How to Actually Get Better at CARS: 3 Common Mistakes and What to Do Instead

Struggling With CARS? You're Not Alone.

For a lot of premeds, CARS feels like the most frustrating part of the MCAT. It’s not about content you can memorize. You can’t Anki your way through it. And every time you feel like you’ve figured it out, the next passage pulls the rug out from under you.

If that’s you, take a breath. You’re not the problem—your approach is. After tutoring dozens of students across San Diego and beyond at WozPrep, I’ve noticed 3 big mistakes students make when it comes to CARS. Let's walk through them—and how you can start thinking differently.

1. Stop Looking for a “Strategy”

I get questions like these all the time: Should I read the questions first? ... Highlight every transition word? ... Read the last sentence of every paragraph? ... Highlight three words per line? No. Just... no. Let’s get this out of the way: there is no magic strategy for CARS.

Let me ask you something—when you read your favorite book, are you using a strategy? When you read the news, are you strategizing? What skill are you using when you’re reading this very article?

Exactly. You’re just reading to understand.

This is the core of CARS. The test isn't asking you to find tricks. It's asking you to connect with the author. That’s the real skill being tested: Can you understand what another person is saying, and why they’re saying it?

So here’s what you should do instead:

• Start by reading the passage in full. Don’t jump to the questions. Don’t skim.
• As you read, imagine you’re the author. Why would you write this?
• Ask yourself: What’s the main idea? Why would someone write this? What is the author trying to convince us of?
• Then ask: What’s their tone? Why would someone write this the way they wrote this? How do they feel about it? Are they annoyed, excited, reflective? (I often recommend students rate tone on a -3 to +3 scale: -3 is strongly negative, +3 is strongly positive.)

Once you’ve nailed the main idea and tone, you’re already halfway done with the questions. Highlighting can be helpful—sure. Names, contrasting ideas, terms. But that’s not the point. Forget tricks. Forget rules. The point is understanding.

2. Stop Cherry-Picking Quotes

Here’s the next big mistake: You get to the questions and... suddenly you’re going back to the passage constantly, skimming like a detective looking for that “one line” that supports an answer.

This is one of the biggest traps I see. Yes, sometimes you need to revisit the passage—especially when the question is about a specific term or detail. But if you’ve read carefully and understood the main idea and tone, most questions can be answered without rereading. I tell my students this all the time:

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s Aristotle, not me. But it perfectly captures this problem and the solution. In CARS, you’re not building an answer from a few handpicked lines. You can’t piece together understanding from fragments. You need to build the understanding up front—during your first read—then apply it to the questions.

So, yes—go back when needed. But trust your read. If your understanding of the main idea and tone is solid, you’ll rarely need to dig through paragraphs again.

3. You're Not Learning From Your Mistakes

This one is tough. But if you want to improve, you have to analyze your performance.

Too many students do CARS passages without reflecting. They finish, check answers, shrug, and move on. But if you want to actually get better, you have to look in the mirror.

I encourage my students to use a method inspired by the Ignatian Examen: After each CARS passage (or section), write down:

• 3 things that went well
• 3 things that didn’t go well
• 3 things you’ll do differently next time

Do this consistently, and you’ll stop running on autopilot. You’ll start noticing patterns. You’ll realize what works for you, and slowly, you’ll develop your own personal approach. And that’s the only strategy that really matters—the one that works for you.

Putting It All Together: A General Framework

So here’s how I want you to approach your next CARS passage:

1. Read the passage. No tricks. Don’t skim. Don’t rush to the questions.
2. Understand the main idea and tone. Imagine you’re the author. What are you trying to say, and how do you feel about it?
3. Go to the questions. Try to answer based on your understanding. Trust yourself. Don’t reread unless absolutely necessary.
4. Reflect. Write down what went well, what didn’t, and what you’ll try next time.

Sure, you can try specific tools along the way—writing paragraph summaries, finding “sub-main ideas,” picking the paragraph that best captures the main point. But don’t force a strategy that doesn’t fit. Focus on what actually helps you understand better.

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Method for CARS

The entire reason I started WozPrep was to challenge the idea that test prep has to be impersonal and overpriced. I believe everyone learns differently, and that’s why my tutoring is built around you—not some magic formula.

The CARS section is the perfect example of why this matters. It’s about learning how you think, how you read, and how to build the habits that help you understand tone and main idea more clearly.

If you’re tired of generic advice and want 1-on-1 support tailored to how you think, click here to learn more about MCAT tutoring at WozPrep