MCAT CARS: What Not to Do for a High Score

Because the CARS section is the most mysterious and intimidating section for Science students, there is a voracious appetite for tips and pointers on this section. Unfortunately, bad CARS advice is epidemic. Let’s look at some of the most pervasive bad advice in circulation so you don’t start off on the wrong track.

Don’t skip one passage.

It’s an act of pure surrender to plan to skip one passage and just guess on the questions. Don’t do it! To score 127 or better on CARS, you must read every passage and answer every question.

Don’t try to cherry-pick “easy” passages.

Skipping around the CARS section to find easier passages is a bad idea. Some passages are difficult but have easy questions. Some passages are easy but have difficult questions. Some passages start out difficult but finish easy. You simply can’t tell if a passage is easy or difficult until you have read it and attempted the questions. Cherry-picking is a futile approach that will lower your CARS score. Just do the passages in sequential order.

Don’t read the questions first.

Another misguided approach is to read the questions first so you can pluck out the answers while reading the passage. Don’t do it. You won’t be able to remember more than one or two questions and trying to remember the other ones will only distract you while reading the passage – a proven way to lower your CARS score.

Don’t play around with speed-reading techniques.

Speed-reading techniques hinder score improvements by shifting focus from depth of comprehension to pace of reading. Most speed-reading courses teach you how to skim – not how to read. Reading requires comprehension. Skimming does not. Reading speed is not the key to a good CARS score. Comprehension is.

Don’t play around with memory enhancements.

The CARS section does NOT test your recall of information. If it did, anyone with a superb memory would get a near-perfect score. They don’t. That’s because the trick to getting a good CARS score is to ignore the details and focus on the ideas and structure.

Don’t highlight.

Don’t highlight words in CARS passages. When you highlight something, you are reading it at least twice and it interrupts both your train of thought and the flow of the passage. It distracts you from the ideas and is counter-productive.

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