MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills 2025

Rhetoric

art of communicating through writing and speaking

Rhetorical knowledge

refers to an awareness of the components of a written work besides the actual words on the page, such as the author, the intended audience, and goal

Rhetorical analysis

the examination of a particular work for the sake of identifying its rhetorical elements (the components of rhetorical knowledge)

Author

individual writing the piece; experts use jargon; use extreme words if passionate; use moderating key words if less invested; may modify his voice if writing on behalf of a group

Audience

the person/group the author intended to read or hear the work

Message

the actual text written by the author, including factual information and explicit opinions

Voice

how the author uniquely strings words together to deliver a message; how the author expresses thoughts and can be unique and identifiable

Genre

category into which the written work can be classified, such as print, broadcast, or digital media

Goal

reason why the author wrote the work, usually persuasion or evoking emotional response; authors may write with more than one goal in mind

Tone

indicative of the goal of a written work because it reflects the author's attitude toward the subject matter

Context

surrounding material that can be used to figure out the definition or significance of a particular element in the work; can also refer to the greater social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual environment in which the work was written

Aristotelian triad

logos, ethos, pathos

Logos

logical persuasion, appeals to the audience's rational judgement

Ethos

ethical persuasion, appeals via the author's credibility

Pathos

emotional persuasion, appeals to the audience's feelings

Reading for content

What does the text say? Guided by buzzwords

Reading for organization

How do sentences connect? How do ideas relate? Guided by relation words--outline the organization

Reading for perspective

Why does the author write? How does the author feel? Who else has a voice? Guided by author keywords

Read for reasoning

How are claims supported? How are claims challenged? Guided by logic keywords--logical structure can be different than organization

Relation keywords

Show how what tour reading fits into the passage as a whole

Similarity keywords

indicated that material follows the SAME vein (and, for example, as well as)

Difference keywords

signal a change in trajectory of the passage (but, however)

Opposition keywords

particularly strong difference words that create a dichotomy or divisions of entities into two categories (never, not, none, versus)

Mutual exclusive categories

do not overlap

Exhaustive dichotomies

all relevant entities fit into one or the other category

Sequence keywords

suggest a series of events advancing in time; may also be used to set up a contrast between two time periods (before/after, historically/currently)

Comparison keywords

rank ideas relative to each other (better/best, worse/worst, especially)

Author keywords

indicate the author's thoughts or opinions about the topic

Positive keywords

indicate agreement/support (masterpiece, genius)

Negative keywords

indicate disagreement/opposition (disaster, merely)

Ambivalent

both + and -

Impartial

neither + or -

Extreme keywords

enhance the charge of what the author is saying (obviously, above all, always, need)

Moderating keywords

permit the author to qualify a claim or hedge (could, may, often, in this case)

Conclusion keywords

single what the author is trying to convince the audience to believe (therefore, thus, leading to, suggest)

Evidence keywords

describe the reasons why the audience should believe the author's claim (because, since, if, due to)

Refutation keywords

provide reasons for rejecting a conclusion (despite, notwithstanding, challenging)

Scan for structure

look for the big picture, asses the relative difficulty, decide to read now or later

Read strategically

read for organization--relation words; read for perspective--author keywords; read for reasoning--logic keywords

Label each component

Briefly outline the function of each paragraph; tag author opinions and alternative voices; note where to find evidence and refutations

Reflect on your outline

Ask: informative or persuasive?; choose a purpose verb; record the author's goal

Construct outline

before even reading the passage, numbering each paragraph and leaving space for goal; good label is brief and should include key content from paragraphs; together form the outline which shows organization and opinions/attitudes; should note major aspects of logic

Onscreen highlighting

use sparingly; disappears if leave the passage and return later; first occurrence of major term/where it is defined; names/proper nouns/dates/numbers; logic and sequence keywords

Natural domain

corresponds to objects, events, and experiences--everything that can be fund in the world around us

Textual domain

corresponds to words, sentences, and paragraphs--everything that directly faces you in a passage

Conceptual domain

corresponds to concepts, claims, and arguments--everything that underlies logic

Concepts

ideas that have meanings, definitions or connotations; usually related through similarity and difference words

Claims

assertions, statements, propositions, beliefs, contentions; made up of combinations of concepts and relationship of ideas; can be related through various relationships

Consistent claims

compatible, in agreement, both can be true simultaneously

Inconsistent claims

contradictory or conflicting, impossible for both to be true simultaneously

Supporting claims

if one claim is true, the other claim is more likely to be true

Challenging claims

refutes or objects to; one claim being true would make the other more likely to be false

Arguments have 3 parts

conclusion, evidence, support

Counterarguments

refutations, objections, challenges, opposite of evidence because they go against the conclusion

Inferences

unstated parts of argument, must be true or highly probable

Assumptions

unstated pieces of evidence

Implications

unstated conclusions

3 ways to strengthen an argument

1) new piece of evidence that supports

2) support evidence that already exists

3) challenge refutations against the conclusion

3 ways to weaken an argument

1) provide a new refutation that goes against conclusion

2) support refutations that already exist

3) challenge evidence for the conclusion

Conditional

unidirectional relationship that exists between two terms (if X, then Y)

Antecedent (X)

sufficient condition, evidence, cause

Consequence (Y)

necessary condition, conclusion, effect

Conditional claim

true if it is impossible to have a true antecedent and a false consequent simultaneously

Truth table

represent operations of formal logic

Sufficiency

the impossibility of having an antecedent without its consequent

Necessity

refers to the idea that if the consequent is not true, then the antecedent is also not true (if not Y, then not X); contrapositive; logically equivalent to the original conditional, but carries a different connotation

Whole-parts relationship

one concept can be a part of another concept in the conceptual domain, one component or characteristic can be part of an object in the natural domain

Justification

relationship of logical support between a piece of evidence and its conclusion

Correlation

relationship of two events accompanying one another

Causation

the one-way relationship of the antecedent leading to the consequent (cause and effect)

Analogical reasoning

similarities between two things to argue for additional commonality (known entity and unknown entity/partially understood)

Humanities passages

topics from architecture, dance, art, ethics, literature, music, philosophy, pop culture, religion, studies of diverse cultures, and theater

Arts passages

usually have strong options, quotations, and descriptive language to illustrate examples

Philosophical passages

tend to be abstract and heavy on logic, focusing heavily on concepts and relations between them; often appeal to the reader's memory or imagination

Social sciences passages

include topics from anthropology, archaeology, economics, education, geography, history, linguistics, political science, population health, psychology, sociology, and studies of diverse cultures

Scientific passages

tend to include empirical studies and more subtle author opinions

Historical passages

tend to draw on historical events and quotations from sources alive at the tim; may include empirical studies or theoretical evidence, which can make them similar to the other passage varieties

Unsupported claims

assertions that lack evidence; if the claim is controversial, the absence of evidence makes it questionable and likely to be tested

Empirical evidence

includes surveys, statistical analyses, and controlled experiments, although it may also include anecdotes, historical accounts, and case studies; most frequently used in scientific passages

Logical appeals

include information of the contrapositive, analogical reasoning, and elimination of alternative possibilities

Appeals to authority

references to outside sources, paraphrases, and direct quotations; commonly used in Arts and Historical passages

Primary sources

give the greatest level of support and are first-hand accounts directly from the time period or situation being discussed

Secondary sources

provide less support and include commentaries on or explanations for primary sources or other secondary sources

Appeals to the reader

include rhetorical questions, emotional appeals (using charged language or colorful description to evoke an emotional response from the audience) and appeals to memory or imagination

Faulty support

comes in many forms; includes attacking a person's character, making generalizations, stereotyping, and refuting straw-man positions, rare but when present is often tested

Questions: Asses

read question, not answers, identify question type and difficulty, decide to attack now or later

Questions: Plan

establish the task set up by the question type; find clues in the stem on where to research; navigate the passage using your outline

Questions: Execute

predict what you can about the answer; set expectations for wrong choices; be flexible if your first plan flops

Questions: Answer

find a match for your prediction/eliminate the three wrong options/make an educated guess

Wrong answers: faulty use of detail

may be accurate but fail to answer the question; may be too specific; may use detail from wrong part of the passage; may be from the right paragraph but still not relevant to the question

Wrong answers: out of scope

usually bring in some element that the passage does not discuss; may make connections or comparisons that the author did not discuss; may make a statement about the significance or history of an idea that the author didn't; may bring in information that doesn't fit with the passage

Wrong answers: opposites

answer choices contain information that directly conflicts with the passage; may contain or omit a single word like "not" or "except"; may contain a prefix like un- or a- or a suffix like -less or -free; may say that something is true when the author is ambivalent

Wrong answers: distortion

answers are extreme or twist the ideas in the passage further than the author would prefer; may use strong words; may use prefix like "any-" or "every-" or a suffix like "-est" or "-less"

SIGNS OF A GOOD ANSWER

have the right scope (not to broad or specific); tend to be consistent with the author's statements and opinions; tend to use moderating keywords (can, could, may, might, is possible, sometimes, often, likely, probably, in some sense)

Main idea questions

ask for the author's primary goal; often contain words like "central thesis," "primary purpose," or "main idea"; may sometimes ask about audience or medium

1)look at your outline for the goal

2)reread goal in your outline taking note of charge and degree of the verb

3) match your expectations with the right answer

***wrong answers may be too broad or narrow, have the wrong tone or degree

Detail questions

ask about what is stated explicitly in the passage; likely to use Roman numeral options or words like "except," "not," or "least";

1) look for content buzzwords int eh question and check outline to determine where info can be found

2) reread the relevant sentence and the sentences before and after; make prediction; locate all of wrong answers for scattered format questions

3) match your expectations with her right answer

Function questions

ask about what the author is trying to do during the passage; similar to main idea questions but focus on only one portion of the passage; tend to use words like "purpose," "motive," " intention" or phrases like "in order to" or "because"

1) use outline to find relevant paragraph

2) look at able for relevant paragraph and the goal at outline; if buzzwords in the question stem direct you to certain parts, reread those parts and how they fit with overall purpose

3) match expectations with the right answer

Definition-in-context questions

ask you to define a word or phrase as it is used in the passage; always reference a word, phrase, or an entire claim from the passage

1) use outline to locate relevant paragraph

2) reread the sentence with word or phrase and perhaps the surrounding context, rephrase the author's definition with your own words

3) match your expectations with the right answer

Inference questions

look for unstated parts of arguments; must be true given what is claimed in the passage; often contain words like "assume," "because," "conclude," imply/infer/justify/reasonable/suggest

Strengthen-weaken questions

concern the logical relationship between conclusions and the evidence that strengthens them or the refutations that weaken them; often contain words like relate/support/challenge/relevance/significance/impact