Beginning in 2015, the revised MCAT will include a critical analysis and reasoning skills section. It will be, in essence, a verbal reasoning sub-test that emphasizes tenets of scientific inquiry. The section is not an assessment for prospective literature students. As its new title suggests, the Association of American Medical Colleges seeks future physicians who can extract and infer information accurately and rapidly. Deduction is important because practicing clinicians must be spotless in their logic and able to integrate written records of illnesses and scientific studies with patient histories and physical examinations It is important to note, however, that this skill set applies to the entirety of the MCAT rather than just the new portion alone, so test-takers must understand the concepts in order to prepare appropriately for success on the entire exam. Concept 1: Learning to link claims with evidence. Think back to your high school geometry class. You began with a set of given information and used logical deductions to prove a theorem. The Latin word "data" translates to "a thing given." When conducting an experiment, a scientist acquires data and then applies logic to prove a claim. The data and the claim are then combined together into an argument. When reading a passage on the MCAT, your job is to do the reverse. Sift through the sentences to identify the claim being made and bind it to sentences that contain supporting evidence. MCAT questions in this section may examine how evidence supports a claim, or they may require extrapolation from claims in the passage. The passage-deciphering skills assessed throughout the MCAT – even in the hard sciences sections – are similar to scientific reasoning skills. Multiple claims may exist in a single passage. Just like in geometry, you can use previously proven arguments to support subsequent claims. Visualize the relationships between claims to form an idea of the overall argument. In other words, continually ask questions about the information you encounter. This will help you identify which parts of the argument are dependent on the others. A common question to ask would be whether a claim would be strengthened or weakened if you were to negate a secondary argument. Concept 2: The ability to form argument structures before getting all the facts. MCAT passages often begin with strong topic sentences. Read these sentences very carefully. Allow your brain ample time to process the first sentence, as it usually contains the passage’s central claim. For example, imagine that a paragraph begins with the sentence, "Doctors believe that antidiuretic hormone (ADH) has two very different effects on the body." After taking a moment to digest the claim, envision yourself as the author and think about what the overall shape the evidence must take to allow you to prove that claim. In this example, you would need to explain ADH’s first effect, its second effect and how one hormone can have two effects. As you read the subsequent evidence, sort each piece into the mental buckets formed by your initial analysis. ADH’s binding to receptors in the kidney would explain one effect, while its binding to receptors in vascular smooth muscle would constitute the second. The fact that one hormone can have different effects in disparate tissues serves as a bridge between the two. This example is scientific in nature, but this approach to reading passages works equally well in both the science and verbal sections of the MCAT. In the critical analysis and reasoning section, all secondary claims that are necessary to prove the overall argument must be directly stated or must be able to be inferred from the evidence presented. In the science sections, these claims may be measurable scientific concepts. If this example originated from the biological and biochemical foundations of living systems section, hormonal pleiotropy might be used as the basis for a larger argument on homeostasis. Premedical students who regularly engage in laboratory work, whether in classes or through volunteering, will benefit from frequent opportunities to evaluate claims. These main concepts are carefully tested in the critical analysis and reasoning skills section. Moreover, they are at the heart of addressing MCAT passages in every section. Ensure you practice reading like a passage anatomist whenever possible, and your preparation will pay dividends on exam day. Source
