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Textbook
Introduction
1. CARS
1.1 CARS section guide
1.2 Reading strategies
1.3 Preview-and-skip strategy
1.4 Practice passage 1
1.5 Practice passage 2
1.6 Practice passage 3
1.7 Practice passage 4
1.8 Practice passage 5
1.9 Practice passage 6
1.10 Practice passage 7
1.11 Practice passage 8
1.12 Practice passage 9
2. Psych/soc
3. Bio/biochem
4. Chem/phys
Wrapping up
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1.3 Preview-and-skip strategy
Achievable MCAT
1. CARS

Preview-and-skip strategy

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Now let’s use a strategy you can apply both across the whole section and within each passage: quickly decide where your time will pay off the most.

CARS gives you 90 minutes for 9 passages, which averages to about 10 minutes per passage.

Not all passages will feel equally easy or difficult. Three factors usually determine how challenging a passage is for you:

  1. Topic: How familiar are you with the subject? Do you find it interesting?
  2. Vocabulary: Is it mostly everyday academic language, or does it rely on specialized terminology and unusual, long words?
  3. Structure: How complex are the sentences?
    • Some passages use straightforward sentences (one main idea per sentence, or a simple contrast between two ideas).
    • Others pack multiple ideas into each sentence. Lots of commas and semicolons can be a clue that you’ll need extra time to break the sentence into parts.

What if you could…

  • Preview all for friendliness
  • Skip the most-difficult-for-you (standard guess-answer)
  • Have more time on all others!!

Let’s make that idea concrete with a 1-5 difficulty scale:

  • 1 - This feels unusually friendly. You’re familiar with the topic and the writing style, and it reads simply for you.
  • 3 - Medium difficulty. You’re somewhat familiar with the topic or find it interesting. Some vocabulary may be unfamiliar, but you can get the gist from context, and the sentence structure isn’t overly complex.
  • 5 - This is a bad match for you. The topic is unfamiliar, the writing style feels unfamiliar, and it uses lots of terminology or dense descriptions with complex, multi-idea sentences.

Try the strategy with these three passage excerpts. Use 20 seconds per passage.

This passage is taken from “The relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan” by Khan, M.K., Khan, M.I., and Rehan, M., found at SpringerOpen.

Passage excerpt 1:

Non-renewable energy resources have a positive and significant effect on environmental degradation. Coal consumption indicates positively effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan. 1% increase in consumption of coal for energy use increase CO2 emissions up to 6.70% in Pakistan. Another source of non-renewable energy is natural gas that is mostly used for energy consumption in Pakistan; the coefficient of natural gas indicates the positive and statistically non-significant effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan. The coefficient of natural gas indicates that 1% increase in the use of natural gas for energy consumption boosts environmental degradation 3.05% in Pakistan. Oil consumption is the primary source of energy consumption in Pakistan, and the coefficient indicates a positive and statistically significant effect on environmental degradation in Pakistan. 1% increase in oil consumption for energy production or industrial production in the economy enforce to increase environmental degradation by 0.09% in Pakistan. The findings are supported by Dogan and Seker (2016), Jebli et al. (2016), Ali et al. (2015), and Shahbaz et al. (2014). It is observed from the previous studies that the use of non-renewable energy natural resource increases pollution and degrades environmental quality by contributing to CO2 emission. Mostly these resources of non-renewable energy are used for economic activities in developing countries that cause the degradation of the environment in of CO2 emissions. In practice, this requires governments to take wide-ranging initiatives to diversify its energy supply, in the long run, to meet increasing demand and also attract foreign investors who provide green production technologies and capital. Economic activities in developing countries also cause environmental degradation because these countries are using non-renewable energy resources for industrial and other economic activities that boost CO2 emissions in society. Concerning the environmental impact of economic growth, economic growth has a positive and statistically non-significant effect on environmental degradation. Estimated results show that when economic growth in Pakistan increases in shape of industrial development or any other economic activity the CO2 emissions also increases. The coefficient of per capita shows that 1% elevation in economic growth increases environmental degradation in the economy of Pakistan about 1.03%. Ang (2007) stated that economic growth has a positive effect on CO2 emission, degradation of the environment is caused by economic growth and industrial development.

This passage is taken from “DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL ETHICS” by Jane Adams, found at Project Gutenberg.

Passage excerpt 2:

     …Hints and glimpses of a larger and more satisfying democracy, which literature and our own hopes supply, have a tendency to slip away from us and to leave us sadly unguided and perplexed when we attempt to act upon them. Our conceptions of morality, as all our other ideas, pass through a course of development; the difficulty comes in adjusting our conduct, which has become hardened into customs and habits, to these changing moral conceptions. When this adjustment is not made, we suffer from the strain and indecision of believing one hypothesis and acting upon another.
     Probably there is no relation in life which our democracy is changing more rapidly than the charitable relation–that relation which obtains between benefactor and beneficiary; at the same time there is no point of contact in our modern experience which reveals so clearly the lack of that equality which democracy implies. We have reached the moment when democracy has made such inroads upon this relationship, that the complacency of the old-fashioned charitable man is gone forever; while, at the same time, the very need and existence of charity, denies us the consolation and freedom which democracy will at last give.
     The daintily clad charitable visitor who steps into the little house made untidy by the vigorous efforts of her hostess, the washerwoman, is no longer sure of her superiority to the latter; she recognizes that her hostess after all represents social value and industrial use, as over against her own parasitic cleanliness and a social standing attained only through status.

This passage is taken from “THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR” by Thucydides, found at Project Gutenberg.

Passage excerpt 3:

     Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian world - I had almost said of mankind. For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.
    For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion.

Which passage would be a 2 or 3 for you? Which might be a 4 or 5?

What aspects of the topic, vocabulary, and sentence structure made each easier or more difficult?

Here’s how to use this on test day: spend 1-2 minutes previewing each passage for topic, vocabulary, and sentence complexity, then give it a quick rating.

That preview does two things:

  • It improves comprehension because you’re already watching for the passage’s “difficulty drivers.”
  • It reduces rereading because you’re less likely to get surprised by dense vocabulary or complex sentence structure.

It also gives you a practical option: if one passage looks like a clear 4-5 for you, you can choose to skip it and use a standard guess pattern (for example, all A or all C). The time you save can go to passages where you’re more likely to earn points.

Ready to work on practice passages?

Passage excerpt 1 (Energy, Economic Growth, CO2 in Pakistan)

  • Likely difficulty: 3 (medium)
    • Topic: Familiar if you’ve seen environmental science/economics; otherwise, could be less engaging
    • Vocabulary: Some technical terms (e.g., “statistically significant,” “coefficient,” “per capita”), but mostly accessible
    • Structure: Long sentences with multiple statistics; some repetition, but logical flow

Passage excerpt 2 (Democracy and Social Ethics)

  • Likely difficulty: 2-3 (easy to medium)
    • Topic: Social change, democracy, charity - common humanities themes
    • Vocabulary: Mostly everyday academic language, some abstract terms (“benefactor,” “beneficiary,” “complacency”)
    • Structure: Moderate complexity; some long sentences, but ideas are clear and relatable

Passage excerpt 3 (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War)

  • Likely difficulty: 4-5 (hard)
    • Topic: Ancient history, unfamiliar context for many
    • Vocabulary: Archaic and formal (“exigencies,” “aggrandizement,” “barbarian world”)
    • Structure: Very long, dense sentences; multiple clauses and historical references

Difficulty drivers summary

  • Easier passages: Familiar topics, everyday vocabulary, straightforward sentences
  • Harder passages: Unfamiliar/abstract topics, specialized or archaic vocabulary, complex/multi-idea sentences
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Preview-and-skip strategy

Now let’s use a strategy you can apply both across the whole section and within each passage: quickly decide where your time will pay off the most.

CARS gives you 90 minutes for 9 passages, which averages to about 10 minutes per passage.

Not all passages will feel equally easy or difficult. Three factors usually determine how challenging a passage is for you:

  1. Topic: How familiar are you with the subject? Do you find it interesting?
  2. Vocabulary: Is it mostly everyday academic language, or does it rely on specialized terminology and unusual, long words?
  3. Structure: How complex are the sentences?
    • Some passages use straightforward sentences (one main idea per sentence, or a simple contrast between two ideas).
    • Others pack multiple ideas into each sentence. Lots of commas and semicolons can be a clue that you’ll need extra time to break the sentence into parts.

What if you could…

  • Preview all for friendliness
  • Skip the most-difficult-for-you (standard guess-answer)
  • Have more time on all others!!

Let’s make that idea concrete with a 1-5 difficulty scale:

  • 1 - This feels unusually friendly. You’re familiar with the topic and the writing style, and it reads simply for you.
  • 3 - Medium difficulty. You’re somewhat familiar with the topic or find it interesting. Some vocabulary may be unfamiliar, but you can get the gist from context, and the sentence structure isn’t overly complex.
  • 5 - This is a bad match for you. The topic is unfamiliar, the writing style feels unfamiliar, and it uses lots of terminology or dense descriptions with complex, multi-idea sentences.

Try the strategy with these three passage excerpts. Use 20 seconds per passage.

This passage is taken from “The relationship between energy consumption, economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in Pakistan” by Khan, M.K., Khan, M.I., and Rehan, M., found at SpringerOpen.

Passage excerpt 1:

Non-renewable energy resources have a positive and significant effect on environmental degradation. Coal consumption indicates positively effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan. 1% increase in consumption of coal for energy use increase CO2 emissions up to 6.70% in Pakistan. Another source of non-renewable energy is natural gas that is mostly used for energy consumption in Pakistan; the coefficient of natural gas indicates the positive and statistically non-significant effect on CO2 emissions in Pakistan. The coefficient of natural gas indicates that 1% increase in the use of natural gas for energy consumption boosts environmental degradation 3.05% in Pakistan. Oil consumption is the primary source of energy consumption in Pakistan, and the coefficient indicates a positive and statistically significant effect on environmental degradation in Pakistan. 1% increase in oil consumption for energy production or industrial production in the economy enforce to increase environmental degradation by 0.09% in Pakistan. The findings are supported by Dogan and Seker (2016), Jebli et al. (2016), Ali et al. (2015), and Shahbaz et al. (2014). It is observed from the previous studies that the use of non-renewable energy natural resource increases pollution and degrades environmental quality by contributing to CO2 emission. Mostly these resources of non-renewable energy are used for economic activities in developing countries that cause the degradation of the environment in of CO2 emissions. In practice, this requires governments to take wide-ranging initiatives to diversify its energy supply, in the long run, to meet increasing demand and also attract foreign investors who provide green production technologies and capital. Economic activities in developing countries also cause environmental degradation because these countries are using non-renewable energy resources for industrial and other economic activities that boost CO2 emissions in society. Concerning the environmental impact of economic growth, economic growth has a positive and statistically non-significant effect on environmental degradation. Estimated results show that when economic growth in Pakistan increases in shape of industrial development or any other economic activity the CO2 emissions also increases. The coefficient of per capita shows that 1% elevation in economic growth increases environmental degradation in the economy of Pakistan about 1.03%. Ang (2007) stated that economic growth has a positive effect on CO2 emission, degradation of the environment is caused by economic growth and industrial development.

This passage is taken from “DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL ETHICS” by Jane Adams, found at Project Gutenberg.

Passage excerpt 2:

     …Hints and glimpses of a larger and more satisfying democracy, which literature and our own hopes supply, have a tendency to slip away from us and to leave us sadly unguided and perplexed when we attempt to act upon them. Our conceptions of morality, as all our other ideas, pass through a course of development; the difficulty comes in adjusting our conduct, which has become hardened into customs and habits, to these changing moral conceptions. When this adjustment is not made, we suffer from the strain and indecision of believing one hypothesis and acting upon another.
     Probably there is no relation in life which our democracy is changing more rapidly than the charitable relation–that relation which obtains between benefactor and beneficiary; at the same time there is no point of contact in our modern experience which reveals so clearly the lack of that equality which democracy implies. We have reached the moment when democracy has made such inroads upon this relationship, that the complacency of the old-fashioned charitable man is gone forever; while, at the same time, the very need and existence of charity, denies us the consolation and freedom which democracy will at last give.
     The daintily clad charitable visitor who steps into the little house made untidy by the vigorous efforts of her hostess, the washerwoman, is no longer sure of her superiority to the latter; she recognizes that her hostess after all represents social value and industrial use, as over against her own parasitic cleanliness and a social standing attained only through status.

This passage is taken from “THE HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR” by Thucydides, found at Project Gutenberg.

Passage excerpt 3:

     Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it broke out, and believing that it would be a great war and more worthy of relation than any that had preceded it. This belief was not without its grounds. The preparations of both the combatants were in every department in the last state of perfection; and he could see the rest of the Hellenic race taking sides in the quarrel; those who delayed doing so at once having it in contemplation. Indeed this was the greatest movement yet known in history, not only of the Hellenes, but of a large part of the barbarian world - I had almost said of mankind. For though the events of remote antiquity, and even those that more immediately preceded the war, could not from lapse of time be clearly ascertained, yet the evidences which an inquiry carried as far back as was practicable leads me to trust, all point to the conclusion that there was nothing on a great scale, either in war or in other matters.
    For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion.

Which passage would be a 2 or 3 for you? Which might be a 4 or 5?

What aspects of the topic, vocabulary, and sentence structure made each easier or more difficult?

Here’s how to use this on test day: spend 1-2 minutes previewing each passage for topic, vocabulary, and sentence complexity, then give it a quick rating.

That preview does two things:

  • It improves comprehension because you’re already watching for the passage’s “difficulty drivers.”
  • It reduces rereading because you’re less likely to get surprised by dense vocabulary or complex sentence structure.

It also gives you a practical option: if one passage looks like a clear 4-5 for you, you can choose to skip it and use a standard guess pattern (for example, all A or all C). The time you save can go to passages where you’re more likely to earn points.

Ready to work on practice passages?

Key points

Passage excerpt 1 (Energy, Economic Growth, CO2 in Pakistan)

  • Likely difficulty: 3 (medium)
    • Topic: Familiar if you’ve seen environmental science/economics; otherwise, could be less engaging
    • Vocabulary: Some technical terms (e.g., “statistically significant,” “coefficient,” “per capita”), but mostly accessible
    • Structure: Long sentences with multiple statistics; some repetition, but logical flow

Passage excerpt 2 (Democracy and Social Ethics)

  • Likely difficulty: 2-3 (easy to medium)
    • Topic: Social change, democracy, charity - common humanities themes
    • Vocabulary: Mostly everyday academic language, some abstract terms (“benefactor,” “beneficiary,” “complacency”)
    • Structure: Moderate complexity; some long sentences, but ideas are clear and relatable

Passage excerpt 3 (Thucydides, Peloponnesian War)

  • Likely difficulty: 4-5 (hard)
    • Topic: Ancient history, unfamiliar context for many
    • Vocabulary: Archaic and formal (“exigencies,” “aggrandizement,” “barbarian world”)
    • Structure: Very long, dense sentences; multiple clauses and historical references

Difficulty drivers summary

  • Easier passages: Familiar topics, everyday vocabulary, straightforward sentences
  • Harder passages: Unfamiliar/abstract topics, specialized or archaic vocabulary, complex/multi-idea sentences