MCAT CARS: Top Study Strategies from a 528 Scorer

[@yoongi4lifeu219]

I followed a lot of your tips!! I especially liked the reading questions first without looking at the answer choices and then reading the passages, and then going back to the paragraph which the question is referring to. I found that this improved my accuracy significantly!! Thank you so much.

[@Shemmassian]

Which of these strategies have been the most helpful for you? Let us know in the Comments!

[@KaiaReed3]

Wow, these CARS strategies are gold! Thanks for sharing tips from a 528 scorer. Feeling more confident already!

[@wizardandwisdom]

My few tips: 1. Practice - a lot & Re-practice 2. Read articles and summarize main ideas (some sources offer specific mcat articles with main idea summarized) for hobby 3. Picking answers: Always read through all answers, some later answers may be more 'correct' than the earlier candidate - it takes only 10 seconds more 4. Picking answers 2: Eliminate by asking yourself whether the passage mentioned the answer choice 5. Practice active reading - that's strategy 1,2,3 and 4 combined but on a mastery level, what mcat is truly testing you for

[@Shemmassian]

Wizard & Wisdom out here dropping knowledge bombs!!! :)

[@shaytanna6864]

I've noticed from my practice tests that if I understand the passage remotely, I will get one wrong if not all right. But if I dont, I spend way too much time on the passage + questions, and run out of time at the end. How do I a) get past this weird built-in instinct I have and b) get to a point where I can minimize the number of passages I get stuck on? great video!

[@harshdeeplamba2632]

Exact same case for me. Test in a week. Did you figure it out yet?

[@TheGooglyminotaur]

Finally, a section made for me. I’m relieved.

[@Shemmassian]

You got it! :)

[@MathWhiz_]

CARS is SAT reading on steroids

[@vav5838]

Taking my mcat in two weeks … wish me luck bois and girls

[@DarrenChaiMD]

meh, from my own personal experience strategies are like 5% of what will get you the high score you want... *95% of your success* will come from consistent, intense practice and reviewing your answers afterwards. You need to know why every answer is correct and why every other answer is incorrect. It's not enough to just say "oh I got that right, awesome" because there's a good chance *you may have gotten the right answer for the wrong reason.* When I was studying for the MCAT, it was normal for me to spend 20-30 minutes just *REVIEWING* a single passage, but that's what got me into medical school at the end of the day.

[@Shemmassian]

These are words of WISDOM! Your last paragraph is so important and something a lot of students skip out on. Like we've said in our videos, it's not about the number of practice passages you take, but it's the quality of your review. "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect" -Vince Lombardi

[@MehDragon99]

great video! what are your tips for dealing with the common pitfall of getting stuck with 2 really good answer choices?

[@Shemmassian]

This may sound cliché, but 1) go with your gut and 2) make sure your answer choice actually answers the question they asked. Oftentimes, you'll see that one of the answer choices will be "true" but not "correct." The biggest area for improvement will then be when you come back and review the passage. Try to come up with your own classifications for wrong answer choice types (e.g. the answer choice was not mentioned in the passage) and see what type you tend to choose. Happy you enjoyed the video :)

[@TheToxicMegacolon]

Videos on working through science passages would be soooo helpful and I would greatly appreciate it! :)

[@Shemmassian]

We're working on releasing some soon! Stay tuned :)

[@meganapple8805]

Im watching this at midnight but im actually excited to try some of these tomorrow morning!! :) thank you!

[@Shemmassian]

So happy to hear!

[@athikurrahman3174]

what CARS resources do you suggest? I currently have the kaplan books, and while I find the science books to be great, I feel that the CARS section is weird and heard that Jack Westin and Khan Academy are much better.

[@kidsnipz]

Amazing high quality MCAT content as always. Can you please make a video for the psychology/sociology aka behavioral sciences section also a video on general chemistry subject of the MCAT. Also do you know anything about flashcards programs like anki especially or quizlet for the MCAT and prep books like kaplan and their quicksheets for studying. Thanks.

[@Shemmassian]

Happy to hear! We have a P/S video and a general chemistry MCAT passage walkthrough video coming out soon. Those resources are all valuable, especially if you make your own flashcard decks. Is there anything specific I can answer about them?

[@kidsnipz]

Awesome cant wait for it.

[@abdulx15]

Strategy 6 is major for me. When I start reviewing the AAMC FL CARS passage and see why I got it wrong after I bang my head on the walls of the library or my basement, I see the evidence they use from the text. It makes sense to me, however during testing conditions I spend to much time looking for evidence in the passage and spend way past the 10 min per passage. Even when I completely understand the main idea and passage, those evidence type questions (from paragraph 4) is like 2 steps more than the simple main idea. that costs me like 4 to 6 questions wrong. MY QUESTION: what to do lol. I tried to spend more time reading passage, but my brain is to busy comprehend and can store any of this "evidence". Also, knowing the main idea alone can get you 80 % of CARS questions right? what do you think? I'm testing 7/31. nd cars is like my EX that keeps haunting my dreams, Any advice? GREAT VIDEOS BTW!!!!

[@Shemmassian]

Thanks for commenting, and we're so happy you're enjoying the videos! The evidence-based questions are often tricky, especially because the AAMC likes to use details from around the evidence in an attempt to create answer choices that look right. Here are a couple of strategies you can try: 1. Read the passage twice. On the first read, you are just skimming the passage to get a feel for what you're reading. The second read is your normal read, but a little bit faster. 2. Remember these three tips: trust your gut answer choice, support that gut choice with text evidence, and reread the question to make sure you answered the question stem. Knowing the main idea alone can definitely help you get a lot of questions right!

[@abdulx15]

@@Shemmassian Awesome thanks! its good to know that everyone goes back to text for support. thanks for the strategies!

[@slummberparrty]

Great video, I liked the practice example!

[@Shemmassian]

Happy to help!

[@maricog658]

Thanks for the strategies I love this channel! Would you say practice with 3rd party material is a waste of time? If not should we just focus on timing and not their answer logic?

[@Shemmassian]

Great question! No material is a waste of time as long as you're clear about 1) what you're using it for and 2) how to get the most out of it. Let me explain. Point 1: 3rd party materials are great for identifying content weaknesses. Point 2: Once you identify those content weaknesses, double down and study those areas so that you don't miss questions about them again. So, in addition to focusing on timing, focus on identifying where you can strengthen your content knowledge. Hope this helps!

[@lamboozled3350]

Awesome video, man-thanks a ton! For some reason, I always score in the low 120s when taking practice exams, even though I understand majority of the passages. In this case do you think it’s purely a strategy issue? (e.g. not understanding AAMC’s logic or how they think?)

[@Shemmassian]

Hey Anthony, happy you enjoyed the video! If you're understanding the passages, you're already halfway there. Try out each of the strategies above on a handful of passages to see what works best for you. No one strategy works for every person, so it'll be a bit of trial and error to find the strategy (or combination of strategies) that will help improve YOUR score!

[@vTiisa]

Thanks for the helpful tips! Could you do a video covering Gen Chem?

[@Shemmassian]

Yes! We have plans to cover it at a later date, but we are doing a new series where Vikram walks through MCAT passages out loud. We'll make sure that a Gen Chem passage is in there sooner, rather than later. :)

[@mujtabaalam5907]

@@Shemmassian MCAT ASMR ;)

[@alexb9319]

Strategy 6+8 are my faves

[@Shemmassian]

You got this!

[@alexb9319]

Shemmassian Academic Consulting THANK YOU🥺❤️🥺❤️

[@nadur9477]

Great video!

[@zachyazdani5967]

Hi, what material do you use for practice passages? Aamc, jw, uworld?

[@ayindeabiodun.a1050]

I need past questions on all. MCAT exams

[@astudent8885]

Are you familiar with the khan academy cars practice passages? Do you think they are good practice for the mcat? Thanks!

[@hershaiyer2877]

If you easily get bored/lose focus, how do you get back on track?

[@Shemmassian]

One trick we tell students is to: 1. Pretend that this every passage they read is their absolute FAVORITE subject or 2. Pretend that they are reading the passage to a younger friend or relative, and they want that person to get excited about the topic Hope this helps :)

[@SeacoL2]

Did you personally find one tip to be the most effective objectively, or is it solely subjective?

[@Shemmassian]

Hey Andrew-great question! No one strategy works for every person. My personal strategy was super fast, and it helped me go with my gut feeling and stop getting lost in the small details. Some students benefit a TON from highlighting the direct text evidence that supports their answer choice. And other students benefit from other strategies. The point is: try a bunch of the strategies or a combination of strategies to see what works best for you!

[@astudent8885]

Solid advice.

[@Shemmassian]

Glad you found it valuable!

[@favour3802]

What sources should I use for practice passages? I’ve been using JW but everyone is telling me that JW questions are not representative of the real AAMC CARS passages. What other third party do u recommend for practicing CARS? Next Prep?

[@Shemmassian]

Have you checked ours out? www.shemmassianconsulting.com/blog/mcat-cars-practice-questions

[@majoreuowii9729]

A lot of the time I have trouble finding the main idea of the passage or what the hell the paragraph/passage is talking about. Bc of this I get the questions wrong. What’s ur recommendation to fix this?

[@Shemmassian]

Great question, and that is something that most CARS students struggle with at one point or another. The key is to figure out why you're having trouble identifying the main idea of the passage because it might be a variety of issues. One common problem is simply that CARS introduces many different ideas, uses complex sentence structures, and might have complex vocab words. Here's a couple things you might try: 1. Work through a passage EXTREMELY slowly and reword each sentence so that it makes sense. Look up words you don't know and really spend your time going through the passage. Note: this will take a while if done correctly. 2. Reading through a passage twice. On the first run, read only the first and last sentences of each paragraph to try and ascertain the main idea. Then, at the end of the first read, think about what you think the main idea of the passage is. Then, go back and read the passage all the way through. Note: this will also take a while if done correctly. You won't be able to use either of these techniques if you place yourself under a 10 minute per passage time crunch, but you'll get better at reasoning through the difficult passages. Hope this helps!

[@majoreuowii9729]

Shemmassian Academic Consulting thanks for the response. So yea your right, the reason I sometimes have trouble getting what the passage is conveying is most of the time because of the complex sentences. So I had a follow up question regarding your strategy to help fix it. Would I be using this on the actual hard passages on the exam, or am I simply using it on the daily CARS practice passages?

[@Shemmassian]

@@majoreuowii9729 Great follow-up question! It is a time-consuming approach, so you should use it on your daily CARS practice passages and take them untimed. Over time, you'll get better at analyzing the passages and the timing aspect will come naturally. Think of learning to swim. At first, you'll be slower but the main thing is you want to stay afloat. Over time and with practice, you're not worried about staying afloat but rather increasing your speed. Hope this helps! :)

[@BLTruth]

9 passages

[@zainabgangat2685]

How can I get mcat cars practice passages pdf which is printable?

[@Shemmassian]

You can find a few on our website!

[@Tornnaeto]

I think you skipped number 7. In the video, you went from Strategy 6 to strategy 8 but there was no strategy 7. Other than that it was a great video!

[@tstoke7877]

11:05 my guy

[@Shemmassian]

@@tstoke7877 Thanks! Hope y'all enjoyed the video.

[@malikasha]

Hey, thank u so much and congratulations for getting this score 🤩 I know that after high school we have to complete bachelor's degree, so we have to study in college, for attending to this college we need to pass exams?and if yes which exams? ,or if not how we have to complete bachelor's degree? , which programs we have to choose ? Sorry for bothering you with this questions😅 I couldn't find normal answers in Internet:((

[@souljawitch2190]

hi, In the u.s. the way it works is you can choose whichever major/program you want. You just have to complete the required medical school pre-requisites on the side. Some classes are biology, chemistry, psychology, etc. Google it to find out which classes exactly. You also need to take the mcat. You need both mcat and bachelors to apply to medical school. You also need experiences to get into medical school. Such as clinical experience, research, volunteering, leadership, shadowing, etc. Google the medical school you are interested in and check out their acceptance rate, mcat and gpa scores, etc. Good luck! If you have any questions let me know

[@malikasha]

@@souljawitch2190 hey Thank u so much , I'm so grateful that you respond me:) So before applying to this university we need to pass any type of exams(like chem or biology or maybe physics?)

[@souljawitch2190]

@@malikasha you have to take these classes. So try to do well in these courses. Medical schools look at your overall gpa as well as your science gpa. These courses are sections on the MCAT but there are no individual tests for these subjects. This video should help you greatly: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6irnXyffqaEl9k

[@malikasha]

@@souljawitch2190 okay , thank u 🙏🏻🙏🏻really. I'm sure u will be best type of person 🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜

[@YourDay67]

So you are saying looking at a bigger picture of the passage is important than trying to make it detail ?

[@Shemmassian]

Depends on the specific questions!

[@nailak7948]

I failed several science courses and passed afew due to a medical issue. Should I change career goals since I’m in my late 20s?

[@Shemmassian]

That's ultimately a personal decision but if you want to continue forward, we're here to support you. :)

[@nailak7948]

Shemmassian Academic Consulting :’)

[@makhloufbannoud644]

Hi I started Learning English about 6 years ago and I’m struggling so much with the CARS section. I even struggle with the science passages for the same reason but not nearly as much as cars. Do you think it’s worth it to spend a lot of time on cars or should I focus more on the other sections instead. Thank you so much for these videos :”) 3 months left until the test

[@Shemmassian]

So happy you enjoyed the videos! I don't think you should give up on CARS by any means, and here are a few tips that should help: 1. Study different forms of English sentence structure, such as independent and dependent clauses. CARS uses complex sentences, but having a foundational knowledge of grammar can help you decipher what the author is trying to say. 2. Focus on transition words when you're studying CARS. Examples of these words are: but, however, yet, for, therefore, thus, etc. 3. Study vocabulary words that you don't know. Nearly every single MCAT test taker will come across words that they don't know on the CARS section, but we can often use context clues to figure out what the words mean. Supplementing your context clues skills with an increased vocab might help improve your passage comprehension. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions!

[@makhloufbannoud644]

Shemmassian Academic Consulting Thank you so much for the advice I will be working on that for sure.

[@Shemmassian]

@@makhloufbannoud644 Happy to hear! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

[@denissemedina4619]

I speak english fluently but it is not my native language so I do struggle with it ugh :/

[@dvdv1822]

90 min is barely enough for justing reading and answering the Q's. There is no time to take notes, even a very brief notes.

[@jaredyee9]

there are only 9 MCAT cars passages, not 10... Your tips may be useful but you should really get the basics down if you're going to make videos like these

[@americangirllover490]

damn this guy is smart and cute

[@Shemmassian]

you can have your cake and eat it too ;)

[@CrudeArc]

I like the way this dude talks. Is that weird?

[@Shemmassian]

that makes two of us ;)