Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
From plateauing MCAT scores, and having to retake, to breaking down days before exam day, all 70+ MedLife Mastery Mentors suffered the frustrations and disappointments that come with MCAT prep. Yet we ALL ended up getting 90+ percentile MCAT scores and are on our way to (or already in) med-school! Now we want to help you do the same!
If you're struggling with the MCAT, need some extra motivation, want to know how top scorers before you studied and learn their best strategies, this show is for you. You have what it takes to beat this exam. We’re here to make sure of that!
Studying for the CARS section of the MCAT often seems like a constant uphill battle. You can practice passage after passage without seeing any improvement in your score. This section is arguably the most difficult in the MCAT because it forces you to balance in-depth reading comprehension with a standardized test time frame. And often during a study session, it's hard to choose which of these aspects to focus on. I'm Hanes Graf, and in today's video, I'll be describing the blind review technique and how I use it to score one thirty in the CARS section.
Speaker 1:The blind review technique works by allowing two repetitions for the same practice passage. Let me explain. So in your first attempt or repetition of a CARS passage, you would take that passage under time conditions. Aim for around ten minutes per passage. Try to read the passage quickly and efficiently, pulling out all the details that you need without getting bogged down in the minor details, and then answer the questions.
Speaker 1:Importantly, be sure to write down your answer choices instead of selecting them on the testing software that you're using. This allows you to use your second repetition to actually select the answers on the computer so that you can check any differences between the two. And so in your second repetition, you are actually going to do it in untimed conditions. This means take as long as you need. If it takes you fifteen minutes, great.
Speaker 1:Thirty minutes, great. Really focus on your comprehension. Try to understand every paragraph and see if you would change your answers that you had selected in your first repetition. So the real fruit that comes from the blind review technique actually comes in the review process. And if you're a student who's still struggling in the CARS section of the MCAT, I really recommend the CARS Mastery course, as well as one on one CARS tutoring with myself or another tutor who would love to walk alongside you in your CARS journey.
Speaker 1:So after your second repetition, be sure to pay real close attention to answers you changed that were correct, answers that you changed were incorrect, and answers that you got incorrect both times. And so you'll start to notice patterns in these different answer selections. For example, let's say that during your first repetition of a CARS passage, you chose an incorrect answer choice, But during your slower, untimed practice of this passage, you noticed some different detail in one paragraph that caused you to change your answer that was incorrect to the correct answer choice. And so you would wanna pay attention to, okay. Why in my first repetition did I miss this small detail in this paragraph?
Speaker 1:Maybe you were reading too quickly. Maybe you had not read that paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole. And so be sure that you're paying attention to these minor details and, again, these differences between your first repetition and your second repetition. So now that you know about the blind review technique, you may be wondering when is the best time to implement this study strategy. And I really recommend implementing this strategy during the early stages of your study plan.
Speaker 1:This is because doing two repetitions for every course passage is a really time consuming process, and you really want to make sure that you have enough time, and most students find that time during the earlier stages of their plan. This technique is also a really good way to go through and review your AMC full length practice exams. When you're doing this for your AMC full length practice exams, I would recommend only doing the second repetition for answers that you've flagged. That way you're cutting down on the overall time process and you don't have to take the entire CARS section twice. I'd really like to share some common mistakes that I see with the blind review technique.
Speaker 1:Mistake number one is not turning the review answer button off when you're doing AAMC full length practice questions or even the CARS diagnostic or QPAC one. Make sure that whatever testing software you're using, you cannot see your answer pop up correct or incorrect after your selection. Another common mistake that I see with the blind review technique is not giving yourself a strict time limit in the first repetition. Be sure you're really sticking to around ten minutes per passage for that first repetition, even if you can't get to a couple questions in the first repetition. The last common mistake that I see with the blind review technique is when students do not review the differences between their first repetition answer choices and their second repetition answer choices.
Speaker 1:This is really where you can notice the minor differences between the two repetitions so that you can either improve something in your time practice or improve something in your comprehension practice. As I started to use the blind review technique in my own MCAT journey, I noticed that I was able to take my comprehension from my second repetitions of my blind review and start to slowly incorporate it into my timed practice. And so slowly over time, I saw my score increase, and I ended up scoring a one thirty using this blind review technique. And I really hope you're able to use the blind review technique to skyrocket your car score.