MCAT verbal: 108 practice passages for the new critical analysis and reasoning skills section

517 Pages·2017·3.638 MB·English

by  Lafond, Anthony;Schnedeker, Bryan

MCAT VERBAL:
108 PRACTICE PASSAGES
for the new
CRITICAL ANALYSIS and
REASONING SKILLS SECTION
Copyright 2016 by Next Step Pre-Med, LLC
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be
reproduced nor used in any manner whatsoever without the express
written permission of the publisher, except for the use of
brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
Second Printing, 2017
ISBN 978-1-944935-13-9
Next Step Pre-Med, LLC
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MCAT is a registered trademark of the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC). The AAMC has not
reviewed nor endorsed this work in any way.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bryan Schnedeker is Next Step Test Prep’s Vice President for MCAT Tutoring and Content. He manages all of our
MCAT and LSAT instructors nationally and counsels hundreds of students when they begin our tutoring process.
He has over a decade of MCAT and LSAT teaching and tutoring experience (starting at one of the big prep course
companies before joining our team). He has attended medical school and law school himself and has scored a 44 on
the old MCAT, a 525 on the new MCAT, and a 180 on the LSAT. Bryan has worked with thousands of MCAT
students over the years and specializes in helping students looking to achieve elite scores.
Anthony Lafond is Next Step’s MCAT Content Director. He has been teaching and tutoring MCAT students for
nearly 12 years. He earned his MD and PhD degrees from UMDNJ - New Jersey Medical School with a focus on
rehabilitative medicine. Dr. Lafond believes that both rehabilitative medicine and MCAT education hinge on the
same core principle: crafting an approach that puts the unique needs of the individual foremost.
To find out about MCAT tutoring directly with Anthony or Bryan visit our website:
http://nextsteptestprep.com/mcat
Updates may be found here: http://nextsteptestprep.com/mcat-materials-change-log/
If you have any feedback for us about this book, or if you find an error, please contact us at mcat@nextsteptestprep.
com
Version: 2017-01-01
© 2016 Next Step Pre-med. All rights reserved. No duplication or distribution of this document is permitted without express written consent. iii
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CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vi
How to Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Timed Section 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Timed Section 1 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Timed Section 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Timed Section 2 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Timed Section 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Timed Section 3 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Timed Section 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Timed Section 4 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Timed Section 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Timed Section 5 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Timed Section 6. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Timed Section 6 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Timed Section 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Timed Section 7 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Timed Section 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Timed Section 8 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Timed Section 9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Timed Section 9 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Timed Section 10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Timed Section 10 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
Timed Section 11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Timed Section 11 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Timed Section 12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
Timed Section 12 Explanations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Appendix A: Performance Tracking Sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
Appendix B: Score Conversion Chart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
Appendix C: Answer Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483
NextStepTESTPREP.com | 888-530-6300 v
Introduction
Hello and welcome to Next Step’s practice book for the MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills section. Since that name is
quite the mouthful, we’re just going to keep it simple and call it “the CARS section”.
The book you’re holding contains the most extensive practice and explanations available for the CARS section, and presents
that practice in the most effective format possible – full 90-minute timed sections. Let’s start with just a quick introduction to
the CARS section itself.
The CARS section will consist of 53 questions which you’ll have 90 minutes to answer. Those 53 questions will be presented as
a series of questions associated with a reading passage (much like the old Verbal Reasoning section of the prior MCAT). The
section will include approximately 9 passages with four to seven questions with each passage. The AAMC may continue to make
adjustments to the CARS section as they administer more of the new-format MCATs, and we will update this book as the AAMC
releases new information.
Each section will have roughly 50% of the questions drawn from Humanities topics and 50% from Social Sciences topics. You
will not be required to have any prior knowledge of any of the topics discussed. Within those broad categories, the AAMC
estimates that the questions will break down as 30% comprehension-based, 30% inference-based, and 40% extrapolation-based
(applying the passage reasoning to new situations or incorporating new information into the passage).
The disciplines discussed in a CARS passage can be drawn from any of the following areas:
Humanities: architecture, art, dance, ethics, literature, music, philosophy, pop culture, religion, theater
Social Sciences: anthropology, archaeology, cultural studies, economics, education, geography, history, linguistics, political sci-
ence, population health, psychology, sociology
As with the science sections, the key to mastering this new section involves taking a step-by-step approach, starting with un-
timed practice to master your technique, then short timed work on a few passages, and finally full timed sections. If you have
not yet gotten the untimed practice you need to establish your best method, I very strongly recommend you do so, using a re-
source such as Next Step’s CARS Strategy and Practice book.
Everyone here at Next Step would like to wish you the best of luck with your studies!
Thank you,
Bryan Schnedeker
Co-founder
Next Step Pre-Med, LLC
vi NextStepTESTPREP.com | 888-530-6300
STOP! READ THIS FIRST!
How to Use This Book
To get the most out of your CARS practice you’ll want to follow a few simple guidelines:
• Use the performance tracking sheet in Appendix A to keep track of how you’re doing.
• Try different approaches to find your best method. Some people like highlighting; others prefer note-taking; some like to
just skim the passage. You may not like a particular approach at first, but be sure to give it a good effort. You may find that it
works well despite initial concerns.
• When reviewing your work, read the explanation for every single question, not just the ones you got wrong. I cannot empha-
size this enough. In my 15+ years of MCAT teaching experience, this is the most common mistake I’ve seen made by students.
You should take just as long to review and analyze a section after you’re done as you did to take the section initially.
While you can certainly use the passages in this book in any way that will best benefit your prep, keep in mind that this book
has been designed with a single, focused purpose: full timed section practice. As such, this book should not be your first re-
source when it comes to improving your CARS performance.
Doing your best on Test Day requires first that you do untimed work and experiment with different methods. Your CARS prac-
tice should begin with a resource (a book, a class, tutoring, etc.) that will give you a simple step-by-step introduction to various
approaches to the passage. Be wary of any resource that tells you that there’s only one “right way” to do the verbal passages –
that’s total nonsense!
Instead, you should work to find your best method. A book like Next Step’s CARS Strategy and Practice book is one way to do
this initial work. Once you’ve tried out several different methods and understand how they work, it’s time to use this book to
practice those methods.
To get the most out of the dozen sections that follow, you should use the sections in this book as follows:
Sections 1-3: Practice highlighting techniques
Sections 4-6: Practice note-taking techniques
Sections 7-8: Practice skimming techniques
Sections 9-10: Practice main idea techniques
Sections 11-12: Try alternative approaches that combine different methods
When reviewing the explanations to the passages, you will see we’ve provided a full analysis of each passage with three differ-
ent forms of annotation. First, in the text itself we use bold text as a way to show you which terms and ideas are worth high-
lighting. Next, between each paragraph you will see notes providing an analysis of that paragraph. These notes are meant as a
guide to the sorts of things that are worth jotting down in note-taking techniques. Finally, at the end of each passage we have
included a Main Idea. If you’re using a technique that involves reading briskly and only jotting down the Main Idea, you can
compare your Main Idea to ours to see how you did.
After reviewing your understanding and analysis of the passage, read through the explanations to the questions and be sure
you understand why each answer choice was right or wrong.
Finally, if you hit a big roadblock and think that you could use extra one-on-one MCAT help, contact Next Step to ask about
our tutoring services at 888-530-NEXT.
Good luck with your CARS practice and good luck on Test Day!
NextStepTESTPREP.com | 888-530-6300 vii

SECTION 1
53 Questions, 90 Minutes
Use an answer grid from the back of the book to record your answers