Chunking

Welcome to the jungle of the MCAT’s CARS section, where sentences can twist and turn like overgrown vines. Fear not, brave explorer, for you have a trusty machete in your toolkit: chunking. It’s the art of cutting those lengthy sentences into bite-sized pieces, making them easier to chew and digest.

Why Chunk?

Think of chunking as your literary GPS. It helps you navigate through the dense foliage of words, so you don’t get lost in the wilderness of complex ideas. It’s about finding those rest stops in the sentence where you can pause, catch your breath, and figure out where you’re headed next.

Steps to Become a Chunking Champ:

  1. Spot the Signposts: Keep an eye out for those transition words – ‘however,’ ‘despite,’ ‘because,’ and their friends. They’re like road signs telling you when to take a turn in the sentence.
  2. Punctuation is Your Pal: Commas, semicolons, and periods aren’t just for show. They’re like traffic signals, telling you when to stop and go. Use them to break down the sentence.
  3. Divide and Conquer: Slice up the sentence at these natural breakpoints. Each chunk should be a mini-idea or thought, like a snapshot in a photo album.
  4. Machetes As Scalpels: Ensure that every chunk you carve out stands on its own with a clear idea. Here we are trying to precisely cut out the components of the sentence so if a chunk feels like it’s missing something, you might need to adjust the cut a little.

Examples

By themselves those steps are pretty abstract let’s put our chunking skills to the test to see how they work:

  • Example 1:
  • Original: “Despite the growing body of research supporting the benefits of meditation, many individuals remain skeptical, citing a lack of tangible results and questioning the methodology of such studies.”
  • Chunking Breakdown:
    • Chunk 1: “Despite the growing body of research supporting the benefits of meditation,”
    • Chunk 2: “many individuals remain skeptical,”
    • Chunk 3: “citing a lack of tangible results and questioning the methodology of such studies.”
  • Example 2:
  • Original: “While the government’s economic policy has been praised for stimulating growth, critics argue that it mainly benefits the big corporations, causing a greater divide in wealth.”
  • Chunking Breakdown:
    • Chunk 1: “While the government’s economic policy has been praised for stimulating growth,”
    • Chunk 2: “critics argue that it mainly benefits the big corporations,”
    • Chunk 3: “causing a greater divide in wealth.”
  • Example 3:
  • Original: “The director’s new film, blending several complex storylines, not only challenges traditional cinematic norms but also offers an unconventional perspective on modern life.”
  • Chunking Breakdown:
    • Chunk 1: “The director’s new film, blending several complex storylines,”
    • Chunk 2: “not only challenges traditional cinematic norms”
    • Chunk 3: “but also offers an unconventional perspective on modern life.”

There you have it – chunking is your trusty guide through the dense forest of CARS passages. It breaks down the intimidating into the manageable, turning those monster sentences into friendly little critters. The more you practice, the sharper your chunking skills will become. So grab your machete, and let’s start slicing!

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