MCAT CARS Practice Questions and Explanations
/Prepare for the MCAT CARS section with practice questions
(Note: This resource also appears in our MCAT Ultimate Guide.)
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Table of Contents
Introduction
MCAT CARS Practice Passage #1
MCAT CARS Practice Passage #2
MCAT CARS Practice Passage #3
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Introduction
Many premeds find the CARS section to be the most challenging section of their MCAT. Depending on your premed major, you might have less confidence or exposure to critically reading and analyzing challenging pieces of literature.
In addition, the MCAT plays an out-sized role in your medical school application process. A good MCAT score can significantly increase your chances of admissions! For Canadian medical schools, the CARS section of the exam is even more important. Students often need to meet minimum CARS score requirements for a chance of acceptance to these schools.
So, we’ve established that the MCAT and CARS section are important. How do you score well?
You must approach the MCAT with a strong, detailed, and refined MCAT study schedule. In addition, it is important that you understand the CARS strategy needed to maximize your MCAT CARS score. Finally, students who understand how to properly review practice passages they’ve taken for the CARS section of the MCAT tend to perform extremely well on the exam.
In this blog, we’re going to test your CARS skills with three MCAT-style passages. Good luck!
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MCAT CARS Practice Passage #1
The Ion is the shortest, or nearly the shortest, of all the writings which bear the name of Plato, and is not authenticated by any early external testimony. The grace and beauty of this little work supply the only, and perhaps a sufficient, proof of its genuineness. The plan is simple; the dramatic interest consists entirely in the contrast between the irony of Socrates and the transparent vanity and childlike enthusiasm of the rhapsode Ion—the performer who recites the Homeric writings. The theme of the Dialogue may possibly have been suggested by the passage of Xenophon's Memorabilia in which the rhapsodists are described by Euthydemus as “very precise about the exact words of Homer, but very idiotic themselves.”
Ion the rhapsode has just come to Athens; he has been exhibiting in Epidaurus at the festival of Asclepius, and is intending to exhibit at the festival of the Panathenaea. Socrates admires and envies the rhapsode's art; for he is always well dressed and in good company—in the company of good poets and of Homer, who is the prince of them. In the course of conversation the admission is elicited from Ion that his skill is restricted to Homer, and that he knows nothing of inferior poets, such as Hesiod and Archilochus; he brightens up and is wide awake when Homer is being recited, but is apt to go to sleep at the recitations of any other poet.
“And yet, surely, he who knows the superior ought to know the inferior also; he who can judge of the good speaker is able to judge of the bad. And poetry is a whole; and he who judges of poetry by rules of art ought to be able to judge of all poetry.” This is confirmed by the analogy of sculpture, painting, flute-playing, and the other arts. The argument is at last brought home to the mind of Ion, who asks how this contradiction is to be solved.
The solution given by Socrates is as follows: The rhapsode is not guided by rules of art, but is an inspired person who derives a mysterious power from the poet; and the poet, in like manner, is inspired by the God. The poets and their interpreters may be compared to a chain of magnetic rings suspended from one another, and from a magnet. The magnet is the Muse, and the ring which immediately follows is the poet himself; from him are suspended other poets; there is also a chain of rhapsodes and actors, who also hang from the Muses, but are let down at the side; and the last ring of all is the spectator. The poet is the inspired interpreter of the God, and this is the reason why some poets, like Homer, are restricted to a single theme, or, like Tynnichus, are famous for a single poem; and the rhapsode is the inspired interpreter of the poet, and for a similar reason some rhapsodes, like Ion, are the interpreters of single poets.
Ion is delighted at the notion of being inspired, and acknowledges that he is beside himself when he is performing; his eyes rain tears and his hair stands on end. Socrates is of opinion that a man must be mad who behaves in this way at a festival when he is surrounded by his friends and there is nothing to trouble him. Ion is confident that Socrates would never think him mad if he could only hear his embellishments of Homer. Socrates asks whether he can speak well about everything in Homer. 'Yes, indeed he can.' 'What about things of which he has no knowledge?' Ion answers that he can interpret anything in Homer.
Material used in this test passage has been adapted from the following source:
Plato; Translated by Benjamin Jowett. (2008). Ion. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved June 28, 2020, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1635/1635-h/1635-h.htm.
1. According to the passage, the author is most likely to agree with which of the following statements?
A) Ion can distinguish a good speaker from a bad speaker.
B) Ion believes that Hesiod and Archilochus have potential to be great poets, but they have not yet maximized that potential.
C) Socrates believes he is a better rhapsode than Ion.
D) Ion can only speak when Homer is physically present.
2. In paragraph three, the author uses an analogy in order to:
A) Reinforce Homer’s status as the preeminent poet
B) Dispel the notion that Ion is a bad judge
C) Suggest that Hesiod’s work is misunderstood
D) Present a dispute that will be resolved
3. Suppose a rhapsode screams, cries, and jumps during a performance. According to the passage, Socrates is most likely to think that the:
A) Performer is treating the piece properly
B) Performance is inspired
C) Performer is crazy
D) Performance is uninteresting
4. According to the passage, Homer is inspired by:
A) Socrates
B) Ion
C) God
D) Epidarus
MCAT CARS Practice Passage #1 Answers
1. The correct answer is A. In the second paragraph, the author points out that Ion falls asleep when bad poets are recited. In the third paragraph, the author states that a good judge can distinguish between a good and bad poet. Since Homer is considered a superior poet and Ion recites only Homeric work, it can be concluded that Ion can distinguish a good speaker from a bad speaker (choice A is correct). Hesiod and Archilochus are mentioned as inferior poets, and there is no indication that they have potential to be greater poets (choice B is incorrect). Socrates never mentions that he is a better rhapsode than Ion (choice C is incorrect). Ion can interpret anything in Homer, but that does not mean that Homer must be physically present (choice D is incorrect).
2. The correct answer is D. The analogy is used in the third paragraph to set up a problem. The text states: “The argument is at last brought home to the mind of Ion, who asks how this contradiction is to be solved.” Then, in paragraph four, the author writes: “The solution given by Socrates is as follows.” The author presents a problem and then provides a solution (choice D is correct; choices A, B, and C are incorrect).
3. The correct answer is C. According to the final paragraph, the author states: “Socrates is of opinion that a man must be mad who behaves in this way at a festival when he is surrounded by his friends and there is nothing to trouble him.” As such, Socrates is likely to think a performer who is screaming, crying, and jumping during a performance is crazy (choice C is correct). Ion, not Socrates, is likely to think the performer is treating the piece properly and the performance is inspired (choices A and B are incorrect). Socrates takes a negative stance towards this behavior, not a neutral stance (choice D is incorrect).
4. The correct answer is C. In paragraph four, the author writes: “The rhapsode is not guided by rules of art, but is an inspired person who derives a mysterious power from the poet; and the poet, in like manner, is inspired by the God.” Since Homer is a poet, he is inspired by God according to the passage (choice C is correct; choices A, B, and D are incorrect).
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