can use to approach each CARS passage. We recommend that you begin with the first strategy, see how it works, and try each subsequent strategy until you find the one or the combination that is most effective for you. Below is an example passage, and what follows will be the seven different strategies and examples of how to employ them for this passage:

Is the MCAT hard?

The MCAT is a hard test, but for many premeds, the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Section (CARS) can be the most mysterious and difficult section of the exam to prepare for. How do you prepare for a section that may give you a passage on topics that range all the way from history to philosophy?

How long does it take to study for the MCAT?

If you’re looking for MCAT study resources more broadly, our online MCAT course at Magoosh now has over 700 practice questions and over 300 lessons! Sign up for 6 months, 12 months, or begin with a 1-week trial. You can use Kat’s 2-month study plan as a guide to the course.

What is the hardest section of the MCAT?

Of all the sections on the MCAT, the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) is most difficult for a lot of students. There’s something about the ambiguous MCAT CARS passages, the hard to decipher verbal reasoning questions, the seemingly too short time frame that causes test-takers a lot of grief. Prospective medical students have a natural affinity for the hard sciences, which makes the MCAT CARS a different kind of beast.

How to prepare for the cars section?

Prepare by reading, doing practice passages, and even practicing vocabulary words to give your comprehension skills a boost. DO read for pleasure to prepare for the CARS section. One of the best ways to prepare for this section is to practice reading.

What is the Cars section?

According to the AAMC, this section is designed to “test your comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills by asking you to critically analyze information provided in passages”. You don’t need to take any special courses nor do you need any outside knowledge to do well on this section because everything you need will be contained in the passage. The content of this section encompasses both the social sciences and the humanities and is basically just a test on how well you can think critically about what you’ve read and how well you can reason, both within a passage, and beyond it.

Why do students struggle with the cars section?

The reason so many students struggle with this section is because it requires a certain level of intuition that is uncomfortable for the typical pre-med who enjoys facts and formulas. Unfortunately, the CARS section is not something that you can cram for, but you must prepare for it over time.

How to improve your MCAT?

Become a better reader. The best way to do this is to read more. Everything from books to magazines is good material to build up you stamina. Remember that the CARS section will not contain passages pertaining to the natural sciences. So burying your nose in volumes of pharmacology won’t result in vast improvements to your critical analysis skills for the MCAT. Read things that are thought provoking and that will challenge you to form an opinion.

Can you conquer the cars section of the MCAT?

The good news is that with the right MCAT CARS strategy and lots of practice you can conquer the CARS section just as well as the other sections of this exam. Overall, the MCAT CARS may seem like a beast at first, but by following these tips it’s totally possible to improve your score and do well.

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