CARS is one of the most difficult sections on the MCAT as it requires examinees to quickly read a passage and answer questions that rely on a high level of critical thinking. A popular way to study for this section is to enroll in classes which claim to offer strategies that can help you develop skills for doing well on this section. One such course is Jack Westin’s MCAT CARS strategies. In this article I will be giving an objective review of this course based on my own experience.

Course Format

• The course meets about twice a week. Additionally the set up is virtual and the students listen to Jack Westin speak over live audio

What is included in the course

• The course includes a live lecture, and hand written lecture notes that get emailed to you at the end of each session. In addition you get what is included in the following below

Is it interactive

• Yes, Jack Westin who is the lecturer frequently calls on students to answer questions and walks through CARS passages step by step

Pros

• The pros are that you are being exposed to new MCAT CARS passages and you are getting insight into how the test writers structure MCAT CARS passages.
• He is extremely responsive to emails. On more than one occasion I had an issue with my learning platform and he was very timely in his responses over email
• Another pro of this course is that Jack Westin routinely would hold office hours in which he answered students individual needs
• One of the strategies that I liked about the course is that he stressed having a systematic approach for every CARS passage and doing it repeatedly. He stressed that even if you get a passage wrong that it is okay so long as you stuck to your systematic approach.  I agree with this because CARS is very much a mental game. In addition to just testing your basic reading comprehension,  It tests your ability to remain calm and execute under stressful conditions.
• One of his strategies is to outline each CARS passage.
• He teaches you how to read the CARS passages as if you are engaging with the author because one of the reasons that CARS is so hard is that the passages ae long and boring. In his course you learn to treat each passage as a debate or a story that you are a part of. This is a very helpful strategy if you have trouble with maintaining focus for prolonged periods of time.
• He teaches you to find the main point of the passage, because at the end of the day this will save time and prevent you from wasting time reading things that do not matter
• He is an extremely positive person who is very encouraging throughout the entire process.

Cons

• You are in a class with literally hundreds of other students which may prevent you from getting the individual attention that you need
• The materials that Jack Westin provides are not too indicative of what you will see on test day. The logic is a bit different than what the AAMC tests.
• Finally, another con is that the classes ran way to long. Each session was around 3 hours and often times went longer. This was overkill in my opinion and over time it became very difficult to maintain focus due to the extremely long duration of each session

Does he go over strategies for the Sciences?

• Yes. All of his strategies can also be applied to the sciences. In some of the session you go over science passages. He also has a separate course for just the Science sections of the MCAT 

Are there practice questions?

• During the CARS course Jack Westin goes through select practice questions which are offered only in his course, and he also goes through practice questions which are in the AAMC practice materials

How much does it cost?

• The CARS MCAT strategy course costs $950.00
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• The Science Strategy course is also $950.00
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• It cost $1450.00 to enroll in the complete MCAT course which contains strategies of both the CARS section as well as the sciences section

Who is the Course for?

• The course is for anyone who is looking to improve their MCAt score or look to improve 
• My class consisted of the following people
  • People who took the MCAT and did poorly on CARS section
  • People who took the MCAT and did poorly on the entire exam
  • People who took the MCAT and needed only a few points boost on the CARS section to get into their dream medical school
  • People who who had never taken the MCAT
  • People getting ready to take the MCAT who had English as their second language
  • People who were taking the MCAT in one year who had never taken the MCAT
  • People who had taken the MCAT in less than 3 months who had never taken the MCAt before
• As you can see the course is meant for anyone who wishes to apply for medical school. There are no pre requisites to entering into the course. Everything is learned in the course and no experience is required.

What other materials does the course provide

• The Course requires you to have Access to the
  •  AAMC CARS question bank Volume 1 and volume 2.
  • AAMC official guide questions
  • AAMC section section banks
•  To access these materials you can go onto the AAMC website and then go to the question packs which can both be brought for $15.00. 

• 
• .These can also be purchased in a bundle which includes other materials as well. This in my opinion is a better option because you are getting more for a cheaper price.
• In addition to this jack Westin sends weekly CARS passages that he himself writes and students go over those 

Are the strategies helpful?

• Not all the strategies are helpful. For example one of the strategies that he mentions in his course is to read and summarize long written content for many months in preparation for the CARS exam. While you can see the logic in this strategy, I ultimnately do not believe this will work because the MCAT CARS section is a very unique tests in that the only real effective way to prepare for it is by doing CARS passages  under timed conditions repeatedly. 

How long is the course?

• The course is 6 weeks

When is the ideal time to purchase the course?

• I would say the idea time to purchase this course would be around 5 months prior to your exam. Personally this course is more useful in getting you introduced to MCAT CARS as a whole. When it is getting closer to your exam It is best to switch over to the AAMC exams or another 3rd party mcat prep company that closely mirrors what you will see on test day such as Altius test prep, or even testing solutions.

What other services does Jack Westin offer?

• In addition to the MCAT CARS strategy course, Jack Westin also offers courses in the other MCAT science sections

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Medical school admissions counseling

• Jack Westin offer a variety of medical school admissions services which include things such as personal statement essay editing

Free materials associated with jack Westin’s course

• Free CARS exams
• Free MCAT CARS passage of the day
• Khan academy science passages

Will the Course help me if I have a learning disability?

• Yes. The strategies he teaches are basic. On the first day he mentions that he has taught people with learning disabilities and they have done well on the exam. I personally remembered him saying this. because I myself was diagnosed with a learning disability and happened to do well on the CARS section!

What are some other alternative to Jack Westin’s course

• Testing Solutions
  • This is a self paced course in which consists of modules. I personally thought that this course was actually better than Jack Westin because the

• Gabe Redwood MCAT
  • This is a 30 day course which consists of consists of 20 hours of video. I would put this last on the list. Jack Westin’s course is better because Jack Westin’s is live and you can interact with him. In Gabe Redwood’s course it is just recorded video. He simply uses the AAMC practice questions and analyses those which I didn’t find very helpful. In jack Westin’s course their team provided many passages that they themselves created, which was good additional practice.
• Altius Test prep (course)
  • This course is probably is in a tie with Testing solutions. What I liked about the course is how systematic their approach was. they lay out how you should practice, what you shouldn’t be doing, and give you drills to do to improve. additionally the practice exams are very representative of the actual exam.

Should you Buy it

Personally I would choose the Testing Solutions MCAT course over this one. This course does. well to get your mind prepared for what the CARS section is but the strategies are just to broad and not specific for AAMC type questions. This course is a good idea if you are many months out from your MCAT but the closer you are to exam day then I think it is best to go with a product that is ore indicative of the actual MCAT exam.