STUDYING FOR CARS

[Newtothis123]

Hey all!! Im applying to Canadian medical schools this upcoming July (2020)! I come from a less traditional premed background (nursing)! I was wondering if anyone had tips/tricks to studying for the CARS section of the MCAT, and what ressources you found were the best to help you (kaplan, EK, Princeton.....). I decided because of my background to only write the CARS section. If I score a 123, I can apply to McMasters, although I need much higher to be competitive, and I need a 128 if I want to apply to UofCalgary! Any suggestions/tips would help!!! Also does anyone know if its common to get into these schools when only writing the CARS section?

[Psych]

I wrote the whole MCAT, and I used Kaplan and found their CARS book quite helpful   As for your second question, I can't speak to UofC but McMaster's interview criteria is very formulaic (33% GPA, 33% CARS, 33% CASPer), so if you have decent scores on all three of those you definitely have a good shot! I would say for Mac you also need at least a 128 CARS to be competitive though, although slightly lower (126 or 127) may also work if you score really high on GPA and/or CASPer. Last year the median CARS score to get in was 129. Also, for Mac 90% of their spots are for IP, so if you aren't from Ontario you'd need even higher stats than that. I hope this helps!

[Newtothis123]

7 hours ago, Psych said:

I wrote the whole MCAT, and I used Kaplan and found their CARS book quite helpful   Having said that, I took AP English in high school so I came from a background of knowing how to analyze written passages, so that definitely helped me as well. As for your second question, I can't speak to UofC but McMaster's interview criteria is very formulaic (33% GPA, 33% CARS, 33% CASPer), so if you have decent scores on all three of those you definitely have a good shot! I would say for Mac you also need at least a 128 CARS to be competitive though, although slightly lower (126 or 127) may also work if you score really high on GPA and/or CASPer. Last year the median CARS score to get in was 129. Also, for Mac 90% of their spots are for IP, so if you aren't from Ontario you'd need even higher stats than that. I hope this helps!

Thank you!!! And yes I am IP, and my GPA is very competitive so I’m really just hoping to get a 126-129 ish

[MDLD]

I did a cars course I found very helpful.  I would perhaps try a cars section with test conditions see how you do to determine how much help you need. 

[Newtothis123]

1 hour ago, MDLD said:

I did a card course I found very helpful.  I would perhaps try a cars section with test conditions see how you do to determine how much help you need. 

Thanks! A cars course? Where did you find that?

[Médicomage]

Yeah I thought of doing that too, because i have a love-hate relationship with biochem and orgo and apparently, i'm considered IP by McMaster.

I have NextStep and The Princeton Review CARS books. I also have a few apps on my phone : Magoosh and Varsity Tutors.

So far, I had 123 on the CARS section on a practice test.

[Nik-]

I just used the princeton review CARS books and some of the berkeley review when I had spare time.

[julietb]

I also wrote the entire MCAT, but scored highly in CARS  I read through the Kaplan book and applied their strategies to the AAMC CARS question banks. Depending on how much time I had each day, I did at least 1 or 2 passages (ideally more) every day during my prep. A lot of people told me that you should always do the AAMC questions under timed conditions, or try to only take the time for each passage that you would take on the test. What I did (and what worked really well for me), was not even worrying about my time at first, and really focusing on dissecting the question, using the Kaplan strategies, and reading the passage over until I found the piece of info that I needed to answer the question. Basically, in the first half of my prep, I would try not to guess at all - I always took the time to understand why the right answer was correct and why the others were wrong (even if it took 30+ minutes per passage). With practice, I became much more efficient at using the strategies and finding the correct answer that my speed naturally increased. In the later part of my prep, I was able to practice under timed conditions but still usually select the right answer. 

If you need extra practice I also found the CARS sections in the Exam Krackers full lengths to be pretty reliable. I hope this helps! Good luck