CARS advice

[Ubiquinoone]

I need an honest opinion. Is it worth reading the kaplan/princeton CARS book or is it better to just jump right into practice passages and keep practicing everyday?

[TalsKnight]

On 8/17/2018 at 10:14 AM, Ubiquinoone said:

I need an honest opinion. Is it worth reading the kaplan/princeton CARS book or is it better to just jump right into practice passages and keep practicing everyday?

 

Khan Academy + AAMC practice tbh. 

[cxbrt5]

Personally, I did not use any prep books for CARS as I felt their strategies just cluttered my brain when really you just need to understand the passage and everything you need to know is within the passage. I recommend starting practice ASAP, time all your practice (9min for 5 question passage, 10.5 for 6 question passage, 12 for 7 question passage) and build your stamina (start with 1 passage, 2, 3, so on...).

I also reviewed my practice from time to time and tried to justify to myself where I went wrong (made a document of this to track patterns). It helps to also read the very bottom of each passage before reading the passage (the organization and title of article) as it helps to set the passage in context. I ended up scoring 98th percentile using the NextStep CARS book, Princeton CARS, then the AAMC questionpacks for practice. 

I think what really helped me do well in the end is to not zone out when reading, and try to truly grasp the passage, understand it at its core, and pretend it's super interesting so you're engaged.

Hope this helps!