Great test takers also work with a plan! Figure 4.1 shows the Kaplan Method for Passages. We recommend following these four steps whenever approaching an MCAT passage.
While this general strategy is universal, it can be refined to fit the section that you’re working on. As you’ve probably already discovered, there are several important differences between passages from the three science sections and those found in CARS. Most obvious is that the latter contain considerably more words, as well as having no images to break up the monotony of text. Under the surface, CARS passages are much more variable, both in their range of topics and their diversity of writing styles. Moreover, unlike the science passages, which are nearly always impartial, CARS passages are usually written by authors who take sides and express their opinions, although not always in a straightforward manner.
To account for these essential differences, the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages can be refined, as shown in Figure 4.2.
Note: The Kaplan Method for CARS Passages, as well as the Kaplan Method for CARS Questions, CARS Question Types, and Wrong Answer Pathologies are included as tear-out sheets in the back of this book.
The purpose of the Scan step is to give you an idea of what you’re getting into, to allow you to decide whether this is the passage that you want to work on at this point in time. Scanning should only take a matter of seconds and is finished when you can answer the question: Now or later? If your answer is now, you’ll continue with the other steps in the method. Should you instead decide later, you may wish to take a few seconds to jot down the topic of the passage and the number of its first question for reference on your noteboard, then move on to Scan the next passage.
Scanning passages is trickier in CARS than in the other sections, given the lack of figures with helpful captions—or anything besides paragraphs of text. Your best bet is to Scan for words that stand out due to capitalization, italics, quotation marks, parentheses, or any other distinctive textual features. When in doubt, just read the first (and possibly last) sentences of each paragraph until you start to get a sense of the big picture: the field of study, topic or theme, and rhetorical features like the author’s purpose for writing. Remember that you don’t need to read sentences word for word while Scanning: you’re just trying to get enough information to assess the difficulty.
The now or later decision ultimately comes down to your individual talents as a test taker. If you find that, say, technical philosophy passages take you a long time to complete with little payoff, then you’ll want to save any such passages until the end. Why waste precious minutes on a difficult passage if filling in guesses would result in a similar score on that passage? Remember to pay attention not only to the subject matter but also to the difficulty of the language used. Puzzling vocabulary, convoluted sentences, and long-winded paragraphs can make even the most interesting topics frustrating to read. With enough practice, making determinations of difficulty will come quickly, and the small amount of time you invest in Scanning will pay off in points through better section management.
Reading strategically means paying attention to keywords and the four modes of reading discussed in the preceding chapter: content, organization, perspective, and reasoning. Look beyond the content buzzwords to see how Relation keywords connect the different ideas in the text, how Author keywords offer glimpses of the writer’s intentions, and how Logic keywords reveal the passage’s arguments. If you don’t yet feel comfortable identifying the different types of keywords, the analysis of the sample passage at the end of this chapter offers many examples that demonstrate how to recognize them.
Make sure to familiarize yourself with the different types of keywords and their functions. Keywords help you anticipate the path an author will take through the passage, and they allow you stay a step ahead of the author’s thought process. Chapter 3 of MCAT CARS Review discusses the different classifications of keywords.
As you read through each paragraph, you must resist the urge to reread the text excessively: you don’t need to understand every single word and clause so long as you get a sense of the general direction of the author’s discussion. A good rule of thumb is never to read a sentence more than twice during the Read step. If you don’t understand a phrase or sentence the first time through, check whether a Relation keyword starts the next sentence—especially a Similarity keyword. If you see a Similarity keyword, it suggests that the author will continue with the same train of thought; often, the author will use simpler text to clarify the point made in preceding convoluted or complex sentences. Even if you feel lost after a second reading of the phrase or sentence, keep moving forward. You can always come back to that text for additional rereading if a question actually asks about it and points are on the line.
Even if you don’t understand a phrase or sentence after rereading it once, keep moving forward! Many MCAT test takers get caught up in complicated sentences and lose valuable time. If an author truly cares about a point she is making in a convoluted or complex sentence, the same point will likely return again in the passage—and usually in easier phrasing!
Above all, aim to figure out how a paragraph’s sentences work together and what specific role that paragraph plays in the larger whole of the passage. The sooner you can figure out the author’s overall purpose for writing, the easier it will be to see how each paragraph is supposed to function. That’s why it’s so helpful during the Scan step to look for those big-picture rhetorical elements (author, audience, message, goal, and context).
Should I look at the questions before reading the passage? Because every passage is accompanied by five to seven challenging questions, we typically recommend that you don’t read any of them before you’ve created your Passage Outline. That said, some students like to preview the questions at the very beginning to get a better sense of what to emphasize when reading. If you wish to try this alternative approach, take extra care in doing so. Above all, be sure you preview only the question stems and none of the answer choices because wrong options often promote misreadings of the text, which could end up costing you a lot of points. In addition, don’t devote too much mental energy to remembering the stems or interrupt your reading by jumping to answer one of them; you are best served by concentrating on the passage to minimize rereading time.
The only components a CARS passage contains are paragraphs of text, so you’ll be jotting down a brief description for each paragraph based on the results of your strategic reading during the Label step. Because you are the only person who needs to be able to decipher your Outline, you should strive to be efficient by using symbols, abbreviations, and other shorthand. Although Outlining will be a time-consuming process when you start practicing, you’ll soon find a balance between being quick and being thorough. Like the Scan step, Labeling is a time investment. But because it will save you a considerable amount of effort when it comes to researching the questions, you’ll find it becomes a net time gain once you’ve mastered Outlining.
Whenever possible, you should Label a paragraph in light of the four modes of reading discussed in Chapter 3 of MCAT CARS Review: content, organization, perspective, and reasoning. Not only should your Label reveal the content of that paragraph, but it should also give a sense of the paragraph’s function within the larger structure of the passage, that is, the author’s purpose for the particular paragraph. Make note in your Label of strong author opinions, as well as whenever an alternative perspective is being spoken for. Finally, pay special attention to the use of supporting or challenging evidence—many paragraphs function simply to strengthen or weaken a particular claim. Examples of each of these considerations will be offered later in this chapter.
Outlining, like any new strategy, will slow you down at first. But, with practice and internalization of the strategy, you will see that Outlining actually leads to an improvement in timing because you spend significantly less time researching answers to questions.
It’s essential to note that Reading and Labeling happen simultaneously. You should not start reading a new paragraph until you have some kind of Label for the one that you’ve just finished. Typically, it’s worth reading the entire paragraph first before writing anything down because that tends to minimize the need for modifying your Label if the paragraph takes an unexpected turn. However, if the paragraph is especially long or dense, you might want to start jotting down a few words as soon as you get an idea of what’s going on. Then, once you reach the end of the paragraph, just be sure your Label captures everything you feel is important before continuing.
It is worth saying that a Label in your Outline is not simply a set of notes. Writing out long lists of notes reduces the utility of your Outline because there is far too much detail for it to serve as a quick reference or guide to the passage as a whole. Further, taking notes usually accompanies a focus on content alone, rather than considering the larger function of the paragraph. Instead, a Label should be a brief summary of the paragraph as a whole, simultaneously encompassing the content, organization, perspective, and reasoning within that paragraph.
Creating Labels for a Passage Outline is similar to identifying the anatomy of the passage. We want to know not only what each part is but also how each part is connected and how each part relates to the greater whole.
With each paragraph now Read and Labeled, all that remains is to pause briefly to Reflect upon the whole passage and articulate the author’s overall Goal for writing, as described in Chapter 2 of MCAT CARS Review. Briefly look over the Labels in your Outline to get a sense of the overall arc of the passage. Did the author follow the same train of thought throughout the passage (perhaps a description of a social policy problem and a selection of potential solutions), or did he suddenly change the focus (perhaps describing the life of an individual composer and then criticizing the classification of musical genres throughout all of music history)? Because the authors of passages used in CARS are always trying to do something with their text, you should always begin a Goal statement with an action word, an infinitive verb (the form of a verb starting with to, such as to describe, to analyze, to rebut, and so on). The nouns and other parts of speech that follow will fill in the subject matter and the particular focus of the author’s discussion. Occasionally, an author might have multiple major Goals, in which case it’s okay to use more than one verb—just be sure to use at least one.
The Goal of the passage is the author’s purpose for writing it. In the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages, you write this Goal statement at the end of your Outline, always beginning with an infinitive verb such as to explain, to argue, or to criticize.
In the discussion of rhetoric in Chapter 2 of MCAT CARS Review, we noted that the purpose of most CARS passages will fall into one of two categories: informative or persuasive. When deciding on the Goal, consider where the author falls on the spectrum between taking a side and trying to remain impartial. This evaluation can help you to narrow down the appropriate purpose verb. Authors who are more informative can be said to discuss or describe a topic or, if going into greater depth, to explain or analyze it. If dealing with multiple ideas, the author might compare or contrast them. On the other hand, when authors are more persuasive, they may support or advocate a specific view, but many on the CARS section will simply challenge, critique, or rebut a position without offering any positive alternative. Using one or two of the example verbs considered here will work for most CARS passages, but feel free to choose others as appropriate.
As a final note, you don’t actually have to wait until completing the passage to fill in the Goal. If you are able to discover the author’s purpose during your Scan, or in one of the early paragraphs, feel free to jot it down. Just be sure that when you finish the passage, you take a moment to Reflect and make sure that the Goal was in fact what you originally suspected. All things considered, the final step should take no more than about 30 seconds, and potentially quite a bit less if you managed to identify the Goal early.
In addition to clarifying the overall purpose of the author, the Goal statement is also useful for answering Main Idea questions, as described in Chapter 9 of MCAT CARS Review. The purpose verb is important too; many wrong answers in Main Idea questions will have a purpose verb with the wrong charge (to advocate vs. to rebut) or that is too strong or too weak (to prove vs. to support vs. to describe).