Struggling with the MCAT CARS section? Learn proven strategies to improve your critical reading and how to handle MCAT test day pressure!
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Understand the MCAT CARS Section
Active Reading Strategies for CARS
Common Struggles and How to Overcome Them
Test Day Strategies for CARS
CARS Section Study Resources
Conclusion
FAQs
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The Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) is a standardized exam that’s a requirement for admission to most medical schools in the US and Canada. It’s a computer-based exam developed by the AAMC that aims to assess applicants’ critical thinking skills and scientific knowledge.
It will challenge your endurance and test-taking skills by having a total seated time of 7 hours and 30 minutes (including breaks), and it’s split into four sections:
The exam is scored on a scale of 472-528, with each section having a score range of 118-132.
Before testing, it’s important for students to focus on reviewing their premedical course content, developing a solid study plan, and taking several practice exams. The MCAT is an obstacle that many medical school applicants face on their journey to a medical school acceptance. Although one thing to keep in mind: While a high MCAT score can significantly increase your chances of gaining admission to medical school, it's far from being the only factor in that decision.
The MCAT CARS section in particular, tends to trip up many premed students — even the strongest science minds! — because it’s unlike anything they’ve studied in their typical coursework. Instead of testing facts and formulas, CARS is all about analyzing complex passages, picking apart arguments, and identifying subtle themes — all under serious time pressure. There's no memorizing your way through it, which can feel frustrating if you're used to science-heavy subjects.
Through this blog post, I hope to help you understand the MCAT CARS section and its importance, discuss some of my favorite study resources, share some common struggles, and equip you with skills to succeed on exam day.
CARS is the second section of the MCAT exam (right after the Chem/Phys section). It consists of 9 passages that are often drawn from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Each passage is associated with 5-7 multiple choice questions. Every exam will have a randomized set of passages. You are given 90 minutes to complete the section in its entirety, which means that you should average ~10 minutes per passage in order to finish in a timely manner. It’s intended to challenge a student’s ability to analyze passages, understand an author’s reasoning, and identify arguments.
So you may be wondering: “Why do I need to practice my reading and comprehension skills in order to become a physician?” As a future medical student and physician, you will need to employ problem-solving skills to create patient treatment plans, work through difficult exams, and collaborate with other healthcare professionals. CARS is one standardized way in which medical admissions committees are able to assess these problem-solving skills.
The Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section of the MCAT exam is one that often gives students much difficulty and can be discouraging. However, it’s unique in that it doesn’t necessarily require a strong scientific foundation of knowledge. It requires no outside knowledge and purely focuses on testing students’ comprehension and critical thinking skills. But with hard work and practice, it’s possible for all students to do very well in it!
Before embarking on your MCAT prep journey, it's important to develop a plan and improve your active reading skills. While this will help with all sections of the MCAT exam, it's especially critical to succeeding in the CARS section. I am going to share some of the strategies I used throughout my prep:
- Before reading, maintain a positive mindset. It's easy to feel burnt out and fatigued as you make your way through the MCAT exam, especially since CARS is only the second section of the exam. While it's easier said than done, it's important to focus on staying motivated— and even finding a sense of curiosity or excitement about reading the next passage. I did this in two ways throughout my MCAT prep. First, I focused on taking it one passage, one paragraph, and one sentence at a time. Second, I thought about each passage as a new “story” that is waiting to be read.
- Engage with the passage instead of passively absorbing it. Now, what do I mean by this? Focus on actually understanding what the author is attempting to convey. It's way too easy to lose focus and skip a few sentences, or draw your own conclusions about a passage even before you’ve finished reading it. You can actively engage with the passage by using the highlight tool to remember key points. There’s also a text box tool where you are able to summarize the passage in your own words and create your own bullet points. These are both helpful tools that are built into the MCAT exam software.
- Carefully read the title and very first sentence of the passage to establish a strong framework. It might sound obvious, but the title can sometimes get glossed over when you’re rushing to get through the next passage. It takes a lot of focus and endurance to make it through the 90-minute-long CARS section of the exam. With that in mind, it's relatively easy to lose focus and have your brain feel clouded. By taking the extra second to make sure you’re reading the title and carefully reading the first sentence, you’re setting yourself up for success.
- Put yourself into the author’s shoes to better understand their tone and perspective. I may sound like your AP Lit teacher when I say this, but it's very true and important to do well on the CARS section. While reading a passage, do your best to really think about what the author is trying to convey and why certain points or questions are being included. By thinking about the tone and author’s point of view, you will be able to answer questions more effectively.
- After finishing a paragraph, summarize the main points into one sentence (in your own words). One helpful thing I did on exam day, and throughout my MCAT CARS prep, was summarizing the passage as I went through the reading. More specifically, after reading each paragraph, I would reflect and create a very brief summary. Especially because the CARS passages are very dense and there’s a lot of text on the screen, this was helpful in consolidating my understanding.
I want to talk about some elements of my study routine that helped make the CARS section easier and allowed me to do well on exam day. First, it's important to practice daily with challenging material and CARS passages. I believe that one of the few ways someone can make CARS feel a little bit easier is through consistent practice. Every morning when I woke up, I would do the Jack Westin daily CARS passage. While sitting on the bus to class or in a waiting room, I would do a practice CARS passage on the UWorld app on my phone. Basically, anytime I had a free moment, I would take advantage of the opportunity to practice CARS! CARS is the easiest section that you can incorporate into your routine, whether you’re doing full-length practice exams, CARS practice sections, or singular passages. By seeing more and more passages, you start to get the hang of things and can answer more questions correctly.
Incorporate timed and untimed practice tests into your study routine. Adding untimed practice into your study schedule will allow you to fully interpret each sentence. It gives you adequate time to read and answer all of the questions. Timed practice, on the other hand, will allow you to simulate real testing conditions and work on understanding passages under higher levels of pressure. Maintaining a balance of both timed and untimed practice will be beneficial for you.
Another important part of succeeding in CARS is related to reviewing your mistakes and understanding WHY the wrong answer is wrong. Especially when reviewing your full length practice exams and CARS practice sets, it's critical to review your answers. Reflect on what you were thinking, why you chose that answer, and figure out why you may have selected the wrong one. Did you interpret the passage incorrectly? Or, was the question confusing? Identifying these trends will help you to answer future questions more effectively and identify any weaknesses prior to exam day.
CARS is challenging for a variety of reasons. I want to talk through some of the common struggles that students face throughout their prep and on test day. To preface, CARS is a very unique section on the MCAT because no outside knowledge is required to answer questions. Rather, it requires habitual exposure to dense and challenging reading. It takes repetition and efficiency to analyze a CARS passage correctly.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge associated with the CARS section is the time management and pressure associated with finishing the section within the 90 minutes. The best way to overcome this obstacle is through consistent, timed practice. You can improve your speed by first completing untimed, purposeful practice sessions. Focus on your accuracy and then, you can begin increasing your speed. Avoid skimming and trying to rush through every passage or question. While I know you just want to get it over with and finish on time, it's not worth sacrificing a question here or there. Do your very best to stay focused and maximize your score!
It's very likely you may encounter an unfamiliar passage on test day. Whether it's the content, style of writing, or nature of the questions, it can definitely impact your efficiency and flow. The most that you can do to prevent this from happening is by practicing with a variety of topics. Even if you don’t like working through the art and history-focused passages, make sure you regularly incorporate them into your study routine. It's very likely you may see one on test day.
Your CARS strategy on test day should be similar to how you’ve worked through passages and answered the questions throughout your prep. However, test day is obviously very overwhelming. I want to share some strategies for remaining calm, cool, and collected while working through the CARS section on test day.
Read with purpose and focus on the author’s main point of the passage. By the time test day hits, you will hopefully have seen a large number of passages by that point. You should be familiar with how to summarize and reflect on the author’s main idea. Earlier, I mentioned the importance of using the highlight tool. While it's great for focusing on the main points of a passage, do not use it excessively! Reserve it for sentences, phrases, and terms that you think are central to the main idea.
If you start feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated, it's important to take a deep breath and refocus your energy. It's very easy to get caught up in this feeling, feel like you are losing precious time, and start to spiral. However, I promise you that taking a quick break to collect your thoughts will be worthwhile in the end. Another way to stay focused in-between passages is to take a quick, five-second break to reset and clear your head. This will allow you to enter every new passage with a blank page in your mind. Try not to dwell on previous questions that were challenging; you can re-visit them later if time permits. If a question feels difficult and you feel you’re spending a lot of time on it, flag it and move on.
By maintaining strong test-taking habits throughout your prep, you’ll be able to maximize your CARS score on test day. Make sure to manage your time wisely. You are only given 90 minutes to get through 9 passages. You should aim to average ~10 minutes per passage. Keep this in mind but don’t let it consume your thoughts. Finally, trust in your studying and hard work up until this point. Avoid second-guessing yourself and only change your answer if you’re certain it was the wrong choice initially. Be confident!
I want to include some of my favorite resources for CARS practice. Each of these are easy to incorporate into your study routine and will prepare you to encounter any difficult passage they might throw your way.
- Official AAMC CARS materials: The AAMC is the gold standard for your MCAT prep materials. I highly recommend purchasing their bundle in order to gain access to full-length practice exams, along with their CARS-specific practice question bundle.
Between these two AAMC bundles, there are hundreds of CARS passages written directly by the AAMC. This is a great way to learn how the AAMC will ask questions!
- Sketchy MCAT: Sketchy’s approach transforms dense, abstract passages into engaging visual memory techniques, making it easier to recognize patterns, break down arguments, and tackle tricky inference questions. Instead of passively reading strategies, you’ll see concepts brought to life in memorable story-driven lessons that reinforce key reasoning skills.
- Jack Westin FREE daily CARS passage and CARS practice question sets: Jack Westin was a favorite of mine that became a staple in my daily study routine. Every morning, I would do their daily CARS practice passage. They also have several CARS practice sets that give you more material to review. The best part about this resource is that it's free and accessible to everyone!
- UWorld MCAT QBank: I will always rave about UWorld. It was the single most helpful and challenging resource I used during my MCAT prep. All of their questions are very challenging and representative of what you will see on test day. Another benefit of this resource is the ability to tailor it to your schedule and study preferences; you are able to pick and choose how many questions or passages you want to complete in a given timeframe.
- Third-party CARS practice books: Several MCAT prep companies (Blueprint, Kaplan, Princeton Review) have CARS-specific books and practice questions that are also great resources.
- Free online resources: YouTube, Tiktok, blogs: Another resource that may be helpful for you is to take advantage of free content on social media. MCAT tutors will film videos that break down CARS passages and how to answer questions.
The secret to mastering the CARS section of the MCAT isn’t related to knowing your amino acids or memorizing the Michaelis-Menten enzyme charts. Rather, it's a skill that improves with practice and dedication. By incorporating daily CARS passages into your study routine, you will be able to answer questions more accurately and efficiently. Before you know it, reading a CARS passage will feel like second nature. Stay consistent, trust your prep, and go into test day with confidence. You will be great!
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The MCAT CARS section includes 9 passages, each followed by 5-7 questions. This means you’ll answer a total of 53 questions in this section.
The Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) section is designed to test reading comprehension, critical thinking, and analytical skills. It consists of passages from humanities, social sciences, and ethics—none of which require prior knowledge but demand strong reasoning and inference skills.
There are 53 questions in total in the CARS section, spread across 9 passages.
To improve your CARS score:
The CARS section is 90 minutes long and consists of 9 passages with 53 questions.
CARS stands for Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills, one of the four sections of the MCAT.
The CARS section includes passages from:
Unlike other MCAT sections, no prior knowledge is needed—all answers must be derived from the passage.
Each passage has 5 to 7 questions, totaling 53 questions in the section.
You should spend around 10 minutes per passage, broken down as follows:
Some of the most effective resources include:
Sketchy’s CARS course uses story-driven visual memory techniques to help students:
✅ Identify key arguments and logical reasoning patterns
✅ Recognize traps in answer choices
✅ Improve long-term comprehension with engaging illustrations
Many students find Sketchy’s method makes CARS feel less intimidating and more intuitive.
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Discover effective strategies to assess and choose the best MCAT prep resources tailored to your study needs and learning style.
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