CARS Build
CARS ≈ 32% pre-interview and 15% post-interview at DeGroote. Target ≥ 129 (successful-applicant mean). It rewards years of dense reading; it cannot be crammed. Most recent attempt counts — never retake casually.
Phase 1 — Habit (now → summer 2027)
30 min/day, dense argumentative prose outside the sciences: philosophy essays, The Economist, Aeon, literary criticism, court judgments. After each piece, one sentence: what was the author’s actual argument, and what would weaken it?
| Date | Piece | One-sentence argument + weakness |
|---|---|---|
Phase 2 — Calibration (summer 2027)
One timed official CARS section. Record score; no judgment, it’s a baseline.
Phase 3 — Training (Jan–Jun 2028)
Weekly timed passages → daily in final 8 weeks. Review = why each wrong answer was wrong and why the right one was right. Track per-passage-type accuracy.
Phase 4 — Write (summer 2028)
One prepared sitting. Rewrite in 2029 only if score < 127 and practice tests consistently show ≥ +2 — the most recent score replaces, including downward.