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Cars Without Answering An Entire Passage


unluckydude

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I get my scores next week. What a killer wait!

 

I agree that the guessing strategy seems pretty brutal. Some companies suggest reading a passage and if it seems too convoluted, to come back to it but in my opinion that's a lot of time spent to read it the first time and then come back and re-familiarize yourself with it.

 

I found that reading aloud to myself helped me focus on what the content was actually saying. I practiced reading aloud and worked to the point where I basically just moved my mouth while reading (because no one wants to be "that guy" during a test!). Even with doing that, I still had 10-15 minutes left at the end of CARS.

 

The other thing I would say is to make sure that your answer is backed by the passage. When I first started practicing, I think i was over-reasoning beyond the text and making connections that were maybe more based on outside experiences as well. For each answer, you should be able to point to the text and says "that's why".

 

Just my thoughts though....we'll see next week if I have any credibility! Lol.

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1. Princetons CARS technique is full of crap. I did it first time and didn't score very well (127). Rewrote and improved 2 points (129) just barely doing CARS practice (focussed mostly on sciences to improve overall score)

 

2. Miracles do happen for CARS, I know a guy who was getting 125-128 on princetons cars and a 128 on AAMC scored exam. Ended up with a 132 on the real thing...

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ALL exam prep company gimmicks are bull feces, TPR and Kaplan methods in particular. If you use TPR your going to get at least 4-5 wrong off the bat and if you use Kaplans mapping method you'll never finish on time or you'll do poorly because your too busy writing stuff down to really get the main idea in the allotted time. The only "strategy" I recommend (if you can call it that) would be the Examkrackers method just because it mostly common sense stuff that actually helps imo. If you read the EK book it actually calls out the "skip a passage" method because it almost assures you a score bellow 127. Better luck next time bud, you learn from your mistakes =)

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For me (my 2 cents) I read the passages under my breath, with a sort of "intent". Compete focus, and don't just read, think to yourself. ....., ....... etc okay, they means this, next sentence, ......., ...... ahhh, they've strengthened their argument. Hold each section in your head, and compare it to the last while you read. If it wasn't clear, immediately read that paragraph again, but no more then twice. You don't have time. Be very aware. These are concepts you won't be familiar with, and only what the author states is relevant. Leave your assumptions behind.

 

Pretend the author is giving a speech, and you really want to learn the material. Pretend you are at a medschool you want to go to, and are listening to an admissions speech. Read with that level of captivity and involvement. No sentance should be read passively. This takes practice. I scored very well using this techinique. I tried Kaplan's, and I was scoring quite poorly before.

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For me (my 2 cents) I read the passages under my breath, with a sort of "intent". Compete focus, and don't just read, think to yourself. ....., ....... etc okay, they means this, next sentence, ......., ...... ahhh, they've strengthened their argument. Hold each section in your head, and compare it to the last while you read. If it wasn't clear, immediately read that paragraph again, but no more then twice. You don't have time. Be very aware. These are concepts you won't be familiar with, and only what the author states is relevant. Leave your assumptions behind.

 

Pretend the author is giving a speech, and you really want to learn the material. Pretend you are at a medschool you want to go to, and are listening to an admissions speech. Read with that level of captivity and involvement. No sentance should be read passively. This takes practice. I scored very well using this techinique. I tried Kaplan's, and I was scoring quite poorly before.

 

I scored in the 95th percentile with reading under my breath like this. It's also important to try and leave your presuppositions behind and make sure there's something in the text you can point to and say "that" is why my answer is correct.

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I scored in the 95th percentile with reading under my breath like this. It's also important to try and leave your presuppositions behind and make sure there's something in the text you can point to and say "that" is why my answer is correct.

Thank you to those of you who have shared tips! I feel confident that I'll be better prepared if I write again next summer.

 

When I practiced doing CARS passages, I actually did read the passages out loud, and pretended I was giving a speech. I found it helped me stay engaged, and get a better idea of what the argument was. I didn't do it on test day because I was nervous I'd be disrupting others. Next time I think I'll stick to it, though (under my breath of course, haha)!

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