00:00
Now interpreting all of these nonstandard
usages of the English language
can be a little bit tricky to do under
the pressures of time constraint.
00:10
Therefore, I want to discuss
what to do if you find yourself
with 5-minute left on your CARS
section, and one passage left.
00:19
You traditionally have about 10
minutes to complete a passage.
00:23
So what do you do if you only
have half that amount of time?
For context, when surveyed,
CARS test takers stated that they
did tend to feel rushed towards
the end of their CARS section.
00:38
Even my physician grandfather,
for instance, who took the MCAT
all the way to UCLA without
any formal test preparation,
advises me that when I'm
taking practice MCAT exams,
that some questions are in
fact designed to make you fail.
00:55
That can be in both the
sciences or in CARS,
where they can trap you
into spending a lot of time.
01:01
So the strategy we'll discuss
is just to start to think about
not only whether you're going to
get to a correct answer solution,
but whether you're going to
do so in a timely fashion.
01:15
As with anything on
the MCAT always take
an educated guess on
any CARS question,
because there are no
penalties for wrong answers.
01:24
In fact, having a strategy for
the types of questions on CARS
you are prepared to not
to spend too much time on
would be a valuable thing to do.
01:34
For me, I watch out for questions
that are phrased in the negative
and that require me to evaluate four
sections of larger passage context.
01:43
It is my strategy to take a big picture
approach with these question types.
01:47
I know that I can miss up to maybe four
questions across the section as a whole,
and still score a 99th
percentile on CARS.
01:56
So I personally don't
worry about scoring 100%,
only close to 100% which helps
me not to be thrown off on time.
02:07
But in spite of our well
versed mastery of pacing,
we do get to the end
of the CARS section
and tend to feel a little
bit pinched on time.
02:18
At that point, we ask ourselves,
"What are the most important
aspects I should be focusing on
if I have a limited amount
of time to read a passage?"
So we concentrate on these aspects and
then get straight to the questions.
02:34
My own two sense is that
the first and last sentence
of each paragraph
are most important.
02:40
Additionally, I want to share with
you what the test writers themselves
state are the most important
aspects of a passage.
02:48
A nice work from the official
content guide states.
02:51
The beginning and
ending of passages
are two specific sections
where the author often provides
important information
about the general theme,
message or purpose for the work.
03:04
Does the author state
their main point
in an introductory
or closing sentence?
Does the past agenda
the definitive solution,
partial resolution,
or a call for additional research?
Considering these
specific sections can help
inform your basic
understanding of the passage.
03:24
I probably can't state this any
better except to put it all together
into a drill you can perform when
running low on time on your CARS section.
03:35
If you have 5 minutes
left on a CARS section,
and one passage left,
here's what I recommend.
03:42
Read the first and last
sentence of each paragraph.
03:45
If you want to read
a little bit more,
you can read a little bit more
of the first and last paragraphs
and then jump straight
to the questions.
03:53
If you have six
minutes left or so,
you might read the entire
first and last paragraph.
04:00
Now I teach about 100 students the
MCAT each year and without fail.
04:06
With a 6-question passage,
the majority of students score
about 4 out of 6 questions
correct with this method.
04:14
Again, first and last
sentence of each paragraph
a little bit more first and final
paragraphs going straight to the questions.
04:20
It's really for me
quite remarkable.
04:23
At a minimum,
I see 3 out of 6 questions correct.
04:27
Sometimes even 5
out of 6 correct.
04:29
Compare this to reading
the passage for 4 minutes
and then answering one question
and guessing on the final 5.
04:38
You can simply see why your
time would be better spent
reading as much of the
passage as you can,
but focusing the
balance and the majority
of your time on the
questions themselves.
04:49
I like this drill so
much that I suggested
with 10 minutes
and two passages.
04:55
Indeed, anything that we would
do on the day of our test
we want to do before
the day of the test.
05:00
So get out some
practice passages,
set a timer for 5
minutes for one passage,
10 minutes for two passages
and try this drill on your own.