Next Step 108 Passages Cars / Cars Strategy Advice?

[DrHugo]

Hey guys, so I just started going through the passages in this book and I'm wondering what the general consensus is regarding the quality? I did an extensive search and there isn't too much info on it.

If anyone is also using this book for practice we can discuss some answers which the book doesn't cover very well!

 

Would appreciate if anyone who practiced using NS 108 and subsequently wrote the MCAT could give some input. I've also been mixing in TPR Verbal workbook, EK101 and all past AAMC CBTs. 

 

Although most people advise to always practice under timed conditions, I feel timing should be worried about in the month leading up to the test - what's the point in doing timed sections if you haven't really grasped the skill necessary to tackle CARS in the first place after all? 

[gangliocytoma]

How'd you do on the first set of passages if you dont mind me asking? I just did it and was very unpleasantly surprised.

[a7x]

This book is very, very, very hard.

Also the way the passages are visually presented I found hard to read.

[VolumeOverload]

Hey guys, so I just started going through the passages in this book and I'm wondering what the general consensus is regarding the quality? I did an extensive search and there isn't too much info on it.

If anyone is also using this book for practice we can discuss some answers which the book doesn't cover very well!

 

Would appreciate if anyone who practiced using NS 108 and subsequently wrote the MCAT could give some input. I've also been mixing in TPR Verbal workbook, EK101 and all past AAMC CBTs. 

 

Although most people advise to always practice under timed conditions, I feel timing should be worried about in the month leading up to the test - what's the point in doing timed sections if you haven't really grasped the skill necessary to tackle CARS in the first place after all? 

 

Personally, I disagree.  For me, working under strict timed conditions early on forced me to be that much more critical in my reading and deduce the main message as I simply did not have enough time to dwell on details.  I used 10 min for a 7 question passage, 9 min for a 6 question passage, and 8 min for a 5 question passage.  I finished the CARs section with about 5-7 minutes left and scored 131 (I would consider my reading speed to be average/below-average).  As such, I strongly recommend working under timed conditions even if you don't have a strategy/approach formulated quite yet.

 

The only other piece of advice I have is to always do at least 3 passages per day.  No matter how tired you are or how busy your day was, find time to do at least 3 passages.  Even if that's the only studying you do for that day.  You want to totally immerse yourself in a CARs mindset because that is the hardest section to prepare for.  Besides, the skills you develop to do well in the CARs section will aid you in the other sections as far as being better at extrapolating information from the presented text.

[DrHugo]

I'd also like to point out I've been using Testing Solutions 30 day strategy guide as well. The review method provided by this company is quite intense (reread passage multiple times, highlight keywords, write short 1 sentence summary of each paragraph and entire passage, paraphrase questions and predict answers, etc.). Does anyone have experience with testing solutions? Apparently the tests they have (currently 8 available I believe) are overkill. 

 

 

How'd you do on the first set of passages if you dont mind me asking? I just did it and was very unpleasantly surprised.

Hey, sure! That's why I started the topic; discussion might help. On section 1 I made 11 mistakes in total. The bulk of my mistakes (7 of them) were in passage 4 and 5 as well. On section 2 I made a whopping total of 16 mistakes though. Not sure what happened there. I do these untimed though - but I might change that up soon and start using timed practice only. How did you find them? 

 

This book is very, very, very hard.

Also the way the passages are visually presented I found hard to read.

Do you think it's good practice though? How much of the book did you do/what strategy did you use? You got into Mac (congrats!) so you obviously knew what you're doing with verbal.

 

Personally, I disagree.  For me, working under strict timed conditions early on forced me to be that much more critical in my reading and deduce the main message as I simply did not have enough time to dwell on details.  I used 10 min for a 7 question passage, 9 min for a 6 question passage, and 8 min for a 5 question passage.  I finished the CARs section with about 5-7 minutes left and scored 131 (I would consider my reading speed to be average/below-average).  As such, I strongly recommend working under timed conditions even if you don't have a strategy/approach formulated quite yet.

The only other piece of advice I have is to always do at least 3 passages per day.  No matter how tired you are or how busy your day was, find time to do at least 3 passages.  Even if that's the only studying you do for that day.  You want to totally immerse yourself in a CARs mindset because that is the hardest section to prepare for.  Besides, the skills you develop to do well in the CARs section will aid you in the other sections as far as being better at extrapolating information from the presented text.

Hey, thanks for the advice! Just a couple questions.

 

I actually started practicing with timed conditions but recently switched to untimed in an attempt to improve my score, and was planning on getting my timing down as test day approached. I agree that giving myself extra time does make me dwell on details and potentially takes away from the intense critical reading I would normally do.

What were you scoring on average when you started practicing/ how did you improve? I feel like once you are consistently scoring a raw score of 90% + correct you can feel safe to be in 130+ range. I get a lot of those "Ahhh that makes sense" moments when I review correct answer choices. Just haven't been able to see major improvement in verbal yet.

[gangliocytoma]

I'd also like to point out I've been using Testing Solutions 30 day strategy guide as well. The review method provided by this company is quite intense (reread passage multiple times, highlight keywords, write short 1 sentence summary of each paragraph and entire passage, paraphrase questions and predict answers, etc.). Does anyone have experience with testing solutions? Apparently the tests they have (currently 8 available I believe) are overkill. 

 

 

Hey, sure! That's why I started the topic; discussion might help. On section 1 I made 11 mistakes in total. The bulk of my mistakes (7 of them) were in passage 4 and 5 as well. On section 2 I made a whopping total of 16 mistakes though. Not sure what happened there. I do these untimed though - but I might change that up soon and start using timed practice only. How did you find them? 

 

Do you think it's good practice though? How much of the book did you do/what strategy did you use? You got into Mac (congrats!) so you obviously knew what you're doing with verbal.

 

Hey, thanks for the advice! Just a couple questions.

 

I actually started practicing with timed conditions but recently switched to untimed in an attempt to improve my score, and was planning on getting my timing down as test day approached. I agree that giving myself extra time does make me dwell on details and potentially takes away from the intense critical reading I would normally do.

What were you scoring on average when you started practicing/ how did you improve? I feel like once you are consistently scoring a raw score of 90% + correct you can feel safe to be in 130+ range. I get a lot of those "Ahhh that makes sense" moments when I review correct answer choices. Just haven't been able to see major improvement in verbal yet.

 

So far I've done section 1 only, I'm trying to do the NextStep review on it as we speak. I also found passage 4 as a killer. I did pretty bad, 20 mistakes, which really scared me when comparing it to my EK and TPR scores. I'll do section 2 tmmrw and let you know.

[Presh]

I'm using the NextStep book as well and don't love it, primarily because I don't always agree with the conclusions drawn by the writers. I'll still use the book (because [seemingly unnecessary] trickiness is good practice!), but personally find it less similar to the AAMC questions than other resources I've used.

 

Point is: it's a very frustrating book, which on some days defeats me! Keep with it!

[a7x]

Do you think it's good practice though? How much of the book did you do/what strategy did you use? You got into Mac (congrats!) so you obviously knew what you're doing with verbal.

 

It's good practice, I would say one step below EK101 but for sure above kaplan/TPR etc, and not nearly AAMC level. I did the whole thing, along with ek101, tprh, regular tpr and all the aamc.