CARS Flashcards
Types of humanities
Architecture Art Dance Ethics Literature Music Philosophy Popular culture Religion Studies of diverse cultures Theater
Types of social sciences
Anthropology Archeology Economics Education Geography History Linguistics Political Science Population Health Psychology Sociology Studies of diverse cultures
What do foundations of comprehension questions ask about?
Main ideas of the passage
Specific details from within the passage
The purpose of a given part of the passage
The likely meaning of a word or phase based on context
What do reasoning within the text questions ask about?
Asks to draw inferences (unstated part of arguments that logically must be true based on the information given) or asks how one piece of information relates to another (as a piece of evidence that supports a conclusion, for example)
What do reasoning beyond the text questions ask about?
Asks to extrapolate information from the passage and place it within a new context to ascertain how new information would relate to and affect the concepts in the passage
What is rhetoric?
The art of communicating through writing and speaking
What does rhetorical knowledge refer to?
Refers to an awareness of the components of a written work besides the actual words on the page, such as an author, intended audience, and goal
What is rhetorical analysis?
The examination of a particular work for the sake of identifying its rhetorical elements (the components of rhetorical knowledge)
What is an author?
The individual writing the piece
How does an author who is an expert on a topic write?
When writing for a knowledgable audience, they may use jargon (vocabulary specific to a particular field)
When would an author use extreme words vs moderating words?
Extreme when they are passionate about the topic at hand
Moderating when the author is less invested
Why might the author modify his voice?
When he is writing on behalf of a group
What is an audience?
The person or persons intended to read or hear the work
What is the message?
The actual text written by the author, including factual information and explicit opinions
What does the author’s voice refer to?
How she uniquely strings words together to deliver a message. It is how an author expresses her thoughts and can be unique and identifiable
What is genre?
The category into which the written work can be classified, such as book, article, essay, letter, and so on
What is a medium?
The delivery system into which the written work can be placed, such as print, broadcast, and digital media
What is the goal?
The reason why the author wrote the work
May write with more than one gaol in mind
What is the goal of many MCAT passages? What about other passages?
MCAT: To be persuasive To convince the reader to adopt new beliefs or take action Others: Evoking an emotional response
What is the author’s tone indicative of?
The goal of the written work because it reflects the author’s attitude toward the subject matter
What two concepts does context refer to within rhetoric?
Refers to the surrounding material that can be the work
Refer tot he greater social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual environment in which the work was written
What does rhetoric depend on?
The communication skills of both the author of the message and the audience receiving the message
What does the Aristotelian triad describe?
Three strategies or appeals used by an author to effectively transmit his message.
They are logos, ethos, and pathos
What is logos?
The logical persuasion, appeals to the audience’s rational judgement
What is ethos?
Ethical persuasion, appeals via the author’s credibility
What is pathos?
Emotional persuasion, appeals to the audience’s feelings
How do keywords help us?
Help us figure out how information is related within a passage, or they may modify our interpretation of the text around them
What is reading for context guided by?
Buzzwords, like proper nouns, names, dates, new terms, and jargon
What does the text say?
What is reading for organization guided by?
Relation keywords.
Organizational structure should be outlined on scratch paper
How do sentences connect? and How do ideas relate?
What is reading for perspective?
Why does the author write? How does the author feel? and Who else has a voice?
Reading for perspective is guided by author keywords
Other individuals’ voices can be referred to specifically (by name, by category) or vaguely (some other others)
What is reading for reasoning?
How are claims supported? and How are claims challenged?
Reading for reasoning is guide by logic keywords
The logical structure of a passage may be quite different from its organization
What do relation keywords show?
How what you’re reading now fits into the passage as a whole
What do similarity keywords indicate?
That the following material continues the same vein as the preceding material
What do difference keywords signal?
A change in the trajectory of the passage
What are opposition keywords?
Strong difference keywords that create dichotomy, or divisions of entities into two categories:
- Mutually exclusive categories do not overlap
- When dichotomies are exhaustive, all relevant entities fit into one or the other categories
What do sequence keywords suggest?
A series of events advancing in time. They may also be used to set up a contrast between two time periods
What do comparison keywords rank?
Ideas relative to each other
What do author keywords indicate?
The author’s thoughts or opinion about the topic
What do positive and negative keywords indicate?
Whether an author likes, agrees with, or support the topic; dislikes, disagrees with, or opposes the topic. Authors can also be neutral
An author with an ambivalent attitude has both positive and negative opinions on a topic
An author with an impartial attitude has neither positive nor negative opinions on a topic
What do extreme words do?
Enhance the charge of what the author is saying
What do moderating keywords permit?
The author to qualify a claim, or hedge
What is the opposite of an extreme statement?
A moderate statement with the opposite sign
What do logic keywords indicate?
The relationship between different parts of a logical argument
What are conclusion keywords?
Signal what the author is trying to convince the audience to believe
What do evidence keywords describe?
The reasons why the audience should believe the author’s claim
What do refutation keywords provide?
Reasons for rejecting a conclusion
What is the Kaplan Method for CARS passages?
Scan for structure Read strategically Label each component Reflect on your outline Record the authors goal
When should you construct your outline?
Before even reading the passage, numbering each paragraph and providing a space for the author’s goal
What makes a good label?
Brief and covers all four modes of reading (as appropriate)
While you should find the average amount of depth that works best for you, more labels can be written with 5 to 7 words in a simple passage and 10 to 12 words in high-complexity passages
The key content from a paragraph should be noted in the label
The labels together form a passage outline, which shows the organization of the passage and how each paragraph functions within the larger whole
Include the author’s (and others’) opinions in your outline using abbreviations or quotation marks. Positive and negative attitudes (and ambivalence) can be illustrated with plus and minus signs
Major aspects of logic (conclusions, evidence, refutation) can be noted in the label
How should you use on-screen highlighting?
Sparingly
Highlight first occurrence of major terms or where the term is defined
Highlight names, proper nouns, dates, and other numbers
Only highlight keywords that reveal important aspects of a passage’s structure
What does the natural domain correspond to?
Objects, events and experiences - everything that can be found in the world around us.
What does the textual domain correspond to?
Words, sentences, and paragraphs - everything that directly faces you in an MCAT passage
What does the conceptual domain correspond to?
Concepts, claims, and arguments - everything that underlies logic
What are concepts?
Ideas that have meanings (definitions or connotations)
How can ideas be related?
Through various relations, which are often indicated with relation keywords in a passage.
What are claims?
Assertions, statements, propositions, beliefs, or contentions
Made up of combinations of concepts and relationships of ideas
They posses truth and value and thus can be true or false
How can claims be related?
Claims can be related through various relationships
If two claims are consistent (compatible or in agreement) with one another, then both can be true simultaneously
If two claims are inconsistent (contradictory or conflicting) with one another, then it is impossible for both to be true simultaneously
If one claim supports another, then this claim being true would make the other claim more likely to be true as well
If one claim challenges (refutes or objects to) another, then this claim being true would make the other claim more likely to be false.
What are the three minimum parts of an argument?
A conclusion, its evidence, and the one-way path of support between them.
What are counterarguments?
Also called refutations, objections, or challenges, are the opposite of evidence because they go agains the conclusion
What are inferences?
Unstated parts of arguments
Are claims that must be true - or at lease - must be highly probable
Where are assumption?
Unstated pieces of evidence
What are implications?
Unstated pieces of evidence
What are the three main ways of strengthening an argument?
One could provide a new piece of evidence that supports the conclusion
One could support evidence that already exists to support the conclusion
One could challenge refutations against the conclusion
What are the three main ways of weakening an argument?
Once could provide a new refutation that goes against the conclusion
One could support refutations that already exist
One could challenge evidence for the conclusion
What is a conditional?
A unidirectional relationship that exists between two terms
If, then
What is an antecedent?
(X) can also be called a sufficient condition, evidence (in cases of justification), or cause (in causes of causation)
What is the consequent?
(Y) can also be called a necessary condition, conclusion (in cases of justification), or effect (in cases of causation)
When is a conditional claim true?
If is is impossible to have a true antecedent and a false consequent simultaneously
What does sufficiency refer to?
The impossibility of having an antecedent without its consequent
What does necessity refer to?
The idea that if the consequent is not true, then the antecedent is also not true
This conditional can also be called the contrapositive
What is the contrapositive equivalent to?
Logically the equivalent to the original conditional, but it carries a different connotation
What is an application of conditionals?
Whole-part relationship
One concept can be part of another concept (the whole) in the conceptual domain
One component or characteristic can be part of an object in the natural domain
What is justification?
The relationship of logical support between a piece of evidence and its conclusion
What is a correlation?
The relationship of two events accompanying one another
What is causation?
The one-way relationship of the antecedent leading to the consequent (cause and effect)
What does an argument from an analogy use?
The similarities between two things to argue for an additional commonality between them
The known entity is the one with characteristics that have already been established
The unknown entity is the one that is only partially understood
What is the evidence of an analogical argument?
Is twofold, leading to a single conclusion:
One piece of evidence is that the known and unknown entities share similar corresponding characteristics
The other evidence is that the known entity possess some characteristic of interest
The conclusion drawn from this evidence is that the unknown entity also possesses a similar, relevant characteristic
How can an analogy be strengthened?
By greater similarity between the known and unknown
The more points of similarity between the two, the stronger the analogy
The more relevant (structural as opposed to superficial) the similarities between the two, the stronger the analogy
The fewer relevant differences between the two, the stronger the analogy
What do art passages tend to include?
Strong opinions, quotations, and descriptive language to illustrate examples
How do philosophical passages tend to be?
Tend to be abstract and heavy on logic, focusing heavily on concepts and relations between them; they often appeal to the reader’s memory or imagination
What do scientific passages tend to include?
Empirical studies and more subtle author opinions
What do historical passages tend to draw upon?
Historical events and quotations from sources alive at the time; they may include empirical studies or theoretical evidence, which can make them similar to the other passage varieties
What are unsupported claims?
Assertions that lack evidence. If the claim is uncontroversial, no evidence is generally needed. If the claim is controversial, however, the absence of evidence makes the claim questionable - and likely to be tested
What does empirical evidence include?
Surveys, statistical analyses, and controlled experiments, although it can include anecdotes, historical accounts, and case studies. Empirical evidence is most frequently used in scientific passages
What do logical appeals include?
Formation of the contrapositive, analogical reasoning, and elimination of alternative possibilities
What do appeals to authority include? When are they commonly used? What provides the greatest support?
Include references to outside sources, paraphrases, and direct quotations. This technique is commonly used in Arts and Historical passages
Primary sources give the greatest level of support and are first-hand accounts directly from the time period or situation being discussed
Secondary sources provide less support and include commentaries on or explanations for primary sources (or other secondary sources)
What do appeals to the reader include?
Include rhetorical questions, emotional appeals (using charged language or colorful description to evoke an emotional response from the audience), and appeals to memory or imagination
What forms do faulty support come in? What do they include?
Faulty support comes in many forms, but it includes attacking a person’s character, making generalizations, stereotyping, and refuting straw-man positions. Faulty support is rare, but - when present - is often tested
Why is it important to anticipate the questions that will be associated with a given passage?
It is important to anticipate the questions that will be associated with a given passage because doing so increases your speed and accuracy when moving through the question set
What is the Kaplan method for CARS questions?
- Assess - read questions, not answers
- Plan - find clues in question stem, look in outline
- Execute - predict what you can, set expectations, be flexible
- Answer - find a match for prediction, make an educated guess after eliminating as many as you can
What is a faulty use of detail?
A wrong answer choice that may be an accurate statement, but fails to answer the question posed.
The answer choice may be too specific for a question that requires a general answer
The answer choice may use a detail from the wrong part of the passage
The answer choice may be from the right paragraph but still not be relevant to the question posed
What is out of scope?
A wrong answer choice that usually brings in some element that the passage does not discuss (and that cannot be inferred from the passage)
The answer choice may make connections or comparisons that the author did not discuss
The answer choice may make a statement about the significance or history of an idea that the author did not discuss
The answer choice may otherwise bring in information that does not fall within to the constraints of the passage
What are opposite answer choices?
A wrong answer choice that contains information that directly conflicts with the passage.
The answer choice may contain (or omit) a single word like no or except
The answer choice may contain a prefix like un- or a- or a suffix like -less or -free
The answer choice may say that a given claim is true, when the author is ambivalent
What is a distortion answer choice?
A wrong answer choice that is extreme or twits the ideas in the passage further than the author would prefer
The answer choice may use a strong word like all, always, none, never, impossible, or only
The answer choice may contain prefix like any- or every- or a suffix like -est or -less
The answer choice is usually more radical than the author because radical positions are hard to support and are rare in MCAT passages
What are signs of a correct answer?
Tend to have the right scope - not too broad, not too specific
Tend to be consistent with the author’s statements and opinions
Tend to use moderating keywords such as can, could, may, might, is possible, sometimes, often, likely, probably, and in some sense
What do main idea questions ask for?
The author’s primary goal
These questions often contain words like central thesis, primary purpose, or main idea
Less commonly, these questions may ask about a different aspect of the rhetorical situation such as the audience or the medium
How should you answer a main idea question?
Look at the “Goal” of your outline
Match your expectation with the correct answer
Look at charge and degree of the verb
What do wrong answer choices tend to be like for main idea question.
Wrong answer choices may be too narrow (faulty use of detail) or too broad (out of scope)
Wrong answer choices may have the wrong tone (positive, negative, ambivalent, or impartial) or degree (too extreme or too moderate)
What do detail questions ask about?
What is stated explicitly in the passage
These questions tend to use words like the author states or according to the passage, with declarative language like, is, and are
Detail questions are the most likely to use the scattered format, which uses Roman numeral options or words like except, not, or leash
How should you go about answering a detail question?
Look for content buzzwords in the question stem and check your outline to determine where the relevant information will be found
Reread the relevant sentences, as well as the sentences before and after. Create your prediction by putting the answer in your own words.
Make the prediction brief so you can repeat it to yourself between answer choices.
For scattered detail questions, locate all three of the wrong answers in the passage so you can eliminate them from the options
What do function questions ask about?
What the author is trying to do during the passage.
Similar to the main idea questions, although they focus on the purpose of only one portion of the passage (usually one sentence or one paragraph)
Function questions tend to use words like purpose, motive, or intention or phrases like in order to, or because
How should you go about answering a function question?
Look at outline to locate the relevant paragraph
Look at your label for the relevant paragraph and the goal at the bottom of your outline. If buzzwords in the question stem direct you to specific sentences, reread those portions, thinking about how they fit into the purpose of the paragraph and the overall passage
What do definition-in-context questions ask about?
Ask you to define a work or a phrase as it is used in the passage.
These questions often call attention to the term to be defined using quotation marks or italics, but not always
Definition-in-context questions always reference a word, phrase, or an entire claim from the passage
How should you go about answering a definition-in-context question?
Use your outline to locate the relevant paragraph
Reread the sentence with the word or phrase, and perhaps the surrounding context. Rephrase the author’s definition of the term in your own words
What do inference questions ask about?
Unstated parts of arguments.
Unstated parts of arguments must be true given what is claimed in the passage
Assumptions are unstated evidence
Implications are unstated conclusion
These questions often contain words like assume, because, conclude, imply, infer, justify, reasonable, or suggest
How should you answer a inference question?
Determine whether you are looking for an assumption (evidence) or implication (conclusion). Then determine which claim the answer is supposed to support (assumptions) or be supported by (implications)
Reread the relevant sentence, noting the explicit evidence and conclusions given
For assumption questions, the answer is either similar to the evidence given or links the evidence to the conclusion
For implication questions, the answer is either similar to the conclusions given or is another logical conclusion one could draw from the evidence
What are strengthen-weaken (within the passage) questions concerned with?
The logical relationship between conclusions and the evidence that strengthens them or the refutations that weaken them.
These questions often contain words like relate, support, challenge, relevance, significance, or impact
These questions are closely related to strengthen-weaken (beyond the passage) questions, which simply bring in a new piece of information rather than using information directly from the passage
How should you go about answering strengthen-weaken (within the passage) questions?
Determine the two claims and the connection between them; you will usually be given at least one of these elements and will have to find the other(s)
Identify where each piece of the argument can be found: in the question stem, in the passage, or in the answer choices
If no claims are given in the question stem, determine if it is a conclusion, a piece of evidence, or a refutation
If two claims are given in the question stem, identify the relationship between them
Research the relevant text to determine the missing claim of the connection between the claims. Use logic keywords to help assemble the argument
What do clarification questions ask for?
Statements that are roughly synonymous, but the clarifying statement tends to be supporting evidence for the conclusion because it is more specific or exact
These questions often contain words like clarify, explain, or reflect
Approach these questions as you would strengthen-weaken (within) questions, except that the meanings of the two claims should be roughly synonymous
What do weakness questions ask for?
Implicit refutations to arguments discussed in the passage
These questions often contain words like implicit weakness or reasonable objections
Approach these questions using the denial test for inference questions, except that the correct answer will be the most detrimental to the argument made in the passage without being negated
What do paradox questions ask for?
The resolution of an apparent logical contradiction
These questions often contain words like paradox, dilemma, or discrepancy
Approach these questions through the process of elimination, crossing out and answer choice that is inconsistent with one or both of the claims of the paradox or with the passage as a whole
What do apply questions ask of you?
They require you to take the information given in the passage and extrapolate it to a new context. Apply questions may ask for one of three tasks
They may ask for the author’s response to a situation, using words like response, reply, most likely to agree with, or less consistent with
They may ask for the most probable outcome in a situation, using words like outcome, result, expectation, or consequence
The may ask for an example of an idea discussed in the passage, using words like example or instance
These questions often begin with words like suppose, consider, or imagine
How should you go about answering an apply question?
If the question stem is long, jump to the end to determine what it’s asking. Read any information given in the question stem closely, looking for hints that connect it to the passage
Reread the relevant text, keeping in mind the specific type of apply question involved
For response questions, determine the author’s key beliefs, which are generally reflected in the passage using author keywords
For outcome questions, pay attention to cause-effect relationships in the passage, which are generally reflected in the passage using logic keywords
For example questions, look for text that provides definitions, explanations, or the author’s own example, noting any necessary or sufficient conditions
What are strengthen-weaken (beyond the passage) questions concerned with?
The logical relationship between conclusions and the evidence that strengthens them or the refutations that weaken them.
These questions often contain words like relate, support, challenge, relevance, significance, or impact. In contrast to strengthen-weaken (within the passage) questions, they often contain words like could or would
These questions are closely related to strengthen-weaken (within the passage) questions, which use information directly from the passage, rather than bringing in a new piece of information
Read the question stem closely, looking for hints of analogy to parts of the passage
How should you answer a strengthen-weaken (beyond the passage) question?
Determine the two claims and the connection between them; you will usually be given at least one of these elements and will have to find the other(s)
Identify where each piece of the argument can be found: in the question stem, in the passage, or in the answer choices
If no claims are given in the question stem, plan to triage it and answer it by process of elimination later
If one claim is given in the question stem, determine if it is a conclusion, a piece of evidence, or a refutation
If two claims are given in the question stem, identify the relationship between them
Research the relevant text to determine the missing claim or connection between them. Use logic keywords to help assemble the argument
What do probable hypothesis questions ask about? How should they be approached?
Causes of new situations presented in the question stem.
Approach these questions like apply questions, except that you are looking for analogous cause-effect relationships in the passage
What do alternative explanation questions ask for? How should they be approached?
Causes that differ from the ones given in the passage but that still provide an explanation for a phenomenon
These questions often contain words like alternative explanation, other cause, or different reason
Approach these questions by eliminating any answer choice that would not lead to the effect in the question stem. If stuck between multiple answers, eliminate those that conflict most significantly with the passage
What do passage alternation questions ask for?
Changes the author could make to the passage to make it consistent with new information
These questions often contain words like alter, change, or update
Approach these questions by looking for the answer that produces the desired effect with the least amount of modifications to the ideas in the passage
How long should it take to read a CARS passage?
About 4 minutes
How long should it take to answer each questions in CARS?
50-60 seconds
