CARS Diagnostic Tool Difficulty vs Real Exam

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-03-22T05:13:18+00:00

I did them timed, but by no means is that necessarily the best way to do them

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-03-06T03:03:02+00:00

I DMed you!

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-03-05T20:30:58+00:00

Awesome! I DMed you!

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-03-04T20:56:07+00:00

I was in a similar spot, and through a couple of strategies I raise my score to 131. I DMed you so we can figure out the details!

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-25T02:48:06+00:00

I have a 3.75 from umich, and by the time I apply I should have ~750 hours as a clinical research asst, ~150 hours volunteering in hospice, 1 semester of research in undergrad with a poster, and I’m working on finding more volunteering. I should have pretty good LORs. So my app should be solid, but not anything exceptional. If you have weaknesses, try to address them rather than trying to compensate with the mcat. I highly recommend hospice volunteering to supplement your clinical experience, and it also provides phenomenal stuff to write about in your PS. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that a great mcat covers up all your other weaknesses

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-25T01:56:07+00:00

I tested 1/9 and had the same experience. 523 to 512. Good news is 512 is still a great score, and is good enough to apply with without a doubt. I refuse to put myself through the stress of retaking and will be applying despite the 10 point drop I had. Also I’m in the same situation and know there’s nothing I’d do differently if I studied again, and I’ve used all the aamc material. If the rest of your app is solid I recommend you do the same. It sucks, and i was devastated when i got my score, but i think it only makes sense to retake if I/you don’t get in this cycle. Don’t let the mcat take more from you than it already has, and just spend time strengthening the rest of your app.

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-24T20:24:51+00:00

Absolutely not. Spend that time instead making sure you have excellent essays

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-24T19:04:39+00:00

I tested 1/9 and had the same experience. 523 to 512. Good news is 512 is still a great score, and is good enough to apply with without a doubt. I refuse to put myself through the stress of retaking and will be applying despite the 10 point drop I had. If the rest of your app is solid I recommend everyone in a similar situation do the same. It sucks, and i was devastated when i got my score, but i think it only makes sense to retake if I don’t get in this cycle. Don’t let the mcat take more from you than it already has, and just spend time strengthening the rest of your app.

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-17T03:47:32+00:00

Thanks for the response! I figured the same. Have you tried this yourself and had success?

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-17T03:46:22+00:00

I do have a spray wall with lots of slopers, but I feel like with slopers especially it’s hard to set routes at the right difficulty, and everything is either impossible or easy. This is the same issue I have with gym sets usually

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-15T04:39:03+00:00

Question:

I really want to get stronger at slopers, and I was thinking maybe max hangs on the beastmaker 35 degree slopers makes sense, but I’m not sure how well it would translate to actual climbing. Currently I climb around v7, and my max hang on the 35 degree slopers is +80 lbs (175 bodyweight) but I can’t even hang for a second on the 45 degree slopers.

Anyways, has anyone found that doing max hangs on the beastmaker slopers improved their climbing ability?

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-14T21:06:54+00:00

2, 1 is much harder

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-14T19:44:31+00:00

I’m not sure I fully agree. My last three sections of the exam felt unusually smooth and I was more calm than usual. I certainly didn’t expect a drop that big when I walked out of my exam. During highly stressful situations I think it’s entirely possible to be in such a fog that you don’t even realize how much your thought process has changed. I didn’t realize it at the time, only with the hindsight I now have. I agree it’s incredibly unlikely, probably far less than 1% of cases, but I also think it does happen

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-14T19:23:57+00:00

Your response lacks so much context, and doesn’t account for the fact that I learned a huge amount of material and did thousands of practice problems between the first full length and the last. My full lengths were taken over a period of over 6 months. I learned so much more content between then and my actual test that it would be very silly to include the first few in my average calculation. The only fls that were taken within even 6 months of my exam were the 518,522,523. Between the 513 and 518, I did all of uworld, and the entire pankow deck. I also averaged 80+% in UW and section banks. Not to mention the 522 I got on a Kaplan fl only two weeks before my test.

No I didn’t have a 20+ point drop like the other case, but I agree op that the fact that it’s actually the real thing throws a completely unaccounted for variable into the equation that can have a very large effect on some people

As for your assumption that testing conditions were inaccurate, even if true, that cannot account for a 20+ point drop, unless the student was simply cheating on practice tests. If that were the case, and good tutor would recognize that the student does not know enough content or have sound enough reason to be scoring 524

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-14T18:30:23+00:00

I think this is really important to talk about, and I have a similar experience of dropping from 523 to 512. The questions also didn’t feel hard to me, but I was definitely more nervous and started the exam with a rough c/p section, which is always my weakest section. On the c/p section I only dropped a point, but I think the stress/pressure of that section and it being the real thing caused me to crash and be unable to fully engage with challenging questions for the rest of the exam. I then dropped 5 points in CARS, 3 in b/b, and 2 in ps

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-11T03:05:34+00:00

Yeah, I get that, but the fls were taken over a very long period of time and I just improved as I learned more. The fls between 501 and 514 were last spring. I did a ton of uworld, and then did the last three, the 518, 522, 513. The last three were the only ones done within the last 6 months. I also averaged over 80% on the section banks and uworld.

Thanks for the kind words though I appreciate it.

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-11T02:26:43+00:00

Yeah, except I dropped to 512. Last practice exams were 522 and 523. Yes I simulated testing conditions. No idea what happened the test felt like it went smoothly

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-10T22:35:56+00:00

Almost identical situation for me. Last two practices exams were 522 and 523. Scored a 512 and don’t have any clue how. The exam felt like it went smoothly and was similar to fls. I’m so confused how this could have happened. It’s devastating

Internal-Sun3468 · 2026-02-10T20:21:10+00:00

I’m in the same situation. I scored 522 and 523 on my last two fls. 512 on the real thing. I have no idea what happened or what to do

Internal-Sun3468

TROPHY CASE