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Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills

9 passage-based sets (5–7 questions each); no discrete questions; no outside content knowledge required · 53 questions · 90 minutes. Passages are drawn from the humanities and social sciences. No prior subject knowledge is tested — every answer is supported by the passage itself.

Study guide Practice questions Passage sets ✦ Passage Lab ↻ Daily Review Placement assessment

0 discrete questions · 21 passage sets (126 passage questions) in this section, expanding.

CARS skills

Skill 1 ~30%
Foundations of Comprehension

Understanding the basic components of, and relationships among components of, the text.

Skill 2 ~30%
Reasoning Within the Text

Integrating distinct pieces of information to draw inferences and judge the author's reasoning.

Skill 3 ~40%
Reasoning Beyond the Text

Applying or extrapolating the passage's ideas to new contexts and incorporating new information.

Discipline mix (approx.)

50%
Humanities
50%
Social Sciences

Independent study material. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the AAMC. All content original and mapped to the public AAMC content outline.