130+ CARS Scorer AAMC Passage Dissection: Step-By-Step Breakdown of How Top Scorers Walkthrough CARS Passages

This is a full CARS passage breakdown of one AAMC passage, worked the way a 130+ CARS scorer reads it. We go through every paragraph, all five questions and every answer choice, so you can see how the right answer gets picked!

To follow along, you’ll need the AAMC CARS Question Bank (previously the CARS Question Packs, Volumes 1 and 2). We’re covering Practice Set 2, Passage 15 (previously Question Pack 1, Passage 15), so have it open 🙂

If you’ve read our other CARS guides, you’ll spot those strategies at work here. If you haven’t, you’ll still get plenty out of it!

Before You Start: Open Practice Set 2, Passage 15

The passage is about painters and the social classes their work speaks to. It has five paragraphs and five questions, numbered 86 to 90 in the bank.

To open it, go to My Learning, then the CARS Question Bank card, then Study and Practice Set 2. Click Practice, then Skip until the heading reads Passage 15. Skipping doesn’t record an answer.

The bank is sold on the AAMC store, and our CARS Question Bank guide maps every passage from the old packs to its new set. Old Question Pack owners can use the same passage number!

How a 130+ Scorer Reads Each Paragraph

This CARS passage breakdown shows you the thought process of a 130+ scorer, paragraph by paragraph and question by question. We’ll keep it brief so it flows!

For each paragraph, look for its main point, the signal words that lead to it and where the author stands. Those main points then add up to the main idea of the whole passage.

We wrote that sample paragraph to show the habit you’ll use in every CARS passage breakdown. Three kinds of lines earn a close read:

• The topic line. It’s often vague on purpose, and a clarification usually follows soon.
• Contrast words. Yet, but and however signal that the idea is changing direction.
• The author’s view. Watch for “some would argue” and the counterargument that follows it.

Read everything else once and let it go. A long, wordy sentence rarely needs full decoding. Take its overarching premise and keep reading! Our guide to CARS sentence analysis shows how to pull the premise out of one.

Paragraph 1 Breakdown: Artists and Their Conventions

So far, artists were trained in one set of conventional skills. To anyone from another social class, the paintings seemed strange.

Paragraph 2 Breakdown: The Attempt to Extend Painting

That last sentence can hurt your brain if you try to decode every clause. Its premise, that the artists failed, is all the questions need. Grab it and the author’s viewpoint, then keep going. That’s how you get through a CARS passage fast!

Paragraphs 3 to 5: Failure, Training and a Reduced Area

The last three paragraphs go quicker, because each one adds a single idea to what you already have.

The Main Idea of This CARS Passage Breakdown

Look back at the five main points. The artists were limited by training in conventional skills, which worked for one social class and failed for the others.

They tried to extend the tradition and failed, for the same reason. Their training was limited, and their skills weren’t universal.

Our guide on how to approach CARS passages covers this paragraph by paragraph habit in more depth. On to the questions!

Question 86: A Main Idea Question

This one’s a straightforward main idea question, and you’ve already worked out the main idea. On to the choices!

• A. Vague and general. Wrong answers to main idea questions are usually too specific, so this one is unusual. The main idea here is specific, so A is out.
• B. Nothing in the passage says the training was meant to appeal to the ruling classes.
• C. This matches the main idea. The artists’ training kept limiting the areas of experience they could paint.
• D. The start sounds right, since artists did try to leave conventional methods. The passage never describes opposition from the ruling classes, though. It’s about how training held them back.

The best answer: C

Question 87: What “Tradition” Means in Context

Two words of caution before you start this one.

First, you’ll glance back to find where the word “tradition” appears. Ctrl+F is tempting in practice, and test day won’t have it. The AAMC’s test day tips point you to the highlight and strikethrough tools, so use questions like this to train your eyes.

Second, check the answer choices before you hunt for the word. You can often eliminate a few first!

• A. The author never agrees with this. The artists might believe it, and you always go with the author’s viewpoint.
• B. Nothing false here, and it reflects the main idea. Artists are trained in a set of conventions that correspond to the ruling elite they serve.
• C. Wrong overall.
• D. The unconscious comes up in paragraph 3 as an example of the tradition breaking down, so tradition can’t mean expansion here.

The best answer: B

Question 88: When Art Is at Its Best

When a question opens with “the passage implies” and stays broad like this, it’s usually a main idea question.

• A. Boom, this hits the main idea. Artists try to extend the tradition, and the conventions their training taught them hold them back. The author values art that goes beyond its conventions.
• B. The author never says they’d like art to do this. It comes up once near the start and is never developed, which makes it too narrow for a main idea.
• C. Vague, since it doesn’t say whose social manners. Art reflects the manners of a class, and the author’s point is that it’s stuck with one class.
• D. Religious themes barely come up, and the author never weighs them.

The best answer: A

Question 89: Why Conventions Matched the Ruling Classes

This idea comes up right at the start of the passage. The question asks why past artistic conventions lined up so closely with the social manners of the ruling classes.

The words “most likely” ask for the best-supported answer of the four. Keep that in mind, because this question’s right answer is never stated outright!

• A. Question writers often combine different pieces of the passage. “Narrowness and isolation” comes from paragraph 3 and the ruling classes from paragraph 1, and the passage never connects them.
• B. A tough one, since it sounds right at first. The passage shows artists trying again and again to paint other classes’ experiences, so they couldn’t have seen the ruling classes as the only subject.
• C. Never mentioned, so it’s out right away.
• D. Also never stated outright, which is unusual for a right answer. The closest link is paragraph 1, where the conventions correspond to the class the artist was serving.

On B, the word “only” is what to catch. Keep the main idea in mind and watch for absolute words like only and always. An answer that sounds right still has to fit the passage!

On D, the question expects you to infer that artists earned their living by serving that class. The other three answers are worse, and that alone can be your reason to pick D.

Most of the time, the right answer ties to the passage more obviously than this.

The best answer: D

Two close answers on an inference question trip up a lot of students. Our guide to choosing between two CARS answers walks through it.

If it keeps happening to you, a few 1:1 tutoring sessions with a 515+ scorer can help you spot the pattern in your own misses.

Question 90: Why the Author Uses an Example

This idea comes from paragraph 2. Start by recalling that paragraph’s main point, that the artists tried to extend the tradition and failed.

An example in a paragraph usually supports that paragraph’s main point. Since the question asks about an example, you can assume it backs up the main point!

• A. This ties to the paragraph’s main point. The artists tried to expand, struggled and failed.
• B. The passage never compares realistic subjects with abstract art. Eliminated.
• C. Written to throw you off. The passage does say the problems of expanding are still with us, outside this example and this paragraph. Paragraph 2 opens with “During the 19th century…”, and that tells you what you need.
• D. The link between artists and the ruling classes lives in paragraph 1, away from this example. Another attempt to throw you off!

The best answer: A

What This CARS Passage Breakdown Teaches

Done! Here’s how we’d describe this passage, all in our opinion:

• Dry, though some of you may enjoy it :)
• Wordy, with run-on sentences that feel like they carry 47 commas each
• Subtle, with tempting wrong answers that sound right on a first read

That describes most CARS passages! 130+ scorers treat that as a challenge, and we’d encourage you to do the same.

Think of your first hard crossword or Sudoku. It’s frustrating at first. With practice you get faster, and it gets fun once you see through the puzzle maker’s tricks!

Your MCAT test date sets a deadline, though, and working out every trick alone can take more time than you have. Learning the strategies top scorers already worked out lets you start using them today.

These guides go deeper on what this passage tested, from CARS timing and overthinking CARS answers to the CARS mindset shift our 130+ scorers made.

(Optional) If you’d like to practice passages like this live, our 6-Week Live MCAT Accelerator works live passages in every section with 515+ scorers, and CARS is one of its biggest focuses. It’s a fun way to build the habit!

CARS Passage Breakdown: Quick Answers

How many passages are in CARS Question Pack 1 and 2?

Question Pack 1 is now Practice Set 2 of the AAMC CARS Question Bank, with 21 passages and 120 questions. Question Pack 2 is Practice Set 3, with 22 passages and 120 questions. The passage numbers carry over unchanged.

Where did the CARS Diagnostic Tool go?

Its 169 questions now sit in Practice Set 1 of the CARS Question Bank. Our CARS Question Bank guide maps all four practice sets.

What is passage 15 in CARS Question Pack 1 about?

It’s Practice Set 2, Passage 15 in the bank, Questions 86 to 90. The author argues that painters trained in the ruling class’s conventions couldn’t paint other classes’ lives, so attempts to widen the tradition fell short.

How do you do a CARS passage breakdown on your own?

Find each paragraph’s main point, watch for contrast words and the author’s view, and keep only the premise of long sentences. Then join the main points into one main idea before you start the questions!

Final Thoughts on This CARS Passage Breakdown

CARS passages are built to be dry, wordy and full of traps, and you can still learn to read them the way a 130+ scorer does. We’re cheering you on!

Find each paragraph’s main point, build the main idea, and check every answer against the author’s view.

Want another CARS passage breakdown like this one? Our CARS Mastery Course walks through this same passage on video, along with every passage in Practice Sets 2 and 3 of the CARS Question Bank. It has 100+ strategy videos from 130+ CARS scorers!

If you’d rather work through passages with someone, 1:1 MCAT tutoring pairs you with a 515+ scorer. We’d love to help :)

For the bigger picture, our guide to raising your CARS score and our CARS strategy hub pair well with this one. The AAMC’s CARS overview lists the skills the section tests. You’ve got this!