If you ask many MCAT students which section they dread the most, there is a very good chance you will hear one answer:

CARS. 😭

After teaching MCAT CARS for more than four years, Aj. Sumi, Learning Hub’s CARS expert and tutor, noticed something interesting. Although every new group of students is different, she kept encountering the same two problems year after year:

  1. Students can read the individual words in a sentence, but struggle to interpret what the sentence actually means in context.
  2. Students have a limited vocabulary bank, particularly when passages involve unfamiliar academic subjects.

And CARS, unfortunately, LOVES unfamiliar subjects. 😂

So Aj. Sumi and I started discussing the problem. How do we help students become better readers before throwing them into endless CARS passages and questions?

One solution we incorporated into our MCAT preparation was:

Schema Development

WHAAAAAT is this?! 😂

Let me explain.

A schema is essentially a framework of background knowledge that helps you understand and interpret new information.

Think about what happens when you read something about a subject you already know well. You recognise the terminology. You understand the relationships between ideas. You can usually follow the author's argument without having to stop at every sentence.

Now imagine reading an academic article about philosophy, art criticism, political theory or anthropology when you have almost no background knowledge in the subject.

Suddenly, everything feels harder.

The vocabulary is unfamiliar. The sentences feel more complicated. And even when you understand every individual word, you may finish a paragraph thinking:

"...What did I just read?" 😂

That is exactly where schema development becomes useful.

So How Do We Develop a Student's Schema?

By reading widely.

Instead of exposing students only to MCAT-style passages, we give students academic articles covering a variety of topics and disciplines.

The objective isn't to memorise facts from those articles.

We use them to practise something much more important: interpretation.

What does this sentence actually mean?

Why did the author choose this word?

How does this sentence relate to the sentence before it?

What is the author's attitude?

Can we work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word without immediately reaching for a dictionary?

And yes, students generally LOVE that last one.

FUN!!! Hahahaha. 😂

But there is a serious purpose behind the torture.

CARS Is Not Just About Reading Faster

One mistake students sometimes make when preparing for CARS is assuming that they simply need to learn how to read faster.

But speed without comprehension doesn't help very much.

If you race through a passage and then have to reread half of it because you didn't understand the author's argument, you haven't really saved any time.

Our goal is therefore not simply:

Read faster.

It is:

Understand more during the first read.

As students encounter more unfamiliar vocabulary, writing styles and academic disciplines, those things gradually become less unfamiliar.

And that can make difficult passages considerably less intimidating.

Reading Skills Help Beyond CARS

There is another reason we place so much emphasis on reading interpretation.

MCAT students read all day long.

Biology and Biochemistry passages. Chemistry and Physics passages. Psychology and Sociology passages. Experimental descriptions. Graphs accompanied by dense paragraphs of information.

Strong reading comprehension therefore isn't merely a "CARS skill."

Learning to identify important information, interpret sentences within their context and understand unfamiliar material efficiently can support students across the entire MCAT.

That is why our approach to CARS preparation begins before students start attacking question after question.

We first want to develop the reader.

Then we develop the test-taker.

And hopefully, the next time you encounter a passage discussing an obscure philosopher you have never heard of, your first thought will no longer be:

"WHY IS THIS ON A MEDICAL SCHOOL ADMISSION TEST?!" 😂

You'll know what to do.

See you aspiring doctors in class!

Happy Learning!

Rani :)