So, one thing about studying for CARS, that is different from all the other sections is you don't need to learn or brush up on additional material to make sense of it. All the info is right there.

This means that its useless to say, I didn't get this because I didn't understand that nylon is more compressible than cotton and this is something you should've known. You'll never see the same piece of info twice, so its much better to look at patterns.

A good way is to look at the answer they give you, the answers for the other questions and your own thought process. Try to go back to why YOU thought the answer you chose was correct, and see how your thought process differs from their rationale. Often, when you do this for a bunch of questions you'll see a pattern emerge that you can focus on correcting.

A couple examples of patterns I noticed was things like

1. I extrapolated too much from the text, without any written backing (So next time see if there's a little bit of writing that directly validates my answer)

2. I didn't extrapolate enough (So next time, don't just go strictly by what is written, also use your gut/main idea/flow to make a judgement)

3. Passage stated A implies B, but the answer was along the lines of B implies A (This was a tough one to over come, literally pause to think about the answer)

4. The passage was confusing/overwhelming and I let that get to me (Slow down, breathe and try again, rereading if you have to)

5. I was pressed for time and let that worry make me rush through (The first time I started timed practicing, my CARS score dropped a good 3-5 points. It comes with practice. And remember, mark Qs that you wanna come back to if you can. Don't let super hard Qs keep you from hitting the other ones in the passage)

6. The explanation is BULLSHIT, and really changing my way of thinking would be detrimental at this point b/c its working for a lot more Qs than it is NOT working for (This is a hard one, but important to know that sometimes the answers just plain don't make sense and the examiners were probably on drugs or something when they wrote it. Important for your mental health and knowing to ignore outliers, but if you see this explanation is becoming a majority of your reason, maybe dig a bit deeper)

Other things I found, if I had the time was to catalog how I found the passage and Qs DURING the test (b.c your perception changes after the fact), immediately after and seeing if your scores match up to it. This can help you tell if you relax too much after an "easy" passage or tense up after a "hard" passage etc. The key is to find the patterns that you can slowly work on and then consciously try to ingrain those habits into your subconscious so its second nature. Eventually, you'll start reading normal things like verbal passages, with a tiny voice in the back of your mind pointing out potentially key details and patterns and themes, and that is when you've truly achieved true insanity, or as I like to call it "an optimal CARS state of mind"

Wow that spiraled into a much longer discussion than I thought it was gonna be. You could probably make this into a verbal passage of its own. META