Top Strategies for MCAT CARS

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) is the one MCAT section that requires zero science knowledge, yet it’s the section that derails the most premed dreams. You can’t cram for it. It’s a skill, and like any skill, it improves only with consistent, deliberate practice.

Know the Format

CARS is 53 questions in 90 minutes — roughly 10 minutes per passage across nine passages. Passages are drawn from the humanities and social sciences, and every answer is supported somewhere in the text. There is no outside knowledge to recall and no formula to apply.

Active Reading

Don’t just read the passage — engage with it. Anticipate where the author is going, note the author’s tone and main thesis, and track shifts in argument (“however,” “yet,” “on the other hand”). After each paragraph, pause for a beat and summarize it in a few words. The goal is to finish the passage with a clear mental map of the argument so you can answer questions by returning to the text rather than relying on memory.

Timing

You have 90 minutes for 53 questions, which works out to about 10 minutes per passage. Most students struggle to finish in time at first. The fix is not to read faster — it’s to read with purpose and avoid re-reading. Practice with a timer from day one so test-day pacing feels routine.

Answer the Question, Not Your Opinion

CARS rewards staying inside the author’s argument. The correct answer is the one the passage supports — not the one you personally agree with. Watch for distractors that are true in the real world but unsupported by the text.

Practice Daily

CARS is the section you must start on day one of your prep and work on every single day until test day. A single passage a day compounds over months.

• Jack Westin offers a free “CARS Passage of the Day” — the single most recommended free CARS resource.
• The AAMC CARS Question Pack and AAMC Section Bank are the most representative paid practice available; save them for the back half of your prep.